January 2001

Agenda

Every Tuesday @ 9 AM
Board of Supervisors meets - on Channel 20.

Every Wednesday @ 9 AM
Planning Commission meets - on Channel 20.

Supervisor Rose holds open office hours from 4 to 6 PM twice per month on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays. The 2nd is at Farmers Market and the 4th is at her office.

Goleta Union School District Board - 1st & 3rd Wed. of each month @ 7:30 PM.

Goleta Water District Board - 2nd & 4th Tues. of each month at 7PM.

Goleta Sanitary District Board - 1st & 3rd Mon of each month @ 7:30 PM.

Santa Barbara City Council - Every Tuesday at 2 and 6 PM. Channel 18.

Hot Off the Press

Neighborhood Personalities, Jim and Doreen Farr - We are so pleased to draw your attention to two of the area's strongest advocates for Goleta. Jim has just become the publisher of the Valley Voice at the start of the new year. We hope you will all spend more time watching this paper increase its relevance in our lives. Jim will make major improvements to coverage of Goleta events and issues. We will all benefit by his efforts.

Doreen began the New Year as Chair of the County Planning Commission after serving as the only representative from Goleta for the past two years.Doreen was the first President of PANA before her appointment to the Planning Commission by 2nd District Supervisor Susan Rose.

As if those two jobs were not enough to keep them hopping, they are parents to Nate, Rick and Greg.

Thank you Jim and Doreen for making Goleta a better place to live.

Backyard Issues

Maravilla - PANA may have another chance to improve the 369 unit senior housing project on the North side of Calle Real. PANA has decided to appeal any approval of changes to the project until the height and density are reduced.

The developer has asked for approval of many changes, including one that PANA asked for years ago - underground parking. We intend to tie up this project for as long as possible unless the concerns of the neighborhood are fully addressed.

Stay tuned.

Successful PANA Meeting at Kellogg School - Well over 100 attended the gathering last October to discuss development proposals for the Xmas Tree Farm and the Albertson/Airbus site.

Airbus - Santa Barbara Airbus had proposed turning the site South of Calle Real and West of Patterson into a bus terminal with offices for 35 employees, parking for 125 passengers and 25 buses, and operations from 4AM to 2 AM.

PANA joined the County in opposing industrial development at the entrance to our community and Airbus withdrew its plans to purchase this property.

Now, Cary Group, developers of the self storage facility east of Patterson at 101, has stepped into the fray to develop this site. They are examining the merits of several alternative developments, including more self storage and affordable housing for the site. PANA is offering comments on such alternatives. We will hold out for a project which actually represents an improvement to our community, with minimal impacts.

Xmas Tree Farm - The 25 acre Noel Christmas Tree Farm is the largest undeveloped parcel in the PANA area. It was the subject of much discussion at the Kellogg meeting, with the majority of concern focused on housing density and traffic through existing neighborhoods.

PANA will seek buyers interested in continued farming, allowing continued agriculture there. If the farm moves toward housing, we will insist on a park, compatibility with the three distinct surrounding neighborhoods, under 100 units, and direct access from Patterson.

PANA will fight any attempt by the County to dump up to 500 units here to its last breath.

Fairview Center - PANA has met with representatives of the Center regarding the deteriorating appearance of the shopping center. They are trying to finalize remodel plans with the County, including a food court, a greatly expanded Vons, and a replacement for the closed gas station

Neighborhood Traffic Cop

Bridge Construction - The University Drive bridge between Patterson and Ribera is still under construction - due to be completed in March. Opening the Fairview interchange with 101 is starting to help a bit on Patterson.

Calle Real Construction - It has begun. The widening to four lanes with a median is underway and is scheduled for completion by June. This bottleneck will continue for another year as work continues on the San Jose Creek Bridge until next year. We have not heard anything about whether the County still plans to extend Calle Real between Patterson and Turnpike.

