New 3-story apartment building is coming to downtown Santa Maria. Here are the details

A 32-unit, three-story apartment building has received approval from the Santa Maria Planning Commission, providing another boost for efforts to revitalize the city’s downtown.

Developer Ben Nikfarjam has proposed the Vino Bello Apartments for a now-vacant site at 120 W. Chapel St., the former home of a car wash.

Commissioners voted 4-0 in mid-December to grant approval, including fulfilling the developer’s request for a setback reduction and trimming the required on-site parking because of available on-street slots nearby.

“I like the plan. I like the modifications they made,” commissioner Robert Dickerson said, referring to revisions after the developer presented the proposal during a study session.

“I do appreciate the architecture. I like it. I think the addition of the washers and dryers is huge,” commissioner Tim Seifert said. “Overall, I think it’s a value to our city and it meets all the zoning requirements, and I think it’s a great project.”

Commission chairman Tom Lopez abstained from the item because of the proximity to the site of his office building owned by his family.

Vino Bello’s units, approximately 10 per floor, will range from 400 and 1,000 square feet, with most being for studio or one-bedroom apartments plus a few two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Among revisions, laundry facilities with two washers and two dryers per floor will be included along with long-term bike parking inside the building.

The 0.3-acre project site sits on the southeast corner of Lincoln and Chapel streets, just north of Main Street and west of Broadway.

That area is included in the Downtown Specific Plan, a blueprint for revitalizing the city’s downtown area.

The Vino Bello Apartments would employ mission-style architecture with a tile roof and other decorative features.

The developer sought amendments to the standard of the Downtown Specific Plan, including reducing the setbacks, typically 15 feet from the property line, to zero on the north and west sides of the site, according to senior planner Frank Albro. A second request sought permission for fewer on-site parking spaces.

“This development is requesting to rely on the on-street parking and adjacent public parking lots for providing the parking,” Albro said.

Requirements normally would call for 24 on-site spaces. The developer initially proposed six slots and later added one more to make the total seven after the study session with planning commissioners, Albro added.

The lack of parking on site dramatically differs from usual policies and practices for residential projects, commissioners noted.

“Typically for most locations within the city, on-street parking is to be ignored essentially. At least our code does not allow us to credit on-street parking towards a project such as this,” Albro said. “However, this is within the Downtown Specific Plan, and in that Downtown Specific Plan, one of the major tenets was to encourage development by providing very flexible development standards. One of those development standards that is given quite a bit of flexibility is the parking.”

Albro said sufficient on-street parking plus 25 spaces in a lot near the project site along with spaces at the Santa Maria Town Center West lot.

“Bottom line is that staff feels comfortable with the parking available? Even if you were to take those lots out of the mix, staff is comfortable that it meets requirements for downtown?” commissioner Robert Dickerson asked.

“Yes, it meets the intent of the downtown plan,” Albro said.

Several years ago, the same developer received approval to develop a three-story, mixed-use building at the northwest corner of the key intersection of Main Street (Highway 166) and Broadway (Highway 135).

That project, originally approved as a four-story development, continues to undergo the plan check stage with the city, Community Development Director Chuen Ng said.