California’s Cram and Jam, Stack and Pack Plan
by Andy Caldwell
Communities throughout the state are wrestling with various state mandates that could serve to destroy the ambiance and quality of life here forever. In other words, California housing mandates will skewer local sacred cows.
Santa Barbara, for decades, has had a policy limiting the height of buildings that would serve to diminish and obfuscate views of the oceans and the mountains. Additionally, every large piece of land that could be put into a preserve, in whole or in part, has ostensibly thereby been eliminated from future development. At the same time, local organizations, along with the California Coastal Commission, have done everything in their power to preclude further development along the Gaviota Coast.
For instance, as far back as 2008, the Environmental Defense Center crowed about their following accomplishments: protected important open space areas from development, including Hearst Ranch, East-West Ranch, Burton Mesa, Sedgwick Ranch, Douglas Family Preserve, Carpinteria Bluffs, Ellwood Mesa, Taylor Ranch, and Ahmanson Ranch, and negotiated with developers to set aside open space preserves and restore habitats at Devereux, San Marcos Foothills, Forde Industrial Park, Glen Annie Golf Course, Mackie Mountain, and Parker Ranch, among others. It was “accomplishments” such as these that drove our state legislature to blow up any and all impediments to each community building their “fair share” of housing.
Where Now, Sacred Cow?
So, what is the community to do now that the state has mandated that the south county communities build thousands of new units just for starters? Which sacred cow is going to be sacrificed to accommodate these units? And why didn’t Monique Limon and her predecessors in the state senate and assembly call into question the wisdom of these extreme growth policies in areas like Santa Barbara that have extremely limited water supplies?
The City of Santa Maria, along with every other jurisdiction, has already seen multiple high-rise buildings (three to five stories high) shoe-horned into very small lots. They call this “infill development” as it looks to convert all vacant lands and underutilized commercial buildings within current city boundaries. Another consideration is converting over 1,000 acres of prime farmland on the east of the freeway and converting it to urban uses. The third option is a combination of these two.
Unfortunately, the folks who are advocating for infill projects only for the next 20 years would serve to absolutely destroy our regional quality of life. Can you imagine shoehorning another 20-30,000 people into the heart of each our cities with no new road capacity and no additional space for schools and parks among other things?
Best Option: Master Planned Communities
With respect to converting prime ag lands (ideal soil, slope, and ample water supplies) for housing, when it’s gone, it is gone forever. Who wants to live in a community that has gone down this path, including Fresno, along with the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, not to mention the entire eastern seaboard? That is, who wouldn’t rather live in a semi-rural community than a densely urbanized jungle?
A better option? Communities should instead annex the non-prime ag lands (poor soils, little to no water, and too many hills and valleys) that are the least valuable farmlands in the region and that are contiguous to existing city boundaries.
Building on large pieces of properties allows for the construction of a master-planned community. That is, enough land to build new schools, biking and walking trails, parks, infrastructure, and oh, so much more. Master-planned communities allow for all sorts of amenities because of the scale of the project versus the option of trying to stack and pack or cram and jam thousands of new units into an already congested community.
Please encourage your city council and the county board of supervisors to adopt a plan that diverts dense housing developments and the associated traffic away from the core of our communities without sacrificing our prime ag lands.
Nice work, Andy. Just goes to show you how important it is having an objective or simply "free" press on watch over what local government is doing. This is only one of many reasons to lament the loss of the Santa Barbara News-Press. At this point, except for people such as you, nobody's minding the store!
Thank you for your efforts.
Yes, we have only to look to the Oxnard plain and Camarillo where acres of the most prime topsoil has been paved over with higher density housing. It's criminal.