An anonymous donor last week gave a $1 million donation to the nonprofit Channel Islands Restoration’s campaign to buy and preserve 104 acres slated for development in the Santa Barbara foothills.
The Santa Barbara-based organization is spearheading a fundraising effort to purchase the land, which is located on the mesa between the San Marcos Foothills Preserve and Highway 154, at fair market value. Money from the campaign aims to purchase the land to be forever protected and maintained as public open space, and to restore the native habitat.
The contributed $1 million to support the campaign was given on the condition that the funding will be returned if the coalition of local environmental groups is unable to raise the remaining funding needed to buy the property.
“It was exciting to receive this size of a donation,” said Ken Owen, executive director of Channel Islands Restoration. “It indicates to us that the community has the capacity to make this purchase possible.”
The development was approved by Santa Barbara County in 2005, and eight luxury homes are proposed for the site by The Chadmar Group, according to Channel Islands Restoration. The Chadmar Group is the partner of the long-term owner of the property, and the company has been involved for four years, according to Chuck Lande, president and CEO of The Chadmar Group.
The San Marcos Foothills Preserve is a unique project, Lande told Noozhawk via email. He said the approved plan resulted in the property owner setting aside about 90 percent of the land in exchange for the right to build 20 homes — five of them affordable — on the remaining 10 percent.
The land includes 200 acres that created the San Marcos Preserve, together with the 30 acres that make up the passive park for public use, Lande said, adding that 98 acres will be left as undeveloped private open space.
“All of these designations are forever, leaving about 30 acres for building sites,” Lande said.
The location of the 20 homes were based upon the environmental impact report, according to Lande.
“Each home site has been carefully placed to avoid environmental impacts,” Lande said.
Of the 15 market-rate homes and five affordable homes that are permitted on the 360 acres, Lande said, seven market-rate and two affordable homes have been built and are occupied.
The Chadmar Group is completing the final permits for the last eight market-rate and the last three affordable homes, Lande said this week.
“Regarding buying the property, a group met with us once briefly, indicating their interest in buying what is remaining of the land — the current home sites,” The Chadmar Group said in a statement. “We continue to be open minded and willing to meet and discuss more.”
However, the $5.5 million that has been stated is not the fair market value, Lande said.
“Those looking to raise the funds have agreed with us that there is no agreement on the fair market value of the home sites,” he said.
Channel Islands Restoration’s $5.5 million fundraising goal is based on a preliminary appraisal for the property, according to Elihu Gevirtz, a senior ecologist for the nonprofit organization.
To date, the campaign has raised more than $1.2 million to purchase the property.
“We believe the fair market value is $5.5 million,” Gevirtz said. “The owner does not. … We have no intention of standing in the way of the development if the bulldozers start going. In the meantime, we are hoping we can raise enough money.”
Local environmental groups believe the development will disrupt one of the last native grassland habitats in the area that are important breeding and hunting grounds for animals, particularly bird species, according to Channel Islands Restoration.
“We believe development will alter the character of the property, so much that it will destroy the experience people have when visiting,” Owen said. “The disturbance that will be caused even by just a few houses, we believe, will probably have an effect on the wildlife habitat, and they will potentially disappear.”
Gevirtz said “the reality is most grasslands have been developed in the Santa Barbara and Goleta area.”
For wildlife, there are a few grassland areas locally, including the upper San Marcos Preserve where the homes are planned, the existing San Marcos Foothills Preserve, which is a Santa Barbara County park encompassing 200 acres of open space and trails, More Mesa and the Carpinteria bluffs, Gevirtz said.
“There is so little that birds depend on it,” Gevirtz said of the upper San Marcos Preserve. “What we are afraid of is if this gets developed, it might be the last straw.”
The west mesa of the San Marcos foothills is a popular recreational area, Owen said, adding that it’s a place where visitors can enjoy nature’s playground in a convenient location adjacent Santa Barbara and Goleta.
“A lot of folks walk it everyday,” Owen said. “It has a lot of value to the sanity of the public to be able to get away easily and find an undisturbed location. It’s important not only for the ecology, but the mental health of our community that we have resources like this available that people can visit.”
Click here for more information about Channel Islands Restoration or information on the fundraising campaign.
Click here for more information about The Chadmar Group.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.