Concert for The Coast

[ Excerpt from "Event Promotes Coastal Preservation," By Bianca Licata, DAILY NEXUS, May 5, 2008 ]


In an effort to preserve the Gaviota Coast from development at Naples, the Isla Vista chapter of the Surfrider Foundation held its ninth annual Concert for the Coast... [at] Anisq’ Oyo’ Park [in Isla Vista]...

... Surfrider volunteer Nikles Elinger said the annual event was one of many steps the foundation has taken to protect the open space from a potential housing development.

“We’re trying to stall the development of Naples and keep the coast pristine,” Elinger said. “We go to all the hearings, we send letters to local businesses. [There’s] two to three miles [of coast threatened by developers] - they just want to put in houses on the whole thing.”

All the concert’s proceeds were donated to the Naples Coalition, which is an organization dedicated to preserving the Gaviota Coast...

Former Surfrider volunteer Matt Ward said that, while money will always be an issue, conserving the Gaviota Coast is necessary for Santa Barbara and its surfers.

“Naples Coast is a pristine environment - you don’t get another in the proximity between San Diego and Santa Barbara,” Ward said. “Look back in the history of surfing - thousands of people have utilized that coast. You have to grab hold of the last few places so you can maintain a rural surf environment.”

... Snowy Plover Docent Coordinator Jennifer Stroh passed out flyers encouraging beachgoers to respect the boundaries protecting the Snowy Plover - the tiny, speedy bird that nests on Sands Beach - while still enjoying the seaside. The boundaries are imperative to keeping the Plovers safe, Stroh said.

“Sands Beach is really popular for students,” Stroh said. “People like to surf, sun tan and exercise, but it’s also a really important spot for Snowy Plovers. Their nesting season is from March 15 to Sept. 15. If they move, they die; too much energy is spent flying away.”

Santa Barbara Councilman Das Williams attended the festival as well. When interviewed, Williams said he was concerned about developers seeking to turn Naples into a large housing tract with over 50 mansions. However, Williams said, there is still a possibility that developers and environmentalists can reach a compromise.

“[We’re] working to try to transfer development rights to other locations,” Williams said. “But that takes money and political will.”



( Image courtesy of www.ocean.com )

Hospital Budget Cuts

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts that California could face a budget deficit that approaches $20 billion through June 2009. He's proposing cut backs in many areas, including hospital care that target those who are in greater need of such services. Das Williams joined with groups and individuals to raise public awareness of the problem with hospital services cuts the Governor is proposing...

To view the KEYT-TV video, please go to: KEYT-TV: Hospital Budget Cuts

BH: A Poodle Perspective

[ Excerpts from "It's A Dog's World After All," by Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, April 24, 2008 ]

The "building height controversy... shows no sign of going away... What’s striking in this is how upside-down the players have become.

"Spearheading the initiative effort to set the new height limit at 40 feet — down from the existing limit of 60 feet — is architect and former planning commissioner Bill Mahan. What makes Mahan so incongruous in this battle is that while on the Planning Commission, he was consistently one of the more reliably pro-business, pro-growth commissioners. In fact, while on the commission  —  where he reigned as the congenial and well-respected sage silverback  —  Mahan voted in favor of the two new buildings looming over Chapala Street that have since become the chief exhibits in the argument to lower Santa Barbara’s ceiling. But about the time he left the commission, Mahan experienced a religious epiphany about how all the proposed new big buildings are threatening to destroy Santa Barbara’s soul. And if not for Mahan, there would be no building height initiative campaign.

"On the flip side, there’s City Council member Das Williams, who has been consistently outspoken in his opposition to the initiative. Williams argued it would undermine developers’ ability to provide affordable housing. But of all the council members, Williams is the most flamboyantly no-growth. He can legitimately boast  —  and frequently does  —  that no council member has voted against as many development projects as he. More than any other politico I can think of, Williams has consistently sought to embrace and embody the most violently contradictory aspects of the local enviro community. Williams attempts to keep one foot in the Smart Growth camp  —  which holds that higher urban densities can prevent sprawl, promote mass transit, and accommodate affordable housing  —  and the other in the Not in My Back Yard posse, who are alarmed at any increase in traffic, congestion, and density. Some have accused the unapologetically political Williams of pandering, posturing, and trying to be all things to all people. There are times I think the same thing. But I give Williams high marks for trying..."

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For full-text of "The Angry Poodle" column, please go to:
SBI: Dog's World After All

Building Heights Confusion

Reading the various reportings on the building heights issue, I asked my son to help with my confusion. He explained where we are on the building heights issue and later put it in an email:

"I do admit that the conclusion was not very clear. We cannot pass a draft interim ordinance as is in one hearing, and we are not likely to do so as is. To ensure that there is enough public input, we need to have some process. We [the City Council] instructed the Ordinance Committee to draft an interim ordinance on height limits, incorporating the issues of open space, setbacks and type and mix of units; to come back to Council after the GPU workshop, check-in with Council is complete, and to possibly include a sunset date which would coincide with the adoption and implementation of the ordinances."

