Tiny SLO County town could get 181 new homes. See the plan
A new 181-unit housing development could dramatically increase the number of homes in one small San Luis Obispo County town.
On Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission held its first hearing on a housing development planned on the eastern side of San Miguel by applicant David Crabtree a Templeton-based Realtor.
The project would represent a significant expansion of homes in the tiny North County town, which currently is home to 813 housing units, according to the U.S. Census. The new development would amount to an increase of more than 20% to the current housing stock.
Land use planning firm Planning Solutions founder Pam Jardini, who represented Crabtree, said the project’s construction timeline is partially contingent on the completion of the new San Miguel Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will give the local San Miguel Community Service District the capacity to serve the project’s need for wastewater hookups in the second through fourth phase, Jardini said.
“What we’re really scared of is that the San Miguel Wastewater Treatment Plant will take longer than (expected),” Jardini said. “We always say two years, and it ends up being 10 years.”
Project would add trail, park spaces in San Miguel
Sitting on a 43-acre parcel, the project would be developed in a series of four phases that would move through the 190 total lots.
Of those lots, 181 would be for single-family residential housing, while the other nine would consist of 3.8 acres of commercial development, a pair of utility parcels and around 12 acres of parks and open space, according to the staff report.
By building 10% of the units as deed-restricted affordable housing for moderate-income households, the project was able to qualify for the state density bonus program, which allows developers to request concessions to a municipality’s building code.
All 18 of the affordable homes would be constructed in the first 88-unit phase of the project, according to the staff report. The second phase would consist of 42 residential parcels, followed by a third phase of 45 residential parcels and six small-lot residential parcels and a fourth phase dedicated to commercial use.
In this project’s case, the concession was a request to reduce the amount of open space required in the development from 40% to 29%, allowing the developer to pack more units onto the parcel than normal.
While the project checks all boxes legally and was considered consistent with the San Miguel Community Plan, it was only narrowly approved by the San Miguel Advisory Council in a 4-3 vote prior to coming to the Planning Commission.
County project manager Eric Tolle explained that the advisory council’s vote was closely divided out of an abundance of concern over the county not following through on the creation of additional community parks, which have been promised before without any payoff.
Jardini said the goal is to create a pedestrian-friendly project that connects neighborhoods using parks and common paths such as the “Old Paso Airport Loop Trail,” which would be for public use on the western side of the development.
Jardini said the project will employ a Spanish mission-style architectural theme in keeping with San Miguel’s community plan.
To make the project work, significant infrastructure and site grading will need to be done, such as bringing water and sewer connections across the bridge on North River Road and flattening out a nearly vertical hillside on the eastern end of the property, she said.
Project to return for additional hearing next month
While mostly supportive of the project’s goals, the commissioners expressed some reservations over the infrastructure requirements, along with the phasing of the trail and park pieces of the development.
As such, Crabtree’s proposal was ultimately continued to a later meeting date on Feb. 26 after several hours of deliberations by the Planning Commission in the interest of giving the applicant more time to work out details with the county Department of Public Works.
This story was originally published January 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM.
