Category Archives: News

New housing inches its way into town

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Housing projects from Habitat for Humanity, the Mental Health Association and Hillside House are all inching their way to reality. Here’s an update on these three projects:

Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County cleared a final hurdle to start with plans to build three homes for low-income families last week when the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), backed by the Santa Barbara City Council, gave its final approval of a $240,000 loan to aid in the purchase of land on Via Lucero near upper State and Calle Real. It will be the first major building project for Habitat for Humanity here. Escrow was cleared last week.

Supported by local churches, corporations, foundation and individual donors, Habitat for Humanity has raised 70 percent of the nearly $800,000 needed to pay for materials, design and permit fees.

“I am looking forward to seeing many community volunteers out there swinging hammers,” said Mayor Marty Blum.

The organization will now recruit volunteers to help build the houses and determine who will live there. A requirement for homeowners is they must contribute 500 hours of “sweat equity” for construction.

The Mental Health Association in Santa Barbara County’s “Building Hope” capital campaign to build up to 50 units of housing has raised 58 percent of its $4.1 million fundraising goal, organizers announced this week. Half of the homes will be reserved for MHA clients and half for affordable housing for downtown workers.

As I understand it, in the recipe of capital campaigns, reaching that 58 percent goal is really significant, said executive director Annemarie Cameron.

The total project cost is $17.3 million but with the City of Santa Barbara’s commitment of $4.6 million in Redevelopment Agency funds, bond financing and the donation of all development costs by Bermant Development Company, only $4.1 million will come from fundraising.

In addition to housing, the new facility at 617 Garden St. will also accommodate the MHA offices, a resource center for families and the Fellowship Club, where people with mental health disabilities can meet for social time and life skills learning.

Hillside House and partners Bermant Development Company and the County Housing Authority have been working closely with neighbors and the Planning Commission to develop a master plan for the site at 1235 Veronica Springs Road. The conceptual proposal for the 26.74 acre site, reviewed by the Planning Commission this week, included 38 residential buildings with up to 127 homes, public pedestrian, equestrian and bike trails and 17.74 acres of open space with 9 acres developed.

I think the neighbors are not as worried as before, said Kirsten Ayers, spokeswoman for the development group.

The project is planned in two phases to ensure that the 59 residents of Hillside House will be able to remain on the property continuously. Groundbreaking is not anticipated until early 2006.

This story contains additional reporting by Sally Cappon.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 23, 2004.

Schools offer preliminary headcounts

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With the high cost of housing driving declining school enrollment figures throughout the state, there were a few bright spots in the preliminary local students counts.

Bishop Garcia Diego High School was reportedly up to approximately 270 students this week. In January, the Catholic school announced that it was severing relations with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in order to have more local control. At that time a board of directors was formed and the school began actively marketing to the community, a move that resulted in additional students for the fall.

As of Monday, the Hope School District had 1,415 students enrolled, said Superintendent Les Imel. This is approximately 20 fewer students than the district had budgeted for, but still more than the 2003-2004 year end count of 1,371. Imel stressed that those numbers — of which approximately 30 percent are inter-district transfer students — were not final.

Vieja Valley, for example, took in four new students (not included in the 1,415) that day, said Principal Barbara LaCorte.

Getting a handle on enrollment figures is particularly critical in these times of uncertain state funding, but administrators all stressed that the numbers were still fluctuating.

The Santa Barbara Elementary School District had a very preliminary count of 5,386 students, versus a projected 5,585 students, while the secondary district was over its initial projection of 9,474, with a preliminary headcount of 9,762.

The Goleta Union School District had 3,773 students on the first day, but again, emphasized the count was still preliminary.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 16, 2004.

Goleta hatches first general plan

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Goleta Pier, photo by AmaO, pixabay.com.

Goleta Pier, photo by AmaO, pixabay.com.

“The vision thing” was alive and well in Goleta this week, as the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce presented its policy recommendations for the city’s first general plan. What will come of this input — based almost a year’s worth of study and discussions among the chamber’s 500 member businesses representing approximately 25,000 employees — is anyone’s guess at this point.

