Goleta Residents Register Dissent at General Plan SEIR Hearing

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By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer

Small group takes issue with proposed environmental provisions and offers a fierce defense of 2006 General Plan.

Although few in number, attendees at the public hearing at Goleta City Hall on Wednesday night had plenty to say about the environmental document connected to the city’s more substantive General Plan amendments. The hearing was held only to hear public comments, not to make any policy decisions.

“In all cases, environmental protections continue to be lessened in this document,” said western Goleta resident Barbara Massey.

The Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report was prepared in connection with the General Plan amendments that could have significant environmental effects, including those that affect the Land Use, Conservation, Open Space and Transportation elements of Goleta’s development blueprint. Issues like the allowance for more big-box retail, coastal access, environmentally sensitive habitat areas, wetlands creeks and trees, are among the things that could be affected by the proposed changes to the 2006 General Plan.

According to the city, the SEIR determines that “no new potentially significant effects on the environment were identified as a result of the proposed General Plan amendments, and one new potentially significant effect on the environment related to air quality was identified as a result of recent state regulatory changes.”

All the commenters, Goleta residents who have opposed most of the changes to the General Plan since the beginning of the amendment process, took issue with what they saw as a weakening of the environmental standards set forth in the original plan.

“It seems that this is geared to the philosophy of what is the minimum we can do to save our environment, not what is the maximum we can do,” said Richard Foster, commenting on what he saw as the reduced amount of specificity introduced by the amendments. Lack of specificity, he said, would lead to interpretations that could lead to litigation.

On the other hand, it was the seeming inflexibility of some of the original General Plan policies that set up legal actions against the city in the first place. Goleta was the target of several lawsuits claiming that the plan was too restrictive for business, housing and development. In response, the City Council voted to initiate a long list of amendments requested by city staff and stakeholders.

Just as big a problem to the audience was the issue of public participation in the process. Several people claimed the hearing for the supplemental report was not noticed to the public well enough, to the point where some suggested a do-over to the public hearing.

“The city’s Web site has improved, but it doesn’t work if you don’t post on it,” said George Relles, who suggested a workshop because of the complexity of the amendment process.

In response, advance planner Anne Wells, the hearing officer, said Goleta had done as much as it could to keep the public in the loop, with workshops and meetings the city has held over the past two years.

“We feel that we really spent a lot of time with the public on outreach and awareness,” she said.

Public comment period on the Draft Supplemental EIR for what is being called the “Track 3” amendments continues until March 16. Click here to read the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report.

Write to sfernandez@noozhawk.com

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