The committee is set to hold a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 29

Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) Highway 154 Safety Committee announced they will convene a meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 29 via zoom webinar. The September 29 meeting will focus on the latest traffic safety and improvement efforts for Highway 154. The committee last met in December 2019. Spanish language interpretation services will be available through Bridging Voices-Uniendo Voces.

“As Santa Barbara County rebuilds our economy and more residents return to work, it is vital that we keep a close watch on public safety for Highway 154,” said Joan Hartmann, chair of the Highway 154 Safety Committee. “I encourage all members of the public who travel on Highway 154 to attend and participate in this committee meeting to hear the latest on regional safety initiatives and to share any comments or concerns.”  

The Highway 154 Safety Committee was formed in the Fall of 2019 to raise awareness on regional initiatives and projects to help reduce fatalities and injuries, promote efforts to educate the public on traffic safety, and support funding of public safety agencies to enforce traffic laws. Five SBCAG Directors are appointed to the committee: Joan Hartmann (Supervisor, Third District), Gregg Hart (Supervisor, Second District), Paula Perotte (Mayor, Goleta), Holly Sierra (Mayor, Buellton), and Charlie Uhrig (Mayor, Solvang). Ex-Officio members including Monique Limón, California’s 19th Senate District; Steve Bennett, 37th Assembly District; as well as representatives from the California Highway Patrol, Caltrans, District 5, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and Santa Barbara County Public Works Division.

A committee agenda will be available on Santa Barbara County Association of Government’s website at www.sbcag.org/meetings in advance of September 29. Members of the public can also sign up to be added to the Highway 154 Safety Committee agenda notification email list serv by emailing SBCAG at info@sbcag.org. The meeting will feature presentations from State and local agencies. The public will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of representatives from Caltrans, California Highway Patrol, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, and local/state elected officials. 

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The City of Solvang added an emergency item onto their meeting agenda Monday evening in relation to the recent state shutdown orders stating they will not be actively enforcing the County and State shutdown orders. In their letter to Santa Barbara County, Solvang also requested the County to prioritize education and do no enforcement within the City limits.

“The City is also unique in that nearly all businesses are small and locally owned, and with a great dependence on tourism. Even before the March 19 Executive Orders, the City was active in efforts to first contain the potential spread of COVID, then to mitigate the effects on the community, while constantly planning for economic recovery,” wrote Solvang Mayor Ryan Toussaint. 

Toussaint expressed significant concerns about the latest round of business shutdowns that were expressed by residents, business representatives and the Council.

He added the “city is asking the County to move as quickly as possible to remove Santa Barbara County from yet another California “one size fits all” mistake, which will destroy our community,”. 

“The community of Solvang has done a great job at being mindful, safe and responsible while keeping our local economy going during these challenging times. The current order by the State is ill-conceived, unnecessary and quite frankly negligent when it comes to protecting our community in a safe, balanced and sane manner,” Toussaint said.

The stay-at-home order went into effect at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, and reportedly will last three weeks or more. The order will only be lifted when more than 15 percent of regional ICU beds are available, according to the state. Currently there are only 15 people in the ICU, and 56 in the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms in Santa Barbara County, according to county Public Health officials Tuesday morning during the COVID-19 update at the Board of Supervisors meeting.  (READ THE STORY HERE FOR SUPERVISORS COVERAGE)

According to the Stay At Home order: 

– Gatherings with people outside your own household are prohibited 

– Retail stores, including grocery stores, and shopping centers can stay open with 20 percent capacity.

– Restaurants can be open for takeout and delivery only, no in-person dining

– Bars, wineries and breweries must close

– Places of worship can only hold outdoor services

– Personal care services (hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlors, barbershops) must close

– Museums, zoos, and aquariums must close

– Movie theaters and family entertainment centers are to close

– Offices can be open for essential workers, but remote work is encouraged

– Medical and dental care, child care, and essential work can continue. 

– Schools can stay open if they are currently operating and have waivers, but the state is discouraging new openings if a county has a novel coronavirus case rate of 14 per 100,000 residents or higher

The Star reached out to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to see if they will be enforcing the shutdown to which they responded, “The Sheriff’s Office approach to health order violations will be to make every effort to use discretion, education and encouragement to achieve voluntary compliance, but enforcement options will remain a tool to be used in cases of repeat or egregious violations that endanger public safety,” said Raquel Zick, public information officer. 

