In a historic decision nearly 12 years in the making, the San Luis Obispo City Council last night adopted the Orcutt Area Specific Plan.

This multi-use, transit-friendly development plan could potentially – over the next 20 years – accommodate almost 1,000 new homes in a 230-acre area south of the city, bounded by Orcutt and Tank Farm roads.

Next month, the process to annex the land will begin, a move the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce has long advocated due to the social, economic and environmental necessity of providing adequate workforce housing in the city.

The council also agreed to find grant money to pay 50 percent of a controversial $1.7 million for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge to go over the railroad tracks.