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September 2006 Issue
Environmental News
Preserving a National Treasure: Big Waves a Coming
By Greg Karpain
The battle to save the Naples coastline from a proposed 54 mansion development project is under way and the Naples Coalition is calling on concerned surfers to suit up and help protect the Naples reef and the Gaviota Coast. The United Nations lists the Gaviota Coast as one of the top 15 ecological wonders in the world, a designation signifying its biological diversity. If the proposed Naples development project is approved, it will
-Set an unwanted precedent for building up and down the Gaviota Coast
-Destroy the natural beauty of the area forever
-Claim some of the last remaining open coastland in Southern California
-Imperil the water quality in the sensitive Naples Reef ecosystem
In addition to losing one of the world’s great open coastal scenic views, the wrong project at Naples would cause disastrous consequences for conservation efforts on the Gaviota Coast. A new housing development in the middle of the Gaviota Coast would set the wrong expectations in the minds of other landowners, and create the wrong permitting precedent by the County.
Surf’s up! The Naples Coalition Paddles Out
That’s why the Naples Coalition (created by Surfrider Foundation, Gaviota Coast Conservancy, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Citizen’s Planning Association, and League of Women Voters) banded together in 2003 to protect the rural character of the Gaviota Coast. After years of fact finding, soul searching, debate, and discussions with the developer, the Naples Coalition crafted an alternative proposal which is listed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR ) as Alternative 2. Alternative 2 allows the developer to obtain a reasonable return on investment, while protecting the rural character and environmental qualities of the Naples area.
The Naples Coalition’s decision to develop an independent, community-based alternative grew out of the legal realities at Naples. After a long struggle with land speculators over the legality of a long-forgotten 1888 paper subdivision, the County was forced to adopt an Official Map in 1995, recognizing 274 lots at Naples, a historical legal exception to the agricultural zoning of the Gaviota Coast. This wasn’t a political land use decision by the community; this was a legal coup by the Morehart Land Company. The Morehart Land Company then sold most of its interests to Matt Osgood’s Vintage Communities of Orange County, a residential development company.
Santa Barbara Community Speaks Out Loudly
On July 14 the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission and the Central Board of Architectural Review (CBAR) hosted a public tour of the Naples and Dos Pueblos Ranch properties. The developer constructed “story poles” outlining the general height and size of selected buildings. About 100 citizens, an extraordinary number for such an excursion, took off a workday to view the dramatic visual impact of the future mansions on the viewshed.
About the same time, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed Naples development project (officially called the Santa Barbara Ranch Project) was released for public review on June 28th and contains, in addition to the developer’s 54 mansion proposal, the more environmentally sensitive Naples Coalition proposal (Alternative 2). County Planning staff is currently accepting public comments and letters for an extended 90 day period ending September 27.
Between 200-250 members of the public, an unprecedented number, attended the public comment meeting on the DEIR on June 27. During this overflow, standing-room-only meeting, concerned citizens, the Naples Coalition, and Chumash representatives, presented a series of policy discrepancies and inconsistencies in the recently released DEIR, and requested an extension period (which the developer granted) to further study and understand the complex 1400 page document. Fifty of the attendees spoke in support of the Naples Coalition Alternative 2 during the four hour overtime session.
A Flawed DEIR Revealed
The Naples Coalition and its attorneys, Marc Chytilo and The Environmental Defense Center, have been reviewing the 1400 page DEIR in exhaustive detail. This document is seriously flawed and needs significant revision, if not a complete rewrite. Here are some of its most serious inadequacies:
A Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) study was undertaken in conjunction with the DEIR. The methodology and assumptions of this study inflate the value of the development, making the desirable transfer of the building rights more difficult.
The developer is attempting to “sequence” the development of the project, building the inland portion before receiving Coastal Commission permission to build the coastal portion. This sequencing prejudices the review of the project in several very important ways in favor of the development and is strongly opposed by the Naples Coalition.
The DEIR includes a zone district that sets the guidelines for building. This zone district is vague and inadequate, and allows that a residence of any size could be built. The Naples Coalition developed its own zone district language (in Alternative 2) that states that if anything is built on the property it must be environmentally sensitive and not significantly exceed the size of the average house currently on the coast.
The DEIR sites the building of the California Coastal Trail inland (along the railroad tracks and frontage road), disregarding State suggested guidelines which state that the Coastal Trail shall be built as close to the coast as possible.
By the Naples Coalition’s count, more than 20 of the proposed residences will be visible from the Highway 101 and coastal trail viewshed as Class One (significant, non-mitagateable) impacts. This is not permissible under County guidelines, but the DEIR proposes it anyway.
The deadline for the public to send in comments is September 27, 2006. A link to the DEIR, information on where and how to send your comments, as well as in-depth information on the issues can be found at the Naples Coalition website www.savenaples.org. It is important to send in comments (via automated email or letters from the www.savenaples.org website) on DEIR inadequacies as well as your opinions on “Keeping the Coast Clear.” Get involved if you care about the future of our coast.
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Posted September 2006 Blue Edge Magazine. All rights reserved.
