Exercise holistic approach for Gaviota coastal plan

Article taken from the Santa Barbara News Press
Published with permission

Exercise holistic approach for Gaviota coastal plan
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Voice From Santa Barbara: Michael Vincent McGinnis

The author, who holds a Ph.D, teaches at UCSB and is author of "Bioregionalism" (Routledge, 1999). He lives in Santa Barbara.

05-01-05

A sense of community seems to be receding like a mirage in the Arizona desert. We hear calls from policymakers for "regionalization" with reference to local "community."

But living regionally is hard to do, and the nature of this community is changing and getting harder to identify let alone sustain.

Living regionally requires a more intimate connection between a place, community and the local economy. It means that when you turn to the mountains you think of the sea. Living regionally means that when you sit down at the dinner table, you know where your food comes from, where your waste water goes, where the fish are caught.

The future of Gaviota likely will include large estates with amenities and faux agriculture. The proposed development of the coast and foothills will lead to dramatic changes in our shared sense of community and place. The general design and operation of some of these homes, with a carrying load of 13,000 square feet, under public review will shape the ecology of this coastal region, and our historic use of the region. The average home size for Gaviota is about 3,000-4,000 square feet.

There are some who embrace the type of "amendment-based" development review that is currently the practice in Santa Barbara County for the coast and foothills.

What we need is a more participatory and public approach to comprehensive planning that is more integrative and ecologically-oriented; a comprehensive plan that embraces the role of ecology in planning and management.

We need to renew our shared sense of a coastal area that includes a connection between the health of a creek and the health of our foothills and ocean.


	The watersheds and ecosystems, as well as the small family farmers, of the Gaviota coast are in need of protecting. NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO

A planning process for the Gaviota coast should support the values of equity and fairness to landowners, and should embrace credible scientific information and democratic principles.

This county has begun to focus on a planning process that can best be referred to as amendment-driven development review. With respect to current county politics, amendments and changes to special zoning districts, e.g., Naples, site-specific plans, e.g., for the San Marcos Foothills, and zoning language are traditionally made during the development review process.

As the number of proposed developments increases along the coast, it becomes more and more difficult for the planning process to remain open or democratic and scientifically-grounded. So-called public hearings are held during the middle of the work day for important proposed developments. Few residents have the resources or time to participate during working hours.

Moreover, the role of scientific information in the planning process becomes vague and unclear; power and influence may carry the day.

An enlightened social contract between citizens, the government and a place requires something more.

We should be concerned about ecosystem-wide impacts from multiple developments that take place across ownership boundaries from the foothills to the sea and along the Gaviota coast.

We can expect more proposed developments along the Gaviota coast in the wake of the national seashore debate. In more than three years, there has been no community-wide response that offers a vision for the future of the Gaviota coast.

Perhaps a renewed social contract can emerge, supported by a "watershed consciousness" that connects each of us, a place-based politics that is based on the river or creek that weaves between our city streets and fields, together with the spring winds.

We also need to begin a process of coastal community making. We have to build a constituency for the Gaviota coast, the marine system, and the special foothills and mountain ranges of this region. The urban and citified parts of this region need to begin to provide the necessary resources that can support a larger-scale effort to protect the coastal watersheds and ecosystems and small family farmers.

Conservationists need to recognize the importance of the small family farmers and ranchers of this region.

We should support a formal amendment process for the county general and local coastal plans. A special Gaviota coastal plan should:

Encourage nongovernmental, collaborative and voluntary watershed-based planning and management that can be shown to protect coastal biodiversity.

Update and amend the existing county general plan and local coastal plan to embrace best management practices and ecosystem-based planning principles that can be shown to protect coastal watersheds and nearshore marine ecosystems.