This Tuesday, the Humboldt Community Services District’s Board of Directors voted on a resolution to annex and plan for service for the McKay Ranch subdivision project — potentially bringing water and sewage to an 81-acre development project in the Cutten area that has been in development for over two decades.

The board voted unanimously to annex and move forward with planned services for the project, though some board members expressed concerns about the potential cost to current and future rate payers in the district should the district be forced to modify its current plan for service and subsidize infrastructure improvements.

The McKay Ranch project aims to bring up to 320 housing units to the area. According to planning documents hosted by the county on their website, those units include 96 single-family lots ranging in size from 6,600 to 39,670 square feet, 50 small-lot single family homes with a minimum size of 4,758 square feet and 174 multi-family housing units — as well as two commercial lots. Additionally, the board noted that 34 accessory dwelling units are estimated to be entailed in the project.

Board members expressed approbation for the project’s potential inclusion of low income units and the way in which the subdivision may address housing needs in the area.

Kurt Kramer, the developer associated with the project, however, expressed dismay with the protracted effort to bring the project to fruition and told the board that he had very little idea what the per unit cost would be for housing in McKay Ranch.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what the cost is for this housing … I have no idea. All we can do is … get to a point where the project is bureaucratically feasible … as a realistic development,” Kramer said. “The reality is … I can’t even begin to come up with the number … When we get to the point where we can put some cost parameters around the design and know what these lots are going to cost us, what the hookups are going to entail, we’ll see.”Board member Heidi Benzonelli expressed concerns about the project potentially being subsidized by rate payers, and stressed that a currently understood plan for services — which provisions that the developer would absorb the cost of connection to the district’s water supply — needs to be adhered to.

“This is a very difficult project, and private market rate development in Humboldt County is effectively over if we can’t come up with viable solutions to make it happen,” Kramer responded. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done if they want to see market rate housing occur.”

Kramer ultimately said that he concurred with the board’s current plan for service.

“We have a pretty focused view of what we’re looking at. This has been approved by the (Humboldt County) Planning Committee and the Board of Supervisors … Can the district provide water and sewers? Yes, we can,” said board member Michael Hansen. “There are some upgrades that need to be put in to document that will be at no cost to the district … I think we need to move forward with this. There’s nothing to hold us back.”

Robert Schaulis can be reached at 707-441-0585.