Thus far, Sheriffs in Riverside County, Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County have all announced that they will not be enforcing the restrictions.

Tuesday afternoon San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson said his department will continue its mission to focus on significant criminal matters. Deputies will not be making traffic/pedestrian stops to determine the comings and goings of citizens during this time. We will not be responding to calls for service based solely on non-compliance with the new order.

One Solvang business owner said that this shutdown might be the death of her business. She decided to remain anonymous, but said “My business didn’t quality for forgivable loans because we didn’t have employees and we are already paying loans that we can barely pay so we couldn’t take on more. Therefore we received no help during the first shutdown and had to rely on the savings I was so adamant about putting aside. The savings are now gone and we are unable to close without closing forever,”. 

“I’ve felt like the aid was only geared towards medium and large sized businesses leaving the smallest businesses to fend for themselves. I was also not awarded any unemployment while we were closed leaving me and my family in a very bad position,” she added. 

In Solvang there have been several businesses that have closed permanently including a restaurant, a wine tasting shop; and a European design shop, according to Solvang Chamber Executive Director Tracy Beard. 

Beard later added Tuesday that while the sentiment is well intentioned from the city, businesses with a liquor license such as wine tasting and breweries cannot open unless for retail only, and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is doing compliance checks. 

“The chamber does not wish to see anyone lose their license. The chamber does not advocate for any wine tasting room to open for tasting, carry out only as retail,” Beard said. 

The City of Solvang did have a micro-loan program of $5,000 specifically for Solvang business earlier this year, to which owners gave good feedback in past council meetings.

City Manager Xenia Bradford updated there were 53 micro loans issued, and 35 have paid it back in full, with 16 making payments and two not paid anything back yet. 

“We are currently not actively re-using paid back funds to issue additional loans. Depending on the economic situation, status of State and Federal assistance programs,  and the stay at home order restrictions, this item may be brought back to Council for re-consideration,” Bradford added. 

The Star did a social media poll if people agreed with or against the latest round of shutdowns to which more than 75 percent were not in agreement. 

To watch the City of Solvang’s meeting visit their YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hralfp2fczE. 

The Star also reached out to the City of Buellton to see if they will be doing something similar to Solvang, to which City Manager Scott Wolfe said they will be talking about the shutdown order at their regular meeting on Thursday. They will be seating the new council and giving Councilman Art Mercado a certificate for his service to the city. 

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A new study of a trail system linking Buellton and Solvang together has been released by a partnership of Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), the cities of Buellton and Solvang, and the County of Santa Barbara. The group is asking for public comment on the different plans to get a consensus of what the public is wanting before local officials end up making any further decisions. 

The project kicked off in September of 2019 and has been going through many stages from Technical Analysis (TAC), environmental reports and now into public comment before the final report is given to the partnership in August.

“I’m a big supporter of programs designed to get people outdoors, in as safe a capacity as possible. I believe that the best outcome of this project will be one which minimally impacts residents along the ultimately-determined trails, but also provides both locals and visitors with safe methods of traveling throughout the Santa Ynez Valley in an open-air environment. The creative manner in which this team has created an alternate method for public input on this process, is certainly of benefit to our communities,” said Solvang Mayor Ryan Toussaint. 

The trail system was proposed because the only main access road between Buellton and Solvang is Highway 246, which has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour. This trail system would be a multi-modal connection between the two cities, with it most recently being the highest priority project in the 2019 Santa Ynez Valley Bicycle Master Plan, according to the study website. 

The proposed trail systems and links were identified as already frequented routes, and other factors identified by the TAC, as well as City easements and City-owned land, safety issues, and desired connectivity to residential areas and other points of interest.

The trail connection would be for bicyclists, pedestrians, and equestrians, and there is a study is underway to look for alignment opportunities, including along the north and south sides of the Santa Ynez River, along Highway 246, or a variety of hybrid options. 

A public workshop was tentatively scheduled to occur in early April, but when the COVID-19 crisis hit the partnership developed an alternative way to gather public input with putting it online. 

Comments may be emailed to Jared Carvalho at jcarvalho@sbcag.org, mailed to SBCAG at 260 N. San Antonio Road, Suite B, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. The project team is also available to connect via telephone to discuss this project. Please call SBCAG at 805-961-8900, leave a message and your call will be returned in a timely manner.

