NOTE: Draft Environmental
Impact Hearing TUESDAY JUNE 22, 2004, 5:30pm at Planning Commission Hearing Room,
123 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. Status
of the Preserve at San Marcos Development Proposal and the San Marcos Foothills
Coalition's Position As you know, San
Marcos Foothills faces yet another development proposal. This time, developer
Jeff Bermant, and the landowner, David Tallichet, offer us 15 mansions and 5 affordable
condos on San Marcos Foothills. The draft Environmental Impact Report (dEIR) on
Bermant and Tallichet's proposed Preserve at San Marcos is now available from
the County.
Copies can also be viewed at the Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria,
and UCSB libraries, and the Goleta Valley Community Center. It consists of 2 volumes:
the EIR itself and the Technical Appendices, which present the studies on which
the EIR's conclusions are founded. Both volumes of the dEIR can be taken from
the county's website at:
http://www.countyofsb.org/plandev/devrev/projects/sanmarcos/deir/index.php
Loan
and CD copies are also available from P&D at no charge. Contact Josie Fisher
at 568-2062.
The public comment period is underway. Your and our comments
are due at 5 pm on 28 June. That is the last chance to have comments responded
to as part of the proposed final EIR. Send those to Alan Hanson, Planning and
Development, County of Santa Barbara, 123 E. Anapumu, 93101-2058. Fax 805-568-2030,
phone 568-2854. Additional comments regarding either the EIR or the project after
June 28th can be directed to the Planning Commission when they begin their review.
Upcoming hearings and deadlines are as follows:
| Date | Place | Purpose |
22 June,
5:30pm | Planning
Commission
Hearing Room
123 E Anapamu, SB
| Comment
on the adequacy and completeness of the analyses and proposed mitigation measures
in the EIR to County Staff. (This is not the hearing before the Planning Commission.) |
28 June,
5:00pm | To
County P&D,
Alan Hansen | Your written
or telephoned comments on the dEIR. | End
of
summer | Probably
Planning Commission
Hearing
Room | Hearing before the Planning Commission
to certify the EIR | | Fall | Probably
Planning
Commission
Hearing Room | Possible second
hearing before the Planning Commission to certify the EIR | Impacts
Identified in the EIR | The
firm Envicom prepared the EIR. They found Class I impacts (significant and unmitigable)
in the following areas: | | |
Agriculture (loss of grazing); | | | Biological
Resources (reduction in plant and animal biodiversity, degradation
of habitat from fuel management, removal and disturbance to native grasslands,
habitat fragmentation, and potential loss of and impacts to sensitive wildlife.
50.1 acres would be lost and an additional 17.9 acres would be lost due to new,
expanded fuel modification requirement for fire prevention); and |
| |
Geological Resources (landslide/slope stability related
to Lots 12, 12, and 14) | | The
dEIR preparers did not find Class I impacts in the following areas (i.e., these
are mitigable Class II impacts): | | | Views
from Highway 154, a scenic highway, and a proposed trail
just W of Highway 154. Five proposed mitigations would reduce these impacts to
less than significant. | | | Night
lighting impacts. One proposed mitigation would reduce this
impact to less than significant. | | | Air
Quality. Grading and construction activities would produce
PM-10 emissions. Two proposed mitigations would reduce this impact to less than
significant. | | | Loss
of 4.3 acres of Coastal Sage Scrub habitat | | | Loss
of 13.69 acres of perennial grasslands.
There are several other potential impacts,
details of which we will post here soon. |
The
decision on this project will either keep San Marcos Foothills alive and available
to the public or begin its unraveling. The community's input to the decision-makers
- our County Planning Commissioners and Supervisors - will strongly influence
the future of San Marcos Foothills. It is more important than ever to be involved!
Our Position on the Proposed Preserve
at
San Marcos Development We think the project as currently
designed does far more damage than good. It is a project that accelerates the
worst effects of land development.
It accommodates too few of our community's
social goals. And it falls far short of preserving what is outstanding on this
property. We fear that the role expected of the County to balance competing interests
is compromised due to concerns for legal action against it if it denies or 'excessively
conditions' this project.
The State Code that the developer is invoking
(because he has included 25% affordable housing) may reduce the County's objectivity.
Therefore, a strong public showing is needed to insist on a fair outcome despite
the strong state-given legal advantages handed to the developer.
We thank
you for your concern and support and we'll see you on 22 June.
San Marcos
Foothills Coalition Board of Directors
Summary
of the 26 May Hearing
before County Planning Staff The
County Staff received comments on the adequacy of the EIR on 26 May. About 25
people attended and 11 verbal comments were given. The big issues that emerged
were:
| | | The
poorly depicted history of fire and the more real threats from fire to property
and neighbors, | | | Cattle
and the need to fold the removal of cattle into the EIR review process, |
| | Cattle
removal and fire threats, | | | Expanded
Fuel Modification Zone, and Public Safety and Biological impacts associated with
that new setback, | | | The
nature of the agreement between Trust for Public Land and Bermant and the landowner
David Tallichet, | | | PCAs
and how effective they have been elsewhere and skepticism about those at The Preserve
@ San Marcos, | | | The
10-acre Park: its impacts on neighborhoods, traffic, introduction of dogs, ecological
damage, noise, and night lighting. | | |
Night lighting from homes on ecology of remaining area. |
Many
other issues were raised. |
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