Comment period extended on valley plan EIR

 

The public comment period for the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan environmental impact report has been extended two months until Sept. 22, the county planning department announced July 11.

The announcement came less than 48 hours after a contentious meeting in Solvang at which more than two dozen speakers appealed for more time to consider the voluminous document. The comment period was to have ended July 24.

 

Justin Feek an associate planner for the county said that currently there are no plans to have another open meeting for public comments; however a decision on another meeting will be an internal planning department decision made in consultation with planning department management and the 3rd district supervisor.

A crowd of more than 100 people gathered in the Solvang Veterans Memorial Hall July 9 to provide public comments on the draft environmental report. The document of more than 700 pages was presented by representatives from the county office of long-range planning, a division of the Planning and Development Department, and consultants from Rincon Planning, which had been hired by the county to produce the extensive document.

 

The draft environmental impact report is one of the last steps in a process that began in 2000 as a review of the county-wide Comprehensive Plan that was undertaken in 1980-1981. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors recognized the need to update the plan, and in 2000 it directed Planning and Development to proceed with a community plan for the Santa Ynez Valley. The board said that it recognized the unique and special requirements for the Valley, and in 2001 a group of citizens was chosen to form the Santa Ynez Valley General Plan Advisory Committee.

Over a period of two years, GPAC held 32 meetings throughout the area, gathering information from public meetings, county staff, and interested community members. The group discussed a wide range of issues that impacted the valley including:  land use; public services; parks; recreation and trails; biological resources; visual resources; agricultural tourism and wineries; water; waste water; and flood hazards; circulation and highways; and community design.

 

On August 10, 2004, the county board of supervisors initiated the draft project description for the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan and on February 15, 2005, the board modified and reduced the planning area boundary and reinitiated the draft project description.

Early in 2005, newly elected 3rd District supervisor Brooks Firestone appointed a new Valley Planning Advisory Committee, which gathered information and provided community-based feedback to the planning commission. VPAC held more than 20 meetings locally with community members and provided input on select issues in the community plan.

At the July 9 meeting, County Planning presented the draft environmental document to the public for comments. During the meeting, which was attended by many of those most intimately involved in the process, 26 people in the audience chose to speak on the process and the EIR.

 

John Wilson, a consultant to the Planning Department, provided an introduction and described the purpose of the meeting, which he said was to provide an overview of the SYVCP and the EIR, to give the public an opportunity to comment, and to provide an opportunity to suggest additional alternatives or mitigations. Wilson noted that comments on the merits of the project are more appropriately addressed to the county board of supervisors.

Deputy Director for County Planning Derek Johnson spoke to the audience and explained the process on the SYVCP since its inception several years ago. Johnson said that the plan covers an area of nearly 47,000 acres but excluded the valley cities of Buellton and Solvang, as those entities have general plans of their own.

 

Johnson said that the plan area currently contains 3,384 primary residential units. At the 20 year build-out of the proposed plan, another 516 new primary residential units, 132 new residential second units, 24 new agricultural employee units, and 149 new mixed-use residential units are anticipated. Additionally, 115 primary residential units on four “affordable housing” sites likely will be developed.

“The plan is environmentally superior when compared to the no-project alternative, because it contains additional policies, development standards and mitigative policies that will help maintain the rural character of the valley and protect the environment when compared to the existing General Plan,” Johnson read from a prepared text.

All of the 26 speakers asked that more time be provided for review of the document. Those who rose to speak included former 3rd District supervisor Gail Marshall, who said “due to the length of the document more time should be provided for community comments…until September.”

 

Other speakers included Steve Pappas and Doreen Farr, the two candidates who will face off in the November election for the open 3rd District seat; Nancy Crawford-Hall, publisher of the Santa Ynez Valley Journal and a former member of the Valley Planning Advisory Committee; Mark Oliver, President of the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance; Doug Herthel from Preserve Our Los Olivos; Peggy Brierton, John Burnaby, and John Hartman, all from Buellton Is Our Town; former planning commissioner Lansing Duncan, and former Solvang city councilman Fred Kovol.

After all the public speakers had an opportunity to address their concerns, current 3rd District supervisor Brooks Firestone took a few minutes to address the audience.

 

He noted that this was the first time he had heard the two candidates for the 3rd District seat express their desire to have the public comment period extended. “It would be a board decision, but they’ll listen to the 3rd district supervisor”, said Firestone.

Firestone said that although 26 speakers asked for extensions to the public comment period, the 3rd District contained about 45,000 residents and he represented all the residents, even those who did not show up to speak, and that those who didn’t show up would agree with his assessment to more forward without any additional time for public comment.

 

“There was a certain unanimity of speakers here tonight … but I represent the valley … they want a plan!”

Steve Pappas, one of those who had urged an extension of the public comment period, wrote to the Santa Ynez Valley Journal after the county announced the extension, saying, “Well, I guess we made our point.”