On the Farm: Vanpool program helpful to all

By Kevin Merrill/Contributor

The warm summertime weather I was looking for in my last column arrived last week. Just what our vines need to play catch-up after a cooler-than-normal spring.

I was up around 5:15 in the morning to make coffee. After I got it started, I looked out at the faint glow of morning to see the light haze of fog hovering over the vines.

I looked down the canyon toward Highway 101, and there was our usual summertime fog bank lurking in the lower reaches of the hills and valleys north of Los Alamos.

In another 45 minutes, the canyon and vines in front of our home were completely engulfed in fog. By 7:30, it was all gone, and if you did not know any better, you would swear the fog was never there.

It is a tricky time for the folks who drive to work on the vineyard from Santa Maria. They never know what the road conditions will be, and I am always glad to see they all made it to work safe and sound.

There is a new program just getting off the ground to help the folks who drive out to our fields and farms to work every day in North County.

Santa Barbara Council Backs Veronica Meadows — Again

By Rob Kuznia, Noozhawk Staff Writter

Despite judge's ruling, proposed 25-home Las Positas development wins 5-2 vote. Opponents are expected to sue.

A key issue holding up the Veronica Meadows project is a proposed access bridge to the development in Las Positas Canyon. The creek crossing would be located off Las Positas Road, across from the entrance to Elings Park.

In what’s beginning to resemble a game of ping-pong, the Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday approved — for the second time in a year and a half — the development of 25 single-family homes in Las Positas Valley, despite a judge’s ruling in December revoking the earlier approval.

Supes OK 'monstrous' mansion on coast

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
 

After several years of heated debate, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a 13,333-square-foot, single-family home slated for a hilltop on the Gaviota Coast.
The home, known as the Ballantyne Project, will also include a 1,368-square-foot guest home and a 1,200-square-foot barn, bringing the total square footage of new buildings to nearly 16,000.
 
The board approved the project with a 3-2 vote. South County Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Janet Wolf dissented.

Carbajal called the approval of the home, which is located at 500 Farren Rd. on the outskirts of Goleta, “Not a good day for protection of the Gaviota Coast.”

“The reality is we have an audacious, monstrous development violating our policies that are put in place to protect the public’s interest and protect environmental resources,” he said. “I think it’s precedent setting. This is the Gaviota Coast we’re talking about. This flies in the face of good land-use planning, especially for the area of the Gaviota Coast.”

Buellton Residents Pound Council on Boundary Expansion
By Melinda Burns
Friday, June 29 2007

The expansion of a city’s sphere of influence is generally the first step toward the annexation and urbanization of rural land. Photo by Suzan HamiltonIt was standing room only on Thursday night as Buellton residents begged the City Council not to let their small, tranquil, neighborly town triple in size — not now, not later, not ever.