Road Maintenance - Good news for the few. Resurfacing of the following streets is scheduled by July: Pembroke Avenue, North Cambridge Drive, Turnpike Road, Andamar Way, Berkeley Road, Huntington Drive, Kellogg Avenue, Kingston Avenue, La Gama Way, Marbury Drive, Parejo Drive, Ribera Drive, Ronda Drive, Rosa Linda Way, Stow Canyon Road, Toltec Drive, Toltec Place, Toltec Way, Trocha Way, and Walnut Park Drive.

Enforcement - Increased speed enforcement has begun on Encina Road and Cathedral Oaks Road. As of the New Year speed on Cathedral Oaks Road is a uniform 40 mph.

Goleta Transportation Improvement Plan (GTIP) - PANA will be deeply involved with the biannual update of the GTIP over the next 6 months. This document is very important - defining the transportation improvements for the future as far away as 15 years. It also provides the basis for fees to pay for impacts of foreseen development.

Unfortunately, this effort is woefully behind in schedule. It is due to be completed in the next 6 months, but took a year in the past and was expected to be a continuous process taking an entire 2 years. It is time for the 2000 GTIP to incorporate QUALITY transportation improvements with MAJOR effects on congestion

Community-wide Issues

Successful McDonalds Drive-through Appeal - PANA, together with members of 6 other neighborhood organizations involving 18 individuals succeeded in convincing the County Board of Supervisors to unanimously deny adding a drive-through to the McDonalds at Camino Real Marketplace, aka Big Box.

The drive-through was shown to add traffic and pollution to an area already reeling from intensive growth. It also presented new safety problems to customers of the big shopping center. The Supervisors stated they were opposed to ANY expansions at the Big Box before all congestion mitigation is completed - and much remains incomplete.

Side affects of this appeal are that plans for a COSTCO mega-gas-station and doubling the size for a hotel are also placed on hold.

El Encanto Apts - The Board of Supervisors voted the money for purchase of the acre of land for the 16 unit affordable project at the far western portion of Calle Real over the strong objections of the neighbors there, while claiming that it did not mean future approval.

This project started as a dangerous precedent for our own neighborhood. PANA argued strenuously against 3rd stories north of 101 consistent with our fight over Maravilla. The El Encanto 3rd stories have been eliminated and this project is now less dense than the apartments along Encina Road behind the Calle Real Center, but this project still may set precedent as a change to the Community Plan.

Goleta Cityhood Boundaries - LAFCO performed a post card survey of a portion of the PANA area east of 93117 and west of Patterson Avenue at the suggestion of PANA. The survey questioned neighbors on whether they wanted to be in the new city or out.

The results showed that the majority still wish to stay out of the new city, but by narrower margins than previous surveys. Over a year ago, the PANA survey showed a 3 to 1 margin. Now the margin is against inclusion by 2 to 1 in Rancho del Ciervo and east of San Jose Creek, and a bare majority west of San Jose Creek. Commercial areas south of 101 have been added into the city as well as Glenn Annie Golf Course. Isla Vista is still being examined as an option. Supervisor Rose may knock on your door soon to ask your opinion.

Why are we in such a battle for our neighborhood? -Our last newsletter discussed one symptom of the underlying struggle - the push for affordable housing. What is causing the drive to redesign our community?

A few years ago during recession, politicians were besieged to "create jobs" by approving commercial growth. Locally, they approved the "Big Box" (Camino Real Marketplace), Maravilla, hotels in Old Town Goleta, the Airport Gateway Center, and many other job stimulating developments. They approved over TWICE the agreed total growth - over a MILLION square feet of job generating commercial growth to the profit of developers.

Now in a time of economic boom, the same development interests are wailing about housing for all those new workers. They not only want to rush more housing into the vacant lot near you, but they want it to be "affordable." They want to rezone commercial lots to housing. They want to continue to underpay the new workers, so they need politicians to approve dense subsidized housing - redesigning our neighborhoods. As before, the politicians WE elected are under pressure to approve a flood of affordable housing in OUR neighborhoods instead of Montecito, Hope Ranch, and Santa Ynez.

The developers and their song of unrestrained growth in recession and boom only change the tune. But now they have gained new voices. New underpaid workers and some environmentalists are joining the chorus to tell us we do not have the right to our community. All three of these groups wish to deny us cars. The most underpaid workers can't afford cars. The developers don't want to pay for improvements to our streets in order to accommodate their growth. And some environmentalists have long sought to force us into transit to avoid pollution.

