Early results show the $10.65 million bond measure to build a new Summerland fire station failing in Tuesday’s special mail-only election.
The Santa Barbara County Elections Office had counted 2,875 votes as of Tuesday night and the measure had 54.82 percent in favor, which is short of the two-thirds majority required to pass.
The Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District put the Measure Z bond to voters so it could fund a replacement for the Summerland station on Lillie Avenue and major improvements for the main Carpinteria station, making both of the old buildings earthquake-safe.
Initial turnout was 30.97 percent, but County Elections will process all valid ballots that were mailed by Tuesday and are received by the end of Friday, according to Renee Bischof, chief deputy registrar of voters. The final election results will be certified on Monday.
Tuesday’s semi-official election results show 1,576 votes in favor and 1,299 votes against Measure Z.
“We are deeply disappointed that our community did not take advantage of this incredible opportunity to upgrade and seismically retrofit our firefighters’ facilities,” said Lisa Guravitz, a former fire district board member and member of the Measure Z SAVES Committee. “It is our hope that with additional education our community can work together with the first responders to try again, as the need will only become more critical. While we did not get the 66 two-thirds percent threshold, we did win a majority of the ballots returned.”
The bond money would be used to replace Station 2 in Summerland, at 2375 Lillie Ave., with a larger, modern station about a block away at 2450 Lillie Ave. That project is expected to cost about $4.8 million, leaving about $5 million for upgrades at the station at 911 Walnut Ave.
The mail-only election applied to all voters within the district boundaries, which are the same as the Carpinteira Unified School District including the City of Carpinteria and unincorporated Santa Barbara County, including the community of Summerland.
Opponents argued that a new station and improvements won’t increase response times or fire protection for the area. The new Summerland station, planned to house eight on-duty firefighters and four apparatus, is larger than necessary, they wrote in ballot arguments.
— Noozhawk news editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.