Liquor license modification approved for casino; staff directed to look into tighter ordinance on STRs

A week before the Solvang City Council chambers would be the site of a Valley-wide community meeting on fire prevention, councilmembers heard the yearly “state of the fire department” report from department officials and also received the Fire Abatement and Brush Removal Program Update.

For the Fire Chief Year in Review Presentation, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig was joined by Deputy Chief for Emergency Services Garrett Huff and Capt. Lonny Maniscalco of the Solvang fire station, where the council chambers are located.

Huff gave the Year in Review address, beginning with the department new addition, the Regional Fire Communication Center.

“The new communication center opens May 12, which is slightly overdue,” Huff said. “However, it will provide dispatch services for all emergency medical services and non-federal resources on one common operating platform.

He then recited the statistics for the county in 2024. Overall, the county fire department had 17,082 incidents in 2024, broke down by the following: Rescue/EMS, 9,915; fires, 372; public service calls, 1,416; vehicle accidents, 843; public concern, 3,969.

For Solvang, which had 681 incidents over the year, they broke down as follows: Rescue/EMS, 412; fires, 8; public service calls, 96; vehicle accidents, 14; public concern, 96.

Huff said incidents were up 7.24% from 2023, although fires were down 33.3%.

After the report, Councilmember Mark Infanti asked about the old ambulances that the city had stopped using, with Huff answering that the county wants to dispose of/liquidate the vehicles and it will be an agenda item for the April 1county Board of Supervisors meeting.

Mayor David Brown asked what a typical response time was for emergency personnel in Solvang. Huff said he didn’thave the numbers in front of him, but estimated the typical response to be 4 to 6 minutes.

After that, Maniscalco came to the podium to address three well-known fires in Solvang last year, all involving restaurants.

The most recent one was at Solvang Brewing Co. on Mission Drive, which happened on Jan. 25 of this year. The others were the blaze last Oct. 13 at the Fire and Vice in Buellton, and the one in December at the former Sear Steakhouse. Maniscalco said casualties were avoided because Solvang Brewing and Fire and Vice were closed, and the Sear Steakhouse building had been unoccupied for the last six months as it’s up for sale.

The fire captain also noted that the Solvang Brewing and Fire and Vice fires were caused by oily rags left unattended, which is a big fire hazard, and the restaurants did not have a sprinkler system or automatic fire detection.

Later in the meeting, the city’s management analyst, Olivia Uribe Mutal presented the item Discussion and possible action to Receive and file the Fire Abatement and Brush Removal Program update.

Mutal said that clearing vegetation near properties is as important as ever.

“Solvang faces significant wildfire risk, and the burden is on county for fighting fires, but on the city for code enforcement,” she said. “Before the risk was just raised during the spring and summer months; the risk is now almost year-round.”

Mutal did note some things were being done, noting recent vegetation management at Hans Christian Anderson Park, and plans to contract the California Conservation Corps, and even to get goats to graze on some of the park lands.

She also announced the release of the updated fire mitigation maps (see brief below).

In other business:

The council approved an emergency item to approve a modification of the liquor license held by Chumash Casino and Resort. The casino modified the license in order to establish a “happy hour,” which it considered crucial to compete with other establishments.

After a long discussion about local short-term rentals, council directed Planning Director Rafael Castillo and staff to look into drafting an ordinance and other measures to crack down on STRs.

The next City Council meeting will be Monday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m.

Proposed Fire Hazard Severity Map Update – 2025

Consistent with California Government Code Section 51178, the State Fire Marshal is responsible for identifying areas throughout the state as Moderate, High, or Very High fire hazard severity zones. These designations are based on consistent, statewide criteria, including fuel loading, slope, fire weather, and other contributing factors — such as wind patterns —t hat influence the likelihood and behavior of wildfire.

As part of this ongoing process, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has released updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps for areas under local responsibility, including the City of Solvang. These routine updates incorporate the latest science and data to better reflect current wildfire risk conditions.

The maps classify land according to potential wildfire severity and are used to inform building standards, real estate disclosures, emergency planning, and community safety initiatives. Solvang’s draft map was released on March 10, 2025, and is now available for public review and comment. In accordance with state law, the Solvang City Council must adopt and designate the updated zones by ordinance within 120 days of receipt.

Areas on the map: 

  • Gray areas: Not zoned for wildfire risk
  • Yellow, orange, and red areas: Reflect increasing levels of fire hazard (Moderate, High, Very High)

View or download the proposed map here: https://www.cityofsolvang.com/568/Proposed-Fire-Hazard-Severity-Map-Update

For more preparedness information: www.readyforwildfire.org

Public Input Welcome

Residents are encouraged to review the map and submit feedback during the 30-day public review period. 

Submit comments to planningdept@cityofsolvang.com