The community plan
process has been saved once again
On Nov. 28, the Santa
Barbara County Planning Commission heard (for the second time this month) a
proposal from the county planning department to adopt a resolution that would
allow rezones and general plan land use amendments to be processed in the Santa
Ynez Valley before the Santa Ynez Community Plan is adopted.
Currently, the initiation
and processing of rezones and general plan amendments is not allowed until the
plan is adopted so that all the proposed changes can be studied and submitted
at one time to the board of supervisors for consideration and approval —
hence the name, community plan. This proposed resolution would have
circumvented that process, but thanks to so many people that spoke out against
it, including me, the resolution failed. We should also be reminded that the planning
department, which brought this resolution forward, reports to the county chief
executive officer, Mike Brown.
What is even more alarming
is what surfaced during the hearing. The planning department announced that the
final stage of the plan process was now on hold — for at least 60 days.
The reason given is that the person conducting the environmental review process
was moved to a higher-priority project, and that there is no one else available
to conduct the second environmental impact report for that other project which
has now become more important.
The community plan has been
in process for seven years now. There
have been too many delays, especially recently, and now that we are now finally
getting to the end of the process, the plug has been pulled. Why? Santa Barbara County has processed more
than two EIRs simultaneously before; why not now? Why should the people of the Santa Ynez Valley wait even
longer for the completion of their plan? Why should those waiting on the
completion of the plan to receive a determination of their proposed land use
and proposed zoning changes be stalled any longer? Why should those who oppose
them? Why does Mike Brown keep playing around with this process, and what are
we not being told?
I think the delays and
obstacles in implementing and completing this final EIR phase on the plan is
unacceptable. In the past three
years alone, the turnover rate in the planning department staff has been
unprecedented; new studies and resolutions have been started and then canceled;
money has been poured into projects that never took off — what a waste.
We are now delayed once more
with the “freeze” on the EIR process. I think that it is time that our
supervisors, and especially Chairman Firestone, implement the steps that need
be taken to get the Santa Ynez Community Plan completed in an expedited manner
without tinkering with it any more. Perhaps Mike Brown’s activity and decision
making abilities with regards to the plan also require further supervision as
well.
What do you think?