[UPDATE: The  Santa Barbara County Planning Commission at their hearing of September 23, 2014 the commissioners made the following motion on the Las Varas Ranch Project

ACTION: Recommended that the Board of Supervisors not certify the Environmental Impact Report (10EIR-00000-00005) and require additional environmental review in the areas of Aesthetics/Visual Resources, Agricultural Resources, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Land Use, Recreation, and Growth Inducement.

The hearing with the Board of Supervisors will be in February 2015.]

[UPDATE: On September 23rd, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission will consider how to provide public access to and along 2 miles of scenic shoreline on Gaviota’s Las Varas Ranch, including the location of California Coastal Trail and beach access.]

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 Planning Commission 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 Planning Commission such as the example below. Please personalize your message so that the commissioners will not get too many form letters.

To: David Villalobos: dvillalo@nullco.santa-barbara.ca.us

(Mr. Villalobos' email address is used for messages sent to the County Planning Commission)

cc