While business leaders embraced a vision that called for more housing and job growth, Council Members (acting as the Planning Agency) were noncommittal in receiving the report from President/CEO Kristen Amyx and Board Chairman Brian Gregory.

“A general plan is not just a bunch of rules and regulations and a map, a general plan is a tool for shaping the community in which we live and making our own town what we each want it to be,” said Amyx. She outlined how skyrocketing home prices were changing the character of the community and called for “providing for the next generation” as a top priority, focusing on the importance of providing housing for those who already live or work in the immediate vicinity.

“The economy is the easy part,” said Amyx, “the harder part is providing affordable housing.”

Along with recommending the construction of 4,500 new homes over the next 20 years, the chamber provided maps identifying areas to modify zoning and “places for new neighborhoods.” Chief among those was the Bishop Ranch project, a 265-acre, agriculturally- zoned-but-currently-fallow property north of Highway 101 between Glenannie and Los Carneros roads.

Councilwoman Jonny Wallis asked Amyx point blank whether the chamber’s support of the Bishop Ranch development was because of the amenities the conceptual plan calls for — including the preservation of open space, recreation fields and the connection of Calle Real between Glenannie and Los Carneros — or the project itself.

“If, for example, the recreation opportunities were provided elsewhere and the housing numbers, I think 1,200 houses, were provided elsewhere, would you still support this development,” asked Wallis, adding, “I’m trying to see what you’re after.”

I think what we’re after is the sort of next logical place where we can have a real impact on preserving the community character, responded Amyx. “We know we need a variety of housing and a large parcel like that can accommodate single family homes as well as rentals. … The fact that it’s in the northern valley, the fact that it is near services already and that it will actually help us improve our infrastructure by connecting those streets, make all of that important. I think that I get your question, if we can get 1200 houses somewhere else would there be benefits to leaving that as it is, I’m not sure that’s true.”

Councilwoman Margaret Connell was apparently receptive to at least some of the recommendations from the chamber. “The devil is probably in the details in some of this,” she said. “I’m not sure that we’re on entirely different tracks here.”

The city’s next general plan workshop is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 9, with additional workshops scheduled throughout that month. Visit www.cityofgoleta.org for updates.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 16, 2004.

A different view of alcohol use

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Photo courtesy http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Alcohol-Beverages-Bottles-Spirits-Bottle-Collection-295623

Photo courtesy http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Alcohol-Beverages-Bottles-Spirits-Bottle-Collection-295623

A high school film crew documents some troubling answers while exploring accessibility.

You feel a shy tap on your shoulder as you make a quick stop at the mini-mart. A sweet-faced girl looks up at you with those big baby blues and thrusts a $20 bill toward you. “Would you buy me 12-pack of Coors?”

How realistic is this “shoulder tap” scenario? That’s one of the things teenage volunteers at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition, or ADAP, are trying to find out with their new documentary project about alcohol accessibility.

The video, which began filming last week, asks teens frank questions like, “How easy it is to get a fake ID? Have you ever tried alcohol? How easy it is to get alcohol?” and more.

While filmmakers Nico Constantinedes, Ed Santee and Kevin Spracher, all seniors at San Marcos High, admitted the group of kids being filmed was somewhat self-selecting; they said they still got some frank, and potentially incriminating, answers from teen participants.

The first question asked of everyone was whether they wanted to be anonymous, in which case their face would be obscured in the documentary and their name would not be used. And then there was the other carrot: “Free food and community service hours for doing almost nothing,” as Spracher put it.

Along with being interviewed for the documentary, teens enjoyed a live DJ and tried on “beer goggles” that approximated the effects of drinking varying degrees of alcohol.

“Whoa, I can barely see,” San Marcos senior Sadie Carlin said as she tried on the goggles that approximated a blood-alcohol level of 0.08, the equivalent of two drinks, according to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving volunteer who manned the beer goggle demonstration.

