Naples EIR hearing continued to July
10
The Planning Commission was able to receive all-new
testimony at the first meeting on June 30 on the final EIR for the Naples
subdivision project at Gaviota, but continued the
hearing to July 10 to be able to process and address the information.
The final EIR identifies three significant impacts that
cannot be mitigated related to biological resources, visual resources and land
use. The project applicant is Vintage Communities, an Orange County development
company, which has an application pending to build from 54 to 72 luxury houses
on the Gaviota coast.
The Naples Coalition is a Santa Barbara County-based
association of local non-profit groups including the Gaviota
Coast Conservancy, Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club, Santa Barbara Chapter
of Surfrider Foundation, Santa Barbara Chapter of the
Audubon Society, Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County, The
League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara County
Action Network.
“The scale of this project needs to be reduced and the
reduced entitlements need to be transferred to appropriate urban areas for the
sake of rational planning, for the good of the community, and to meet the
requirements of the Local Coastal Plan,” said the coalition in a press release
prior to the June 30 meeting.
The Naples Coalition website states, “The Coalition’s
Alternative seeks to preserve the rural character of the area by insisting that
before any development is approved, a bonafide effort
to transfer it to an urban area is made in compliance with Local Coastal Plan
Policy 2-13. Whatever can’t be transferred would be moved out of sight, into
the hills north of the highway, and surrounded by a new oak woodland
restoration area. A permanent protective easement would prevent any further
development and would require the restoration area to be maintained in open
space forever.”
A segment of coastal trail with low-profile, vertical
beach access from a public parking area near Highway 101 also was included in
the Naples Coalition’s proposed alternative.
“Basically, this is
not a question of whether or not this area will be developed, but of when and
how,” said said Tom Figg,
project planner for Santa Barbara Ranch (Naples).
“There are 274
legal lots” in the townsite of Naples, he said.
The Santa Barbara Ranch Alternative No. 1 site comprises
the Santa Barbara Ranch property and the adjoining Dos Pueblos Ranch property
one mile west of the City of Goleta and encompasses 235 of 274 legal lots from
the official map of the town of Naples recorded in 1995, and significant
acreage within the historic Rancho Dos Pueblos. The site is divided into south
and north areas by U.S. Route 101, with 67 parcels within 2,830 acres lying
north of Highway 101, and 165 parcels within 419 acres lying south of the
highway.
Figg,
in the revised application to the commission, said, “… Alternative No.1 now
includes a revised lot configuration on the north side of the freeway which
results in the relocation of 14 lots out of the north side of Highway 101
public view corridor. This relocation effort is a direct response to the
‘potential visual impacts’ that we have heard through the planning process.
“Additionally, slight refinements to development envelopes
have occurred on the south side of Highway 101… Other plan refinements including
a larger agricultural conservation easement and a more rural sensitive
architecture will be discussed.”
The Planning Commission continued the hearing to July 10.