Environmental review for the proposed "Preserve at San Marcos" continues.

After two all-day Planning Commission hearings in September, SMFC and our supporters have established many solid points with the Commissioners. We wish to thank those who have taken time to write to the Planning Commission and local papers, donate speaking time or speak at the hearings. Your support is making a difference! The Final Environmental Impact Report finds that the development project will cause significant unavoidable impacts (Class I) relating to slope stability/potential landslides, 50 acres loss of sensitive plants, loss of wildlife and wildlife diversity and loss of 18 acres of habitat due to fuel modification. However, we believe there are several areas in which the Final EIR is deficient. Our experts will continue to register these deficiencies to create a strong body of legal evidence for our case.

There is still much work to be done. One more Planning Commission hearing is before us on October 21. Your participation in that hearing--either by sending a letter to the Planning Commission or speaking to them directly--will underscore our concerns and persuade the decision-makers to pay attention. Toward that end, SMFC will host a Community Meeting on October 12.

San Marcos Foothills Coalition Community Meeting
Tuesday, October 12 2004, 7:00 pm
La Colina Jr. High
4025 Foothill Road, Santa Barbara
(Teachers' Lounge, follow signs)

We will discuss new issues that have emerged from the Planning Commission meetings, the biggest concerns, and we will offer ways we can influence the decision-makers at our Community Meeting on October 12. We will update already-informed folks and show how we might most effectively communicate with the Planning Commission, local papers, and the Board of Supervisors. After the meeting, if you care to stay, we will gather to write to the Planning Commission, local papers, and Board of Supervisors or prepare to speak at the Planning Commission hearing. The future of San Marcos Foothills is in our hands! The decision before us will affect the quality of life of many generations to come.

Probably the Final Planning Commission Hearing
Thursday, October 21, 9:00 am

The position of the San Marcos Foothills Coalition
We oppose development on the West Mesa of San Marcos Foothills because it is a unique remnant of our geological history that supports a community of animals and plants with wetlands occurring nowhere else along the South Coast. This part of the foothills is within view of thousands of residents. (Read here for more of our concerns regarding the West Mesa.) We are voicing other concerns for Traffic, Visual, Landslide, and Cumulative effects that affect other parts of the property. Taken together, these impacts impose huge constraints on all development scenarios. At the same time, we are asking the community to share our alternate vision that welcomes, rather than excludes, artists, students, teachers, Native Americans, hikers, old folks and young. Only active citizen input can convince decision-makers to help provide an alternative to mansionization of our last and best of the foothills.

Swap Alternative
A well-researched alternative project has been proposed by Coalition members SWAP (Small Wilderness Area Preserves) and the EDC (Environmental Defense Center). This alternative avoids some of the worst impacts of the proposed development including loss of the West Mesa boulder fields, reduces the area of impact by one third, and triples the number of affordable dwellings in the project. It is presently undergoing feasibility studies by an appraiser for EDC. Other ideas and proposals will be needed and of course, SMFC will continue to work for preservation of the entire property

A Contrast in Vision
Our proposal for this property encourages public access, education, ecological restoration, Native American transmission of cultural information (and activities including special plant cultivation), cattle ranching, and research at several academic levels. In short, San Marcos Foothills Coalition envisions the jewel of all parks and we have the energy and know-how in planning, restoration, and management to make this happen.

Compare this to the vision offered by this developer. There will be public access to the West Mesa. We see no plan for education, no restoration plan for erosion and streambank damage other than that which facilitates project approval, no interest in working with the Native American community, no interest in maintaining a cattle operation for fire management and education about this part of California's history. There is no endowment established for management of the land that has been set aside. Instead, we see mansions undoing the ecology of the unsurpassed West Mesa, lasting impacts to Cieneguitas and Cocopah neighborhoods, fences closing off private conservation areas, and permanent visual impacts viewed from many parts of our community.

Schedule of Hearings and Events