Debate Over Controversial Gaviota Coast Development Begins One Week Earlier than Expected at Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors

  The debate over the fate of Naples was not meant to begin until next week at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. But after the results of a semi-secret, closed-door supervisor session on the subject were read into the record Tuesday morning, the fireworks began in earnest several days ahead of schedule.

Outraged by the supervisors' decision this week — via the standard-issue three North County to two South Coast votes — to amend the language of a longstanding agreement betwixt the county and hopeful Naples conqueror Matt Osgood, opponents of the controversial plan to put 72 luxury homes at the easternmost gate of the Gaviota Coast blasted the supes for everything from bowing to developer demands and failed leadership to possible Brown Act violations and willingly undermining the approval process itself. Testifying before the board, the Environmental Defense Center's Brian Trautwein summed up Tuesday's unexpected twist: "The vote this morning represents nothing less than a transparent effort to give away the scenic bluffs at Naples to a developer from Orange County."

After numerous meetings and plenty of tinkering, Santa Barbara city leaders approved changes to the city’s housing policies yesterday that will require smaller developments to include affordable units or pay a fee.

New developments or condominium conversion projects between two and nine units will be subject to the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance once the changes are officially adopted next week.

City officials said smaller projects are likely to opt for the in-lieu fee, creating a fund that will be used to subsidize affordable housing, purchase affordable units in default and pay administrative costs.

“We would actually have a good deal of money in the bank if we had enacted it a few years ago,” Councilmember Das Williams said.

The City Council approved the new policy on a 6-1 vote, with Councilmember Dale Francisco voting against the ordinance. He said he expects the changes will result in many unintended consequences.

“I’m not very excited about in-lieu fees and I’m very concerned about the impact on mom and pop developers,” he said. “…It’s an unfair burden on the people who are building … but I guess it will allow some people to say we’re doing something about affordable housing.”

Building-Height Initiative In the Clear for November 2009 Ballot

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara council member Das Williams says he plans to float an alternative proposal.

It’s official: An initiative that would significantly lower building-height limits in Santa Barbara received enough valid signatures to be placed on the November 2009 ballot, meaning that, unless the spearheading group has a change of heart in the next year, it will be decided by the city’s voters.

Meanwhile, City Council member Das Williams, a critic of the initiative who believes that it would do violence to the city’s ability to provide housing affordable to the middle class, on Wednesday said he plans to float a proposal of his own that could compete on the same ballot.

On Tuesday, in a formality vote, the Santa Barbara City Council officially accepted the signatures submitted by a coalition of slow-growth advocates who gathered them for the ballot measure. The signatures were vetted for validity over a period of several weeks by the city clerk, who concluded that the group —

Save El Pueblo Viejo— was in the clear.

The new bus fares, which will generate about $1.46 million, are lower than initially proposed.

The MTD board of directors adopted a new rate schedule Monday night that drew cheers from members of an advocacy group for the poor.

The board, whose meeting began in front of a packed house, mollified the advocates by lowering the amount of fare increases proposed by MTD staff in the categories that tend to be used most by the financially disadvantaged, including 10-day passes for k-12 students and seniors.

“We knew the bus fares were going to go up — they didn’t have any alternatives,” said Belen Seara, executive director of the PUEBLO Education Fund, a local advocacy group for the poor. “We were hoping to get the best deal, and actually, it was very good.”

All told, the rate hikes will generate about $1.46 million — about $200,000 less than the initial proposal would have yielded, and just shy of the bus provider’s projected shortfall of $1.5 million.

The new fares mean that, beginning Jan. 1, the cost for an adult single ride will jump to $1.75 from $1.25. The single-ride cost for seniors will increase to 85 cents from 60 cents.

MTD Board Expected to Vote on Rate Hikes Monday

Amid skyrocketing fuel costs, public transit officials seek fare increases to maintain services and routes.

Attention South Coast bus riders: The MTD board of directors Monday afternoon is expected to decide whether to raise rates, and if so, by how much.

MTD General Manager Sherrie Fisher says the fare hike is necessary largely to offset the skyrocketing cost of fuel, and to avoid cutting more bus routes, which have already been reduced once this year.

“I make this recommendation knowing that, for some members of the community, any increase is difficult,” she said in the official proposal to the board. “Without an appropriate increase, staff will need to recommend a reduction in service. Loss of any service would adversely affect riders.”

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday at MTD business headquarters, 550 Olive St. It is open to the public.

Legislature Passes Bill Expressing Opposition to Offshore Drilling

AJR 51 is designed to send a message to Bush and Congress about the lifting of a federal moratorium.

Assembly Joint Resolution 51, telling President Bush and Congress that California opposes lifting the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling, has passed the California Legislature.

“My assembly colleagues are sending a strong message today that California’s coastline is an international treasure, and we’re not going to sacrifice it by lifting the federal moratorium,” said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, chairman of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security. “I’ve been fighting the Bush administration’s attempts to spoil and soil our coast for many years. Our beaches have been stained and marine life killed because of oil spills. Offshore oil drilling will not reduce the price of gasoline any time soon, if at all. It will put our coastline at risk, endanger tourism, fisheries and coastal recreation.”

AJR 51 expresses the California Legislature’s strong opposition to any new federal energy policy and legislation that opens up the California coast to offshore drilling, and rejects President Bush’s recent executive order to end the moratorium on new oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf along the California Coast and the coastlines of other states.

Santa Barbara County’s Historic Oil Drilling Reversal to Be Short-Lived

Both 3rd District Candidates Oppose Last Week’s Board of Supervisors’ Vote

By Nick Welsh

Anti-Sprawl Bill Clears Legislature

By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets landmark measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The state Senate on Saturday passed landmark legislation intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving land use and transportation planning to accommodate California’s population growth. An unlikely coalition of environmental organizations, homebuilder associations, local governments and affordable housing advocates had joined forces behind the anti-sprawl measure.

Supervisors Vote 3-2 to Request More Oil Exploration, Drilling

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer

The Board of Supervisors will send a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking for his support to lift moratorium.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 3-2 to send a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting a policy change that would allow for more oil and gas exploration and extraction in the region.Supervisors Joe Centeno, Brooks Firestone and Joni Gray voted for the measure while Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Janet Wolf voted against it.