Approximately 40 youth from local senior and junior high schools showed up to participate, said Jeff Hurley, ADAP coordinator. They were partially enticed by raffle prizes donated by places like Magic Mountain, Hurricane Harbor, Subway, In-N-Out, Zodo’s, Fatburger, Pizza Mizza and Jamba Juice; the opportunity to hang out with friends; and, of course, to help make an important statement about alcohol issues in our community.

The ADAP crew will continue to work on its film in collaboration with the city of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department and local law enforcement. The group plans to show the documentary at local schools when it’s complete.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on September 9, 2004.

Parks Dept. shifts softball to major league

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Photo by CherylHolt, pixabay.com.

Photo by CherylHolt, pixabay.com.

On the heels of the U.S. women dominating the diamond in Olympic softball this week, the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department received approval from the City Council to contract with Major League Softball, Inc. (MLS), for adult softball league services, a shift that will save the city money and also lower fees for participants.

While Councilman Dr. Dan Secord praised the cost efficiency involved in privatizing recreational services, Councilman Das Williams expressed some concern that a trend toward privatization might ultimately take money out of the pockets of local residents. However both men supported the proposal, in a unanimous vote. Councilman Brian Barnwell was absent.

Originally the department proposed increasing league fees to cover a higher percentage of the program costs. However, it received “numerous amounts of public comment that the fee increases would be prohibitive to the players and continue to limit the teams that were participating,” said Sarah Clayton, recreation programs manager. When efforts to find a nonprofit agency to take over the program failed, the city then turned to MLS, which currently serves 27 cities and counties in Southern California and has been in existence since 1986. MLS will provide their services for four softball seasons a year. We’re currently only doing two seasons, said Clayton.

By outsourcing the softball leagues, the city will save a minimum of $37,000 over the next two years, said Acting Parks and Recreation Director Nancy L. Rapp.

In addition, the fees will be reduced for program participants: from $630 to $538 for a nine-week season and from $840 to $654 for a 12-week season. “So it’s a good plus for participants that want to engage in the program,” said Clayton.

“We expect that numbers which have declined in recent years — from 352 teams in Fiscal Year ’03 to 242 teams in Fiscal Year ’04 — Major League Softball says to us that they hope to bring it back up to a level about 480 teams playing per year,” said Clayton. “So we hope to revitalize the softball and do it in a very quality way.”

Santa Barbara’s agreement with MLS will run for two years. League registration will start in mid-September and field renovation will also take place then, said Clayton. “We hope to start leagues in the first week of October.”

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on August 26, 2004.

Hope District teachers make progress on contract

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Several key clauses of the Hope District Teacher’s Association contract were agreed to this week, after months of negotiations, said Superintendent Les Imel. “The health and welfare benefits part has been completed,” he said. He added that because there is a retirement agreement that is still active for two more years, the district and the union have elected to not discuss that this year.

Because of the financial situation with the state, Imel explained that the contracts are likely to be renegotiated every year from now on. “To get out there too far and make more than a one-year agreement is risky, for the employer as well as the employees, because of volatility of it. A district would be not be prudent (to negotiate longer terms) because the state is so up and down.”

At Monday night’s closed session board meeting, the school board voted to accept a counterproposal from the HDTA that will allow teachers with class sizes of 28 or higher to have additional aide time and additional release time on a graduated scale.

Accommodations for larger class sizes are of particular concern to upper grade teachers, as class sizes are bulging, especially in the fifth grade. As of Aug. 17, Hope School had 64 fifth graders enrolled, with two teachers planned; Monte Vista had 67 fifth graders enrolled, with two teachers planned; and Vieja Valley had 77 fifth graders enrolled, with 2.5 teachers planned and a fourth/fifth combination classroom.

But these numbers are not final, stressed Imel. “Until that first day of school when you count the bodies … we really don’t know where we are.”

While the state provides incentives for having no more than 20 students per class in the lower grades, there are no such incentives for grades four and above. In addition to the financial consequences associated with hiring additional teachers, the Hope District schools also face some space issues — there simply aren’t enough rooms to add additional classrooms. This issue is likely to cause further challenges for the district in the future, as the nearby 170-unit St. Vincent’s housing project is expected to break ground in late September.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on August 26, 2004.