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The County of Santa Barbara is hosting six virtual community meetings in July to receive feedback and answer questions about the amended Cannabis Business License (Chapter 50) regulating cannabis retail storefront licensing.

On January 14, 2020, the Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance amendment to Chapter 50 that established a merit-based criteria scoring system for applicants vying for a cannabis retail storefront license. This ordinance amendment became operational February 13, 2020.

Per the ordinance, the process will commence with community engagement meetings to gather input from the community plan areas where storefront retail is allowed. Chapter 50 (b) limits the number of storefront retail licenses to no more than one in each of six community plan areas. County staff is seeking feedback about the business application criteria (not applicants or specific sites) and neighborhood compatibility for the Neighborhood Compatibility Plan portion of the retail storefront application.

Community engagement meetings had been scheduled to begin in April 2020, but were cancelled due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. To prevent further delay, the County is hosting six virtual community meetings in July with many ways and opportunities for the public to participate and provide feedback. Spanish interpretation will be available.

The meeting schedule and information about how to participate and submit feedback is posted at cannabis.countyofsb.org/retail.sbc. In each of the community meetings, staff from the County Executive Office and Planning & Development will present an overview of the cannabis business licensing and permitting process, followed by an overview of the Community Plan Area (CPA). A video version of the presentation is available on the website prior to the meetings. 

Meeting Schedule

• Isla Vista CPA – 5:30 p.m. Wed., July  1
• Santa Ynez CPA – 5:30 p.m. Thurs., July 2
• Toro Canyon CPA / Summerland CPA – 5:30 p.m. Wed., July 8 
• Orcutt CPA – 5:30 p.m. Thurs., July 9
• Eastern Goleta Valley CPA – 5:30 p.m. Wed., July 15
• Los Alamos CPA – 5:30 p.m. Thurs., July 16

Other Links

Directions to Participate in Virtual Meetings and/or Submit Feedback

County of Santa Barbara Cannabis Permitting and Zoning Map

Santa Barbara County Land Use and Zoning Map

Community Plan Areas webpage

Community Meeting Presentation – English / Spanish –  Coming Soon!

Submit Feedback & Request to Speak at a Community Meeting

Video Presentations:

• Introduction, Business Licensing, Permitting
• Isla Vista CPA
• Santa Ynez Valley CPA
• Toro Cyn/Summerland CPA
• Orcutt CPA
• Eastern Goleta Valley CPA
• Los Alamos CPA

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The Santa Barbara County Water Agency is pleased to announce that voting is underway for the 21^st Annual WaterWise High School Video Contest’s “People’s Choice Award.” The contest challenged students throughout Santa Barbara County to produce fun, creative 30-second videos that reinforce the importance of water conservation in our community. This year’s theme was“Life After Lawn.” Videos have been used previously as public service announcements on local television and in movie theaters.

There were 10 videos submitted by 28 students from seven different schools across the county, including Bishop Garcia Diego, Dos Pueblos, Orcutt Academy, Pioneer Valley, and the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School.

The public is invited to view all 11 videos submitted. Anyone with a YouTube or Gmail account can vote by “Liking” their favorite videos on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2QWYNec. All votes must be submitted before the deadline of 12 p.m. on Friday, April 17, 2020. County Water Agency Manager Fray Crease said, “Watching and voting for your favorite videos is both educational and fun for the whole family.”  

In addition to the “People’s Choice Award,” judges from local water providers award the First, Second, and Third Place and Honorable Mention prizes ranging up to $1,000 to the awarded schools. Students on the winning teams also receive cash prizes made possible by in-kind donations from generous sponsors, including Carollo Engineers, Univision, Geosyntec, Dudek, Ewing Irrigation, All-Around Landscape Supply, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Splash n’ Dash Carwash, and NCM Movie Theatres.

The contest is funded by the Network of Santa Barbara County Water Providers and the Santa Barbara County Water Agency. Together, these agencies sponsor programs that promote water conservation and awareness in the county.

Visit waterwisesb.org to discover more ways to maximize your water efficiency, and to view all the competing videos and vote for your favorites!

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Santa Barbara County Public Works Department announced the indefinite closure of a portion of Old Coast Highway near the Nojoqui Summit as of June 19 due to buckling of the road. 

The closure extends from Highway 101 at the top of the summit down the hill to Alisal Road. Access at the bottom of the summit for Old Coast Highway is still open and travelers can take Alisal Road to Solvang. 

The road will re-open once needed repairs can be made. 

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