Photo by John Wiley
[UPDATE: This project was denied by the Board of Supervisors. Thank you for your support.] Help us insure that the California Coastal Trail is sited in a nearshore location along the bluff-top at Las Varas Ranch as a benefit for all county residents and visitors.
The developer proposes construction of large estates that would block historic public access, destroy scenic coastal open space and locate the Coastal Trail next to the noise and fumes of Highway 101 almost ½ mile from the beach. The Trails Council proposes to relocate the mansions away from scenic open space and to acquire an ocean view blufftop location for the Coastal Trail.
The importance of your participation at this point in the planning process cannot be over stated: The Board of Supervisors needs to tell the developer that our coast cannot be walled off from the public! We can have a coastal trail and open space similar to the beautiful Ellwood Mesa and its blufftop coastal trail or have the public walled off from the coast by exclusive development. We need your help!
How Can I Help?
Please take a few minutes to write or send an email to the Board of Supervisors such as the example below. Please personalize your message so that the Board members will not get too many form letters.
To: Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors c/o Clerk of the Board at: sbcob@nullco.santa-barbara.ca.us
cc: Doreen Farr, County Supervisor: dfarr@nullcountyofsb.org
Subject: Las Varas Ranch Development, Coastal Trail and Open Space
Dear Chair Wolf and Board members,
I am concerned about the impacts of the Las Varas Ranch development on coastal trails and access. I respectfully request that the Board of Supervisors:
- Support your Planning Commission and ensure that the project Environmental Impact Report is revised to fully address project impacts
- Protect historic informal public coastal access to Edwards Point.
- Require dedication of an easement for a nearshore California Coastal Trail.
- Support the County's Coastal Plan that identifies Edwards Point as a "major Coastal Park."
Please do everything possible to acquire a nearshore California Coastal Trail and protect blufftop open space on Las Varas Ranch!
[your name and community of residence]
Please express your concern in your own words.
If you would like to learn more about this project, we have posted several reports and links to the Environmental Impact Report on this page: https://sbtrails.org/las-varas-ranch-project-eir-inadequate/
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