Elings Park fills in blanks with new capital campaign

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After its impressive conversion from an old city dump to a bucolic multiuse park with one of the best views in town – financed solely by donations from the community — Elings Park is looking to secure its future by appealing to the public once again.

The next time you go to walk your dog, paraglide, jog, ride your bike, picnic, play soccer, paint, attend a wedding, visit the BMX track or softball fields at the park, you’re likely to be greeted by an Elings supporter requesting donations to help the nonprofit foundation raise the $126,700 it needs to maintain its 364 days a year/from 7 a.m. till sunset level of service.

Unrestricted operating capital — as opposed to money for specific projects — is the hardest kind of money to raise, but it’s also the most critical, said executive director Mike Warren.

“We’ve been running at a deficit for three years, so we’re flirting with disaster,” he said. “If 5,000 people gave us just a little over $25, like $27.30, we’d be there.”

In addition to trying to raise money for operations, Warren has his plate full with plans for the third phase of the park, the lower 23 acres on the left as visitors enter off Las Positas Road. The plan — which includes an international size all-weather soccer facility, an 11,500-square-foot community center, a permanent BMX track, basketball, handball and volleyball courts, and permanent park office space with four additional offices to rent — is undergoing city review now and ready to begin the environmental impact report phase, said Warren. He roughly estimated the total project cost would be about $14 million and the development would happen in phases, as did the earlier growth of the park.

“Phase three or the development of the lower plateau will complete the original 97 acres of what we lease from the city,” said Warren.

Also eventually in the works is what is known as “South Park,” the old Jesuit property above Cliff Drive that currently is zoned by the county for residential and light agricultural use. Jeff Elings Drive and a small parking lot were built earlier this year to allow access to the property from Cliff Drive. Right now the plan is just to continue to use the property “as is” for passive recreational uses such as hiking, mountain biking and paragliding, Warren said.

For more information on the “Elings is MY Park!” campaign and upcoming events at the park, call 569.5611 or visit www.elingspark.org.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on August 19, 2004.

Regional coordination sought for challenges

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A new report says jobs, housing and transportation issues need a unified response.

While the jobs-housing-congestion dynamic is hardly new news to anyone who travels Highway 101 during commuter hours, a new report is actually the first official study to tackle the situation on a broad, regional basis and lay out actions to take.

“What really differentiates it is its broader geographic perspective,” said John Jostes, a public policy specialist who led the Santa Barbara County/Ventura County panel that compiled the report, “Taking Action Regionally.”

“What we discovered is that the level of communication between Ventura agencies, communities, nonprofits and government and Santa Barbara’s (counterparts) is almost nonexistent,” Jostes said.

As a result, individual community policies and actions are having unintended detrimental effects, collectively.

The study has a series of recommendations in seven different areas, including advancing housing policy that reflects regional priorities, integrating regional thinking into job creation and economic development, and legislative advocacy for change.

As to the next step, Jostes said he thinks the report was well received by the powers that be.

“But whether anything comes of it is another story,” he said. “That’s where the political leadership and the community leadership comes in.”

The city of Santa Barbara has already initiated work to get some financial resources for the continuation of the effort, said Gregg Hart, a former councilman who is now the spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, one of the key players. “If that is successful, the plan is to then go to the city of Ventura to talk about their interest, etc.

“(Report team member) Jim Youngson has been using the analogy of a campfire,” Hart continued. “Looking for kindling and starting seeds to get a fire going. If the city of Santa Barbara really embraces this sort of a kindling approach … then it will continue.”

Asked if there were state-level funds available to continue the work, Jostes said there might be.

“That’s one of the things I think everybody would like to see, but it’s a regional problem,” he said. “In order to attract the interest and the resources that the state has to offer, it’s crucial that western Ventura and Santa Barbara County start acting like a region. That means talking about the collective problems that face us all.”

