Issues like RV parking, transportation, jobs, traffic and housing may billboard the need for regional cooperation, but a shared frustration with the California Coastal Commission’s interference with local governance may be the issue that actually brings the words “regional cooperation” out of the realm of rhetoric and into action.<\/p>\n
Ignited by Councilman and commission member Gregg Hart’s passionate testimony about the way the coastal commission disrespects the desires of local governments, on Veteran’s Day the Santa Barbara City Council voted 4-3 to withdraw a Local Coastal Plan Amendment application that had been many years in the making.<\/p>\n
“We have a responsibility to step up and respond to this,” said Hart. Describing the commission’s mandated zoning restrictions — which would have a rigid mixed-use proportion of 30 percent commercial for any residential development on parcels 5,000 square feet or greater (90 percent of the Funk Zone<\/a>) — as a “political power play,” Hart cited the commission’s recent rejection of Santa Barbara County’s plan for Toro Canyon as yet another example of the state imposing its opinion while ignoring years of community work.<\/p>\n “This is a great chance for us to do something positive for the entire state of California,” said Hart, as he urged the Council to organize its colleagues in the state around the issue of the commission overstepping its boundaries.<\/p>\n Councilmembers Iya Falcone, Roger Horton and Mayor Marty Blum voted in favor of the commission plan, while Councilmembers Dan Secord, Rusty Fairly and Babatunde Folayemi supported Hart’s position.<\/p>\n Interestingly, while she said she didn’t like the mandate at all, Councilwoman-elect Helene Schneider said she would have voted with the minority on this issue. Since Councilmembers Hart, Fairly and Folayemi are leaving in January, this means the vote would have gone the other way if it had been delayed two more months.<\/p>\nOriginally published in South Coast Beacon on November 13, 2003.<\/a><\/h6>\n
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