Commissioners not satisfied with proposed adaptive management plan, continues item to Nov. 6
Members of the Stuart C. Gildred Family YMCA in Santa Ynez will have to wait a little longer to find out if they’ll be able to use the facility’s exercise room 24/7, while the neighbors who appealed the proposal will have to wait if the proposal will be denied.
The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission heard the item, Harwood Appeal of Channel Islands YMCA Alterations to Hours, at its Wednesday, Aug. 26, meeting.
The YMCA had requested an amendment to its Conditional Use Permit that would allow its members to access its excercise room open 24 hours a day, and it was approved by the Planning and Development Department in March 2023.
However, that decision was appealed by neighbors Deanna Harwood and Frank Betts, who live next door to each other on Calle Pico Court and have their backyards abutting the YMCA parking lot. Harwood and Betts oppose the 24-hour access because of noise and safety concerns, and the fact their would be no staff member on site during late hours.
That item was continued from the commission’s June 26 meeting when Commissioner John Parke, whose District 3 contains the YMCA, requested three conditions for him to approve the proposal. However, in the most recent meeting, one of the conditions, a working adaptive management plan, did not satisfy him.
The YMCA had agreed to Parke’s other two conditions: Keeping the north section of the parking lot, which is right by the back fences of Harwood’s and Betts’ homes, closed until 7 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m.; and providing a 24-hour phone number to contact a YMCA staff member if neighbors or YMCA members see a problem.
The YMCA also submitted an adaptive management plan chart, as well as a flowchart, but Parke did not find that sufficient.
“I really don’t understand this adaptive plan,” he said. “These plans I suggest are usually an if-then scenario; if something happens, then the county has a chance to modify or fix it.
“In this plan, there are a lot of internal reviews on there, but no steps where the county gets involved. We have ifs, but no thens. What I don’t want to see is incidents of trespassing and crime and no way to do anything about it.”
Fourth District Planning Commissioner Roy Reed agreed with Parke’s opinions on the AMP.
“In my experience in the medical field, we do things with algorithms, where it says ‘if that happens, you do this,'” Reed said, expanding on Parke’s ‘if-then’ argument. “I see some nice reporting procedures internally, and then you go to emergency protocols and it says they’re ‘to be reviewed’ instead of putting in acutal protocols.”
After that Betts, one of the appellants, had the floor and agreed about the AMP.
“I don’t believe it met the ask,” Betts said about the plan. “It looks to me more like a corporate project; where’s the transparency? How would the Y resolve that?”
Betts also had questions about the other two conditions.
“The phone number we’re supposed to call; is it going to some kind of YMCA call center or someone local,” he said. “Also, the parking lot still hasn’t been roped off until 7. Recently, they had some chemical truck in that area that was doing its work in the early hours, and it was loud.”
Channel Island YMCA Chief Operations Officer Jennifer Heinen-Stiffler addresses the three action items given to the organization for the proposal. She said the roping off of the parking lot areas will be done, and that the phone numbers will be shown and readily available inside and outside the building.
She also defended the effort on the AMP.
“The YMCA doesn’t have the background you expect from other industrial companies,” Heinen-Stiffler said. “We did our best.”
Parke, along with Reed and fellow Planning Commissioner Michael Cooney agreed that they would not vote to approve the hours expansion unless there was more work done on the AMP, and said they’d be willing to give another continuance so the YMCA could work with county staff on drafting a more effective plan.
Assistant Director of Planning & Development Jeff Wilson suggested a quick break so he could talk to the YMCA representatives and seek a new date to hear the item.
After the break, Wilson said the item could be continued to Oct. 30. However, Cooney said he would not be present on that date, but encouraged the rest of the commission to go forward with the item without him.
Parke said it would be better if the entire commission was able to discuss the item, so Wilson suggested Nov. 6, and a motion was made and unanimously approved for the continuance to that date.
Feature Image: A decision on the YMCA to allow 24-hour access to the Stuart C. Gildred Family YMCA exercise room will have to wait until Nov. 6. Photo by Mike Chaldu