The full report, “Taking Action Regionally,” can be viewed online at www.sbcag.org.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on August 12, 2004.

Think globally, act regionally

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While the jobs-housing-congestion dynamic is hardly new news to anyone who travels the 101 freeway at 5 p.m. weekdays, a report, titled “Taking Action Regionally,” is actually the first official study to tackle the situation on a broad regional basis and lay out actions to take.

Traffic photo courtesy Pexels.com.

Traffic photo courtesy Pexels.com.

“What really differentiates it is its broader geographic perspective,” said John Jostes, a public policy specialist who led the Santa Barbara County/Ventura County panel that did the report.

“What we discovered is that the level of communication between Ventura agencies, communities, nonprofits and government and Santa Barbara’s (counterparts) is almost non-existent,” said Jostes. As a result, individual community policies and actions are having unintended detrimental effects collectively.

The study has a series of recommendations in seven different areas, including advancing housing policy that reflects regional priorities, integrating regional thinking into job creation and economic development and legislative advocacy for change.

As to the next step, Jostes said he thinks the report was well received by the powers that be. “But whether anything comes of it is another story. That’s where the political leadership and the community leadership comes in.”

The City of Santa Barbara has already initiated work to get some financial resources for the continuation of the effort, said Gregg Hart, a former councilman who is now the spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, one of the key players. “If that is successful, the plan is to then go to the City of Ventura to talk about their interest, etc.”

“(Report team member) Jim Youngson has been using the analogy of a campfire, ” said Hart. “Looking for kindling and starting seeds to get a fire going. If the City of Santa Barbara really embraces this sort of a kindling approach … then it will continue.”

When asked if there were state level funds available to continue the work, Jostes said there might be. “That’s one of the things I think everybody would like to see, but it’s a regional problem. In order to attract the interest and the resources that the state has to offer, it’s crucial that western Ventura and Santa Barbara County start acting like a region. That means talking about the collective problems that face us all.”

The full report can be viewed online at www.sbcag.org

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on August 12, 2004.

Fiesta celebration a quiet one for law enforcement

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This year’s Fiesta celebration went off with few hitches, which is just the way law enforcement likes it.

“This Fiesta had fewer large problems than the last several recent Fiestas,” said police Lt. Paul McCaffrey, a department spokesman.

He credits much of the success to the preplanning and prior year analysis that goes into making decisions.

To make things work smoothly, all hands are on deck within the department, both officers and civilian personnel.

“Days off, holidays, vacations are all canceled during Fiesta,” said McCaffrey. “The courts don’t say ‘Oh, well, it’s Fiesta’ and give us extra time to get the reports done.”

Also lending a hand were officers from other agencies, including the Sheriff’s Department; Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula and Ventura police departments; Santa Barbara County Probation; and the California Youth Authority. While having additional officers on the streets helps, the reinforcements also brought special knowledge of known gang members from their areas.

“The incidents we did have were largely gang-related problems,” McCaffrey said. “Having officers from other agencies that are knowledgeable of who the gang members are, who might have a warrant, the terms of probation. Some people are not allowed out of their county, out at night, (or to) associate with gang members, some are prohibited from consuming alcohol.”

Being able to quickly take action on some of these minor types of violations allowed police to “send a message of what we will and will not tolerate here in Santa Barbara,” McCaffrey said.

“… Especially a gang of 20-25 people, take one or two people out of group for something relatively minor, we’re sending a message. That philosophy did a lot to prevent problems,” he added.

Another big part of police effectiveness was increased communication and mobility. McCaffrey said another radio frequency was added and there were extra officers on bicycles, motorcycles and on foot on State Street, where most of the action took place.

“Gangs aren’t hanging out at the Noches de Ronda,” said McCaffrey, who added that they like the see-and-be-seen atmosphere of State Street.

“A big part of the gang mentality and lifestyle is to defend your gang and look for other gangs.”

Authorities estimate there were 524 arrests during Fiesta vs. more than 650 last year. McCaffrey said the department will have a “great big Fiesta debriefing” in the near future.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon