SBCAN In the News

County Supes Approve Protections for Renters

County Supervisors Approve Added Protections for Renters
 
The board takes up changes to Ordinance 4444 that cover displaced tenants and mass evictions
By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 12.07.2010
·                              

The Fund for Santa Barbara Honors Spring Grant Recipients

The Fund for Santa Barbara Honors Spring Grant Recipients
 

More than a dozen community organizations receive awards totaling $131,660

 

By Ben Preston, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 06.17.2010

 

Members of Santa Barbara’s nonprofit community assembled Thursday evening at Cafe Buenos Aires as The Fund for Santa Barbara held its spring awards ceremony. More than a dozen organizations — covering a variety of efforts from environmental restoration to community activism — were recognized for the grants they received from the fund this year, with awards totaling $131,660.

The audience erupted in rousing applause for the Carpinteria Valley Foundation, which received $7,000 to assist its efforts to oppose Venoco Inc.‘s Paredon Project. The Barbareno Chumash Council was awarded $5,000 for its Rights of Indigenous People Campaign, aimed at promoting awareness among Native American communities around the country.

Perhaps one of the more unusual recipients of grant money this year was Project Gutpile, a nonprofit dedicated to educating ranchers and hunters about the health and environmental dangers of using lead ammunition.

“We need to educate people to give them an option,” said Anthony Prieto, a Project Gutpile spokesman, pointing out that sometimes, merely presenting a Spanish language education option can make a huge difference in spreading awareness about lead ammunition. He said many hunters in the area don’t speak English.

Attorney Marc Chytilo a Staunch Defender of Environment

Attorney Marc Chytilo a Staunch Defender of Environment

By Jenn Kennedy, Noozhawk Contributor | Published on 04.16.2010

Expecting to meet a high-powered attorney, I had to laugh when Marc Chytilo showed up complaining of a sore thumb — the result of hunting pesky gophers in his garden. Good-natured and humble, he spoke passionately about his lifelong commitment to the environment.
 

Affordable Housing Shortage in Santa Maria

The following article was posted on November 10th, 2009, in the Santa Maria Sun - Volume 10, Issue 35

Building a bike-friendly Santa Maria

The following article was posted on December 2nd, 2009, in the Santa Maria Sun - Volume 10, Issue 38

 

Santa Maria Gets Bikeway Plan Update

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer jramos@santamariatimes.com | Posted: Thursday, October 22, 2009 11:30 pm

 

A man rides his bike Thursday down the sidewalk next to traffic on South Broadway. Santa Maria is updating its Bikeway Master Plan, which envisions more than 130 miles of new bike trails in the city.

 

Housing Plan Forwarded to Santa Maria City Council

Housing plan forwarded to City Council
 

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer jramos@santamariatimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:20 pm |

A plan to identify land for affordable housing in Santa Maria is moving forward to the City Council with a favorable nod from the city Planning Commission.

On Wednesday, the planning panel recommended the council submit a preliminary draft Housing Element to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for review and comments. The vote was 3-1 with Chairman Michael Moats and commissioners Tom Lopez and Rodger Brown in favor. Commissioner Adrian Andrade did not explain his dissenting vote.

Etta Waterfield resigned from the commission Oct. 21 and the seat has yet to be filled.

A Negative Declaration, a document stating no substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, identified no potentially significant adverse environmental impacts as a result of the update. The vote was 4-0 to recommend that the council file a Negative Declaration rather than order a full environmental impact report.

The draft version of the Housing Element is expected to reach the council on Dec. 1. After the council sends the document to the state, HCD officials will have 60 days to review it and give comments. It must be certified by the HCD and adopted by the council to be made official in March 2010.

Anti-“High Rise” Initiative Sparks Lawsuit

A Santa Barbara architect has filed a 95-page lawsuit challenging the use of the term “high-rise” by supporters of Measure B, a proposed Santa Barbara charter amendment that purports to save downtown Santa Barbara from “high-rise” development by reducing maximum allowable building height — downtown — from the current limit of 60-feet to a new limit of 40-feet. In addition, the initiative — which will be decided by city residents this November — would limit the height of new buildings outside of downtown’s El Pueblo Viejo to 45 feet.

 

Architect Brian Hofer claimed the language deployed by Measure B supporters was seriously misleading and imprecise. Measure B could not protect against further high-rises, according to his lawsuit, because high-rises are already prohibited by existing city laws. Hofer noted that a “high-rise” is defined under the California Building Code as any structure 75-feet high or more. Existing city rules bar the approval or construction of any building over 60-feet high. Because of this, Hofer contended it’s legally improper for Measure B supporters to claim they are protecting the city from further “high-rise” development, a term they use four times throughout their ballot arguments.

 

Welcome to Your Planet

SBCAN Hosts Special Earth Day Screening of earth, Disney’s New Nature Documentary

In a world whose destiny lies in finding a balance between economic development and environmental catastrophe, nature always speaks loudest for itself. While activists complain, politicians wonk, and industry spin-meisters cover tracks, the plants and animals go on living their amazing lives, using fascinating techniques to overcome countless challenges—manmade and otherwise—in their cyclical, millennia-old quests to carry forth the miracle of life. Thanks to patient, hard-working wildlife photographers and filmmakers, the public gets to see even the rarest, most bizarre of these species in action, thereby inspiring emotional campaigns to save the whales, stop the slaughtering of fur seals, feed the pandas, free the elephants, and so on.