the SB Daily Sound

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wielded the budget-balancing pen on Tuesday, signing off on a $27 billion budget package, he tacked on an additional $489 million in extra cuts that essentially put the Williamson Act program on life support.

Established in the 1960s, the Williamson Act provides tax breaks to landowners who enter agricultural property into 10-year rolling contracts that restrict most development.

In Santa Barbara County about 550,000 acres are under Williamson Act contract, or roughly 75 percent of all local agricultural land.

In the cyclical agricultural industry, many landowners rely on the tax break to remain viable, while agricultural and open space advocates appreciate the contracts and the resulting blockade on most types of development.

Schwarzenegger stopped short of dismantling the program, opting instead to pull $27.8 million the state would have paid to counties this year to help offset the decreased property taxes paid by Williamson Act landowners.

According to county Supervisor Doreen Farr, whose 3rd district includes the Williamson Act-rich Santa Ynez Valley and Gaviota Coast, the county would have received $640,000.

By COLBY FRAZIER — 

By JOSHUA MOLINA — Feb. 18, 2009

Waving signs and banners, a crowd of more than 100 people jam-packed the Goleta City Council chambers last night, in a dramatic attempt to block developers from overhauling their mobile home park.

The owners of Rancho Mobile Home Park, 7465 Hollister Avenue, want turn the rent-controlled park into for-sale units, a move that resident fear would force them out of the homes or weaken their ability to sell the mobile homes.

The park is home to more than 150 residents, many of them senior citizens on fixed incomes. While the owners, the Dan & Susan Guggenheim Trust, have taken several steps to lessen any immediate financial impacts on the renters, residents worry that turning their homes from rentals to for-sale units, would be the first step toward eventually driving them out of the places some of them have called home since the 1950s.

“I honestly don’t know what is going to happen to us,” said Debbie Barajas, who is disabled and pays $600 to rent her mobile home space. “There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to get run over. Nothing is going to stop it.”

The complex land use proposal is the latest headache for the Goleta City Council, still trying to gain its footing since it incorporated in 2002.

After numerous meetings and plenty of tinkering, Santa Barbara city leaders approved changes to the city’s housing policies yesterday that will require smaller developments to include affordable units or pay a fee.

New developments or condominium conversion projects between two and nine units will be subject to the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance once the changes are officially adopted next week.

City officials said smaller projects are likely to opt for the in-lieu fee, creating a fund that will be used to subsidize affordable housing, purchase affordable units in default and pay administrative costs.

“We would actually have a good deal of money in the bank if we had enacted it a few years ago,” Councilmember Das Williams said.

The City Council approved the new policy on a 6-1 vote, with Councilmember Dale Francisco voting against the ordinance. He said he expects the changes will result in many unintended consequences.

“I’m not very excited about in-lieu fees and I’m very concerned about the impact on mom and pop developers,” he said. “…It’s an unfair burden on the people who are building … but I guess it will allow some people to say we’re doing something about affordable housing.”

Public chimes in on MTD rate hike

Supes OK 'monstrous' mansion on coast

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
 

After several years of heated debate, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a 13,333-square-foot, single-family home slated for a hilltop on the Gaviota Coast.
The home, known as the Ballantyne Project, will also include a 1,368-square-foot guest home and a 1,200-square-foot barn, bringing the total square footage of new buildings to nearly 16,000.
 
The board approved the project with a 3-2 vote. South County Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Janet Wolf dissented.

Carbajal called the approval of the home, which is located at 500 Farren Rd. on the outskirts of Goleta, “Not a good day for protection of the Gaviota Coast.”

“The reality is we have an audacious, monstrous development violating our policies that are put in place to protect the public’s interest and protect environmental resources,” he said. “I think it’s precedent setting. This is the Gaviota Coast we’re talking about. This flies in the face of good land-use planning, especially for the area of the Gaviota Coast.”