For those with lasting Isla Vista memories, the Feb. 6 article, “Residents Return to Isla Vista Apartments After Balcony Collapses from Cliff Erosion,” draws renewed attention to Santa Barbara County Second District Supervisor Laura Capps’ campaign to require six-foot fencing on IV bluffs.
Capps and the Board of Supervisors’ confusing knee-jerk ordinance increases the “mandatory height” of bluff fencing and, at the same time, waives “fees for good cause for permits for safety fences or railings along the Isla Vista bluffs.”
Are they begging property owners to build higher fences? What does “mandatory” mean?
Practically every building on oceanside Del Playa Drive already has six-foot fencing that prevents access to the oceanside deck areas.
Does Capps want fences right on the edge? Or, in the case of the recent Xanadu collapse, off the edge? At the moment the “edge” is moving inland — quickly at times.
County staff say high fences are “exempt from further environmental review requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).” Apparently, building a structure on a subsiding bluff does not require an environmental impact report? That makes no sense at all.
A public records act request reveals that staff did not bother consulting their own 2019 “Geotechnical Evaluation of Bluff Retreat and Recommendations for Updating the Isla Vista Bluff Policy.” That study notes that bluff retreat can vary from six inches to eight feet with a spike of 10-16 feet in January 2017. Add 2024 to the list of spikes.
The county maintains two large parks on Del Playa — both affording significant ocean views. Part of the county’s existing fence at Dog Shit Park already fell off the cliff and is strewn along the beach north of Campus Point.
The county’s bluff policy might place Capps’ fence 30 feet back from the bluff — taking a big chunk out of our parks and no longer aligning with adjoining buildings. Click here for an aerial video showing the existing fencing.
Is this decision something we want county staff to determine without an EIR? That seems unsafe.
Peter Iliff, author of the screenplay for James Cameron’s film Point Break, lived at Xanadu Lanes in the 1970s. At least two of those buildings are already cut almost in half due to the retreating bluffs.
It is likely that Iliff’s spectacular unobstructed view of Devereux Point provided inspiration. Building barriers that remove coastal access without adequate environmental review, public input and clear understating of the impact are wrong.
It is time for California’s attorney general to put a hitch in Capps’ giddy up, enforce CEQA, and require environmental review before replacing the fences on our bluffs.
If you don’t know, go slow, Laura Capps. Meanwhile how about fixing the broken stairs at our coastal access points? You won’t need a permit for that.
Peter Neushul
Isla Vista
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I would like to thank Noozhawk for its articles and updates about the weather and future rain storms hitting our area.
I live on Shepard Mesa and I depend on Noozhawk’s updates to know if it is safe to drive to town in Carpinteria. The roads below us can flood, and I depend on the updates to know if it is safe to drive on Highway 101 to Santa Barbara or Ventura.
Diana Thorn
Carpinteria
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Regarding the Feb. 1 article, “Santa Barbara County Planning Commission OKs Test Oil Well Near New Cuyama,” in granting approval, the commission declined to require a full environmental impact report, with an assessment of the consequences of greatly expanded drilling if the exploratory well finds oil.
The commission also overlooked the drilling’s use of almost 200,000 gallons of groundwater from the Cuyama Valley groundwater basin, which is already in critical overdraft. And, it ignored the potential for contaminating this precious aquifer.
The entire process has had two major flaws. First, the county Planning Department typically acts as if it were a paid agent of the applicant seeking project approval. We county residents, however, pay the department to be a fair fact-finder with our interests foremost.
Second, overarching realities are typically ignored. In this instance, that clean water is a great deal more valuable than oil, and that the United States is already the world’s largest producer of petroleum and natural gas.
Wastewater used in oil extraction puts our drinking water at risk. Oil companies have already injected huge quantities of wastewater directly into our protected aquifers … and thousands of wastewater wells throughout California are still contaminating drinking water.
Further, we are in the midst of an unavoidable transition away from a fossil-fueled economy and toward one in which we can live sustainably and with health and prosperity. This conversion is necessary to reduce the trillions of dollars of dislocation and destruction that would otherwise result from climate change. This well directly conflicts with state and local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Now we await results of the exploratory drilling. If “successful,” we must let the Planning Commission know that a rash of new well drilling here is not in the best interest of the county and its residents.
Seth Steiner
Los Alamos
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Fresh from declaring the Earth’s imminent collapse from climate change — 150 million years from now — Robert Sulnick is now proclaiming the imminent danger to Carpinteria and its residents. The cause is the Farm Preserve & Bungalows on the Carpinteria Bluffs.
If it’s even possible, Sulnick is even more over the top with his complaints about this project in his Feb. 1 commentary, “Proposed Carpinteria Farm Preserve Development Must be Denied.”
To hear him tell it, we should build nothing anywhere because sea-level rise is going to wash the bluffs away, 1.6-magnitude earthquakes will flatten what’s left, and lawyers will sue everyone who survives.
If anyone makes it out alive, they’ll almost certainly burn up from the sun 150 million years from now. You’ve been warned!
Chris Spencer
Buellton
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According to Robert Sulnick, Carpinteria should stop the project proposed for the Carpinteria bluffs because the Santa Barbara Channel experiences dozens of earthquakes “ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 2.3.”
Is he serious? If that’s the case, why are we allowing ANY development? And why is the State of California MANDATING denser housing?
