More Mesa Forum

[ Excerpt from SBN-P article 5/12/2006 by Barney McManigal ]

... Looking to save More Mesa from a bulldozer's path, 2nd District supervisor candidates... touted strategies for preserving the popular 300-acre coastal open space...

At a forum sponsored by the More Mesa Preservation Coalition, Janet Wolf, Das Williams and Joe Guzzardi shared options for blocking development across the privately owned property, in particular a 40-acre slice slated for up to 70 homes.

Candidate Dan Secord, who briefly dropped by the outdoor event, did not participate because of a schedule conflict, he said.

Titled "Who Will Do More for More Mesa?" the event drew close to 90 people and aimed to help environmentalists and nearby residents choose among candidates in the June 6 election...

The county has banned building on about 226 of the 266 acres owned by Utah-based oil man J. Earl Holding -- who has challenged that decision -- but approximately 40 acres remain ripe for development.

The county owns 35 acres, which it has designated as environmentally sensitive.

All three candidates said they support purchasing the land by crafting a patchwork of funds similar to that which purchased Ellwood Mesa for about $20 million.

So far, More Mesa has no price tag.

"I am an optimist," said Ms. Wolf, a former Goleta school board member. "We could make that work."

Mr. Guzzardi, a county Emergency Services planner, proposed levying an "open space tax" on property owners in the 2nd District.

"I would be proud to champion that in the community."

But Mr. Williams, a Santa Barbara city councilman, pointed out that a new tax would require a two-thirds majority of registered voters -- not an easy thing to get.

"It's hard to get that many people to agree on anything," said Mr. Williams, who endorsed creating a "conversion fee," or a charge to developers who want to alter the zoning on a property.

"Anytime there is a rezone, we should be tagging on a huge fee to it."

Beyond purchasing More Mesa, candidates also supported strengthening existing land-use policies to control growth in adjacent areas.

Neighborhood activists say proposals for large-scale homes in the More Mesa perimeter threaten the neighborhood's quality of life.

Ms. Wolf called for creating design standards that would limit the scale of nearby buildings to one-story.

"We need to have an understanding of what our standards are as a community," Ms. Wolf said. "I would push for those design standards."

But Mr. Williams called design standards "insufficient."

"It's subjective," he said, touting work done in the city of Santa Barbara to craft ordinances that restrict home sizes.

Mr. Guzzardi said that the city still has a long way to go before it can effectively control growth in neighborhoods.

"After two years, the process has been a complete failure," Mr. Guzzardi said, referring to a city advisory committee that has aimed to craft a neighborhood preservation law. He is a member of the panel.

More Mesa Preservation Coalition President Valerie Olson said residents were looking to the candidates for help...

e-mail: bmcmanigal@newspress.com

Santa Barbara News-Press


(Painting image courtesy of http://www.rschloss.com/images/avalable/1202.jpg)