Naples Entitlement Hearing

Santa Barbara County Planning Commission

Monday, June 30, 2008, 9:00 a.m.

County Administration Building, Santa Barbara, first floor hearing room

Cox Channel 20

Please try and find the time to attend this meeting on June 30.

It is very important to show the Planning Commission that the community is concerned about the suburban development at Naples

and demands appropriate actions to preserve the Gaviota Coast.

The Planning Commission will begin its deliberations on its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding the development proposed for Naples (a.k.a. Santa Barbara Ranch) located on the eastern end of the Gaviota Coast.

The Commission has scheduled three hearings so far, June 30, July 10, and July 21 to consider project alternatives, policy consistency, adequacy of the Final EIR, impact issues analysis, and project deliberation.

The Final EIR identifies three “Class I; significant and not mitigable impacts” related to biological resources, visual resources and land use.

The complexities and impacts of the proposed subdivision at Naples are symptomatic of this being an entirely inappropriate development project at this site. This project imports urban development into the officially recognized rural Gaviota Coast. It challenges our local “food security” by converting productive agricultural land into a residential subdivision. It creates sprawl when we should look to build within existing urban areas. It allows for the construction of gaudy, oversized mansions in a rural area where the average size of the existing housing stock is about 3000 square feet. The scale of this project needs to be reduced and the reduced entitlements need to be transferred to appropriate urban areas for the sake of rational planning, for the good of the community, and to meet the requirements of the Local Coastal Plan.