Sulnick’s assumptions make no sense. 1.8- to 2.3-magnitude earthquakes?! Please. Thanks for the laugh, Noozhawk.
L. Mueller
Santa Barbara
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Regarding the Feb. 7 article, “Challenger Roy Lee Separates Himself From Incumbent Das Williams in Bid for County Supervisor Seat,” I’m looking forward to the day when I no longer see photos of Das Williams pushing to the front of the crowd for a s—t eating grin photo op.
Robert Richards
Santa Barbara
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During my 14 years of service as a state legislator, I was privileged to work with many committed, dedicated and capable public servants who reflect the best human values and a consistent pursuit of excellence.
Santa Barbara County Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann is one of them.
Hartmann is dedicated to her constituents. When the City of Lompoc was moved into the district she represents two years ago, she quickly recognized its challenges — skyrocketing gun crime, lack of cultural resources and a need for greater economic vitality.
Hartmann has been a steady presence, meeting with community leaders and attending community events.
Particularly sensitive to the struggles of military veterans (Hartmann’s father was a veteran of the Korean conflict), she has pushed for the investment of county resources to reduce the number of homeless veterans.
Recognizing our expanding senior population, she has been leading the effort to improve delivery of services, including congregate meals, wellness checks and reconstitution of the Senior Commission.
While Lompoc has expanded law enforcement presence, Hartmann has advanced a coordinated community response to identify the causes of gun crimes, supporting Collective Communities Creating Change with grant, office space and technical assistance.
She has facilitated collaboration among organizations serving youth, acknowledging the need to address the gun violence epidemic before kids get in trouble.
Hartmann has helped accelerate Lompoc’s economic revitalization by enlisting our state legislators to procure $2.5 million for the Lompoc Theatre and by serving on the newly created private space launch group at the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
I am hopeful that Third District residents will recognize Hartmann’s effectiveness and leadership and re-elect her on March 5.
Hannah-Beth Jackson
Former state senator, 2012-2020
Santa Barbara
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I am writing in support of the re-election of Santa Barbara County Third District Supervisor Joan Hartman. She has dedicated her time in office encouraging healthy and active living in our community.
As a local business owner and bicycle advocate, I have worked with Hartmann and the county on several bicycle and alternative transportation projects during her tenure as supervisor.
These projects include the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments’ Regional Bicycle Master Plan, the Regional Recreation Master Plan and, more recently, the Santa Ynez Valley Active Transportation Regional Connector Trail between Buellton and Santa Ynez.
Hartmann is a dedicated public servant who carefully listens to the concerns of her constituents and takes appropriate action. This past spring, she, accompanied by the county Public Works Department, joined me and our local bicycle club president, Kirk Nordgren, on a field trip to inspect the damage on Ballard Canyon Road — a favorite bike route in the Santa Ynez Valley. After carefully inspecting the poor road conditions, Hartmann immediately instructed Public Works to repave the critical sections of this road.
She is also passionate about the environment. She has taken steps to reduce further oil exploration and to preserve the beautiful open spaces along the Gaviota coast, in the Santa Ynez Valley, Lompoc and throughout the North County.
Hartmann is a champion of active and healthy living, the environment, and smart thoughtful housing reform throughout the Third District. Please join me in voting for her re-election on March 5.
Corey Evans
Buellton
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To save our United States, we must vote in the 2024 elections at all levels, from City Council to president, including the March 5 Primary Election and the Nov. 5 General Election.
The last election in 2020 is a crazy quilt example of irregularities.
To keep voters safe at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, voting was done by mail-in ballots. Hundreds of thousands of ballots were mailed and millions of dollars were spent to open them and check the signatures, while weeks were taken to read them and report the results.
To keep ballots safe from being stolen from postal boxes, new steel, armored boxes were built and placed for deposit of the mail-in ballots. 34 boxes were placed around Santa Barbara County, costing millions of dollars, and are still in place for a rental charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the voters.
The number of “traditional polling places” was reduced and the registration to get a ballot was minimal.
Now the “pandemic” is over and things look a lot better, but the state government liked this arrangement and has decided to keep it by incorporating mail-in ballots into state law, ie., the Voters Choice Act, 3000.5 in the state code. All elections are now using mail-in ballots.
The state has also set up a special fund to pay for all the added expense needed for mail-in ballots called “the System Replacement Grant.” In other words, our tax dollars.
Locally, Santa Barbara County must mail 237,749 mail-in ballots for each election, plus the County Information Guide and Sample Ballot booklet.
“Vote by Mail” is more expensive, takes longer to report results and is subject to ballot harvesting and theft. A large number of mail ballots are out of date due to delays in reviewing county voter registration lists. So millions of dollars are wasted on dead ballots.
Voting by mail does NOT increase voter turnout as demonstrated in the last election. And there are fewer precincts now to make it more difficult to vote in person. At the precinct polls, you sign next to your name in the old system and your ballot is ready to be counted when you drop it in the box. No remote drop boxes are needed.
The voting system has been watered down. Reliable voting is what voting is all about.
- You Must ID yourself and show that you are the one voting — your real ID.
- You must appear at the precinct to vote unless you have requested an absentee ballot before Election Day.
- You must sign your name on the voter log book, not on a wobbly computer screen so your signature can be verified if necessary.
- There must be voting only on Election Day, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
- Require the updating of registration files every two years.
Justin Ruhge
Lompoc
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