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The following are excerpts from "City Council Waits for More Data Before Capping Downtown Structures - No Building Height Ordinance — Yet," By Martha Sadler, SB INDEPENDENT, April 24, 2008:

"On Thursday, April 17, Councilmember Das Williams called a press conference to announce an historic compromise between smart-growth advocates and preservationists regarding the question of building heights and density... The spokesperson for the new coalition was architect Bill Mahan, a former city planning commissioner and one of the authors of the Save El Pueblo petition, which aims to place on the ballot an initiative that would impose a 45-foot building height maximum throughout the city... Former mayor Sheila Lodge, another leader in the signature drive, stood by his side on the steps... according to Lodge, they had crafted this compromise with those who favor tall buildings downtown to prevent horizontal sprawl  —  including Williams, housing advocate Mickey Flacks, and high-profile architects Detlev Peikert, Brian Cearnal, and Bruce Bartlett...

"... It turned out that the compromise came as a surprise to most of those who had gathered signatures for the ballot initiative, signed it, or contributed money to the effort...

"The council on Tuesday night concluded that there was no point in a temporary height-limiting ordinance if it wouldn’t stop the ballot initiative...

"In a gesture demonstrating their understanding of the public’s concern about building heights, a majority of council members directed planning staff to work on a height-limiting ordinance, but not to rush it. The consensus was that height limits and associated questions about open space and affordable housing were best addressed as part of the Plan Santa Barbara process, now underway, which is leading up to the update of the city’s General Plan..."

For full-text of the SB INDEPENDENT article of 4/24/2008, please go to:
SBI: Building Heights

Building Heights Ordinance (con't)

[ Excerpt from "City plans to create temporary building guidelines" BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND, April 22, 2008 ]


After a lengthy seesaw battle, Santa Barbara city leaders approved by a slim 4-3 margin a proposal to have the city’s Ordinance Committee draft temporary legislation to address concerns about the height, bulk and scale of recent building projects until the city’s General Plan update process is complete...

Councilmembers Das Williams, Helene Schneider and Iya Falcone, who brought the proposal to the council’s agenda, joined with Councilmember Grant House yesterday evening to vote in favor of drafting an interim ordinance.

“It’s moving in the right direction,” House said. “Is it all the way? No way.”

In contrast, Councilmember Dale Francisco called the proposal an “end-run” around the Plan Santa Barbara process and a failed attempt to head off the petition being circulated for signatures that would lower building height limits...

Schneider also called the proposed ballot initiative, organized by a group known as Save El Pueblo Viejo, an “end-run” around Plan Santa Barbara. She said while an interim ordinance is not an ideal situation, it is necessary given the context.

“Of course it’s not perfect,” she said, calling the ordinance language proposed yesterday evening a starting point...

Many in attendance, including several supporters of the Save El Pueblo Viejo initiative, also agreed that a citizen-led ballot initiative is too simplistic to address complex planning issues related to size, bulk and scale of buildings.

“The issues are so subtle that it’s somewhat ham-fisted to have a ballot initiative that just talks about height,” said Brian Barnwell, a former city councilmember and one of the organizers of the Save El Pueblo Viejo initiative.

Barnwell said the initiative has cachet because local residents lost faith in city leaders to take action on buildings they perceived to be inappropriately large and bulky. With a good interim ordinance, however, he said he would be willing to urge people to vote against the initiative, if it gathers the requisite number of signatures to appear on the ballot...

House, who appeared to waver back and forth on the merits of an interim ordinance, ultimately swung in favor of the proposal after Falcone and Williams agreed not to place a timeline on the process.

Williams said the intent is to use input from a current round of Plan Santa Barbara community workshops to build the temporary ordinance.

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For full text of the article, please go to:
SBDS: Temporary Building Guidelines

Height Limits Ordinance

[ Prior to the City Council meeting of April 22, 2008, Das wrote to SantaBarbarasBlog the following: ]


“First, the discussion tonight would not be whether to adopt the draft interim ordinance that was drawn up by Bill Mahan, Sheila Lodge, Brian Cearnal, and myself (with help from 20-30 members of each group), but whether or not to have a process at Ordinance Committee by which the public can give us some input and we can decide whether or not to have an interim ordinance at all,” Das told the Blog.

“The origin of this is that former Mayor Sheila Lodge and I both started showing up to groups, her to support the Mahan heights initiative and me to oppose it. Sheila is one of my heroes and one of the people whose example got me into politics and we concluded that it was quite foolish for us to be fighting when we agree that:

1. The issue of size, bulk, and scale must be addressed
2. That we need to assure that we can still build affordable and workforce housing
3. We need to assure that red-tile rooftops, screened solar panels, and other good architectural elements are not dis-incentivized by this effort
4. We need to ensure that the massing of buildings gets smaller as the building rises
5. We need to address the setback and open space issue for mixed use buildings
6. That it would be better if we had environmental review on any proposed change to the charter

"Mahan’s 40′ limit initiative would only address the first of these issues. It ignores the others because citizen-based initiatives do not cover multiple topics. That is why the idea of an interim ordinance, perhaps placed on the charter INSTEAD of the 40′ limit, is a better way to go.

"This draft proposal has a 40′ limit, but one in which the roof does not count so that we still have red-tiled roofs instead of flat roofs, an incentive of 12 more feet if there is 30% or more affordable housing, and it makes setback and open space requirements. The only downside, from my perspective, is if we do place this on the ballot, we are making decisions for future generations, who may have other needs.

Now I’m not even saying that this one must be adopted as is. There should be an open and transparent process in the City to wrestle with these issues and one that is part of the General Plan process, but unless the Council forwards this onto the Ordinance committee tonight, there is unlikely to be that kind of discussion in which anyone can take part, except I suppose on the Blog.” - Das Williams