These allies against suburbia believe in preserving every last inch of natural and agriculture area outside existing urbanized boundaries. They demand ALL growth be channeled into Goleta as dense new developments out of character with existing design. They want to intentionally congest our roads to force us into transit and out of cars. They write eloquent articles against single family homes, garages, cul-de-sacs, and commuting. They mistakenly believe one lifestyle fits all. They wish to force all to fit their mold - bicycles, buses, and apartments.

Which of the principles of this chorus against suburbia are right and wrong? They are right that densities of 40 units per acre are more land-efficient than 4 units per acre, so building dense can house population growth on a tenth of the land, limiting sprawl up the coast. They are wrong that we must redesign our EXISTING communities with such density. Instead we can allow a tiny portion of open space to become urbanized in dense NEW communities while preserving the character of our existing, almost complete communities. Cheaper is not better when it comes to our neighborhoods.

They are right that denser housing will be more affordable and that it is desirable that the "region" house its workers. But they are wrong to propose all the affordable housing for Montecito, Hope Ranch and Santa Ynez be dumped in Goleta. They are also wrong to approve huge growth in commercial developments to "create jobs" in recessions, only to then argue for "affordable housing" growth for new workers in boom times. They are wrong to continue to add hotel after hotel, tee shirt shop after tee shirt shop, and bar after bar in the City of Santa Barbara. These decisions create jobs for workers who can never afford to live here and will need extensive support from the County for social services.

Many of the negative pressures on Goleta come from outside. They come from the region - the South Coast. Regionalism is a code-word. It means lack of local control. Regional solutions are often solutions that, while good for the many, are bad for the few - the most local few. One of the reasons the County does not want to see the City of Goleta created is that they will then have to find another place to dump their mandated quantity of affordable housing. One of the reasons the City of Santa Barbara wanted to annex Goleta was to increase our housing density, allowing more downtown tourism - retail and hotel commerce. Outside forces love to concentrate types of development - localizing the impacts while regionalizing the benefits (taxes).

Recently Santa Barbara leaders have proposed turning Goleta into a larger Isla Vista, said "The automobile has become a tool for cultural Balkanization, environmental destruction, and social injustice," and said freely flowing traffic and "free parking is hell!" They have proposed growing the City of Santa Barbara to 150,000 population from its previous voter approved goal of 85,000. They argued for an aggressive program of building granny units in all out neighborhoods to provide affordable housing. Even the County government is planning to add another Goleta to the South Coast. They are said to be planning to put most of this in Goleta so that we will be bigger than Santa Barbara is now.

We hope you want to defend our neighborhoods against outside forces that wish to redesign it. We hope you will back up the efforts of PANA in resisting these forces - using your vote to assure only those who respect our neighborhood's right to exist are allowed to sit at the throne. It is all about representing us, the existing voters.

PANA Status Report

THANK YOU. Recipients of Speed Bump have shown their outstanding support with donations to keep us going. A record of over 150 donations have come in since the last newsletter. This means that PANA now enjoys financial support from over 485 families in addition to about the same number who have attended meetings on specific issues. We are in our third year of serving you.

Speed Bump is distributed to over 3000 area addresses, so as many as 10,000 people may see the Speed Bump as a direct result of YOUR support. PANA's area is north of the freeway between Turnpike Road and Fairview Avenue. Our considerable strength comes from you.

PANAspeedbump.org
FAX 683-4648
683-9068

We Need You!

We need your contributions to continue our newsletter distribution and to fight for your interests. When you contribute to PANA, more of your neighbors learn what is happening around our area. Please think of your contributions as extending PANA's reach - not just getting the newsletter to yourself.

So many of you have been kind enough to help in the past, that we have no plans to expand circulation further. Some send a little each time, while some send a lot all at once. Either works. But it may have been a year ago that you last helped PANA with your contribution. Please consider helping again - or joining in for the first time.

We hope you agree that our record of volunteer effort and success in representing the Patterson Area Neighborhoods speaks for itself.