SBCAN In the News

By Sam Womack/Staff Writer

After four years on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, the oft-described “gentleman politician” Brooks Firestone said he has no regrets from his time in the elected office.

The 72-year-old businessman, winemaker and politician cast his last vote for the 3rd District and Santa Barbara County at a quickly convened meeting Tuesday in Santa Barbara.

After spending much of the past 13 years in public office, first as a state Assemblyman from 1994-1998, then as a county supervisor, Firestone is looking forward to writing a book of stories on animals, singing in the Santa Barbara Choral Society and being a “grandchild support mechanism,” he said.

He is retired from much of his family business ventures, but said he plans to continue working in the vineyard of the Curtis Winery, which produces Rh™ne-style wines in the Santa Ynez Valley.

By Glenn Wallace/ Staff Writer

For the second time in two months, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission has delayed action on a proposed resort hotel east of Lompoc in favor of more research into the project’s wider implications.

Discussing the La Purisima Resort Project, the commission voted 3-0 Wednesday to postpone the issue until February, and asked county staff to continue to study the possible implications for other agricultural locations if the project is approved.

The commission also requested input from the county’s Agricultural Advisory Committee.

Third District Commissioner C.J. Jackson and 1st District Commissioner Mike Cooney recused themselves from the discussion due to potential conflicts of interest.

By Lara Cooper

After UCSB announced it was adding over 3,000 units of new housing earlier this year, there was little doubt that its Long Range Development Plan would have a sigificant impact on the surrounding community.

The university’s LRDP seeks to add to the university’s numbers by a percent a year, including all the housing that goes along with it.

Recently, a 543-unit project on Ocean Road, which would house faculty and graduate students, has generated attention from community members and spurred the creation of a coalition called Sustainable University Now.

SUN was formed after a series of meetings at the Santa Barbara County Action Network, and one of its biggest goals is ensuring that the community has the chance to review and respond to the LRDP’s draft environmental report when it is recirculated at the end of December or early January. SUN members say they don’t want to oppose the university’s development, but improve it.

Richard Flacks, a UCSB Research Professor of Sociology, who is also SUN’s interim chair, said that he wants to hear the university “make a case for their growth.”

UCSB’s Ocean Road Housing Project Draws Criticism

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer

Some speakers question the project's timing with the Long Range Development Plan; other concerns center on affordability, sustainability and outreach.

Though only a few people attended UCSB‘s Environmental Impact Report scoping meeting last Thursday for its Ocean Road Housing Project, the reaction from the small but vocal crowd was not particularly positive.

The Ocean Road project would be a 532-unit housing, commercial and academic project spread out over 12 blocks at the university’s western border with Isla Vista, along both sides of Ocean Road. It would be geared primarily toward providing badly needed housing for UCSB faculty and staff, as well as the future need for housing projected by the university’s Long Range Development Plan. Buildings would range in height from two to six stories, with units that vary from studios to three-bedroom townhouses.

Additionally, 2,600 square feet of the development would be dedicated to commercial space and 54,400 square feet for student space. More than a thousand parking spaces are proposed to handle the new residential and commercial operations in the area.

The battle lines are decades old, the rhetoric around them spoken on a nearly weekly basis at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors — north versus south, progressives versus conservatives, agriculturists versus environmentalists, rural-dwellers versus urbanites. No matter what the specific debate is about, the discourse is often bitter, frequently heated, and almost always destructive to compromise. Simply put, when it comes to balancing Santa Barbara County’s undeniably vital agricultural identity with environmental and social concerns, you can only count on one thing: conflict. That is, until now.

MTD agrees to rate increase compromise

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
 

It took two and a half hours and some serious number crunching, but Santa Barbara Metropolitan District leaders came up with a fare increase that seemed to please everyone in a packed room at the transit agency’s headquarters.

Going with an altered version of a proposal offered by a coalition of community groups, the board of directors received a cheer from the audience upon their unanimous vote of approval.

“It was pretty similar to what we were proposing,” said Belen Seara, executive director of PUEBLO, an organization that advocates for working class families. “It’s still going to be significant for some families. … They knew it was going to increase, but they’re happy with a little increase, not a huge increase.”

The new rate structure that goes into effect on Jan. 1 includes a bump in cash fares to $1.75 for adults and 85 cents for seniors and disabled riders. Those figures are up from $1.25 and 60 cents, respectively.

8/25/08

SANTA MARIA - Some are calling it an historic meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

At issue is whether to reverse the county's decades-old opposition to new offshore oil drilling.

A majority of the board now says new facts have emerged that require a review of the long-standing policy of supporting the federal ban on new offshore drilling.

Santa barbara is widely considered the birthplace of the modern anti-oil movement after the disastrous 1969 spill in the Santa Barbara channel that saw millions of gallons of crude kill marine life and spoil south county beaches.

The county has since been unwavering in its opposition to new offshore oil production and has blocked lifting the moratorium at every turn... until now.

The five member Board of Supervisors recently voted 3-2 to draft a letter to the governor citing new facts and considerations for changing the policy on offshore drilling.

The board plans to hear public comment from both sides of the drilling debate at a hearing tomorrow morning in Santa Maria.

Lakeview project gets another go 'round with planning commission

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer

The Lakeview Promenade project will return to the Santa Maria Planning Commission in October after the City Council has adopted two components of the mixed-use project at the northwest corner of South Broadway and Skyway Drive.

This week, the commission approved a zoning change and General Plan amendment related to the proposal for more than 260 condominiums, retail and restaurant space, a movie theater and a health center.

At a public hearing Wednesday, commissioners unanimously approved the rezoning of 3.8 acres of the 9.4-acre site from community commercial to high-denisty residential.

Plans for the 3.8-acre site include three residential buildings, a common open space area, a community building and a 284-space underground parking structure. The remaining 6.65-acre area would include nine buildings for residential, retail commercial, office and entertainment uses.

Developer Greg Nester's proposal for the former Renfrow Airport Auto Center site includes 263 condominiums, 39,447 square feet of retail space, 13,933 square feet of restaurant space, a 250-seat movie theater and 13,799 square feet of spa/fitness/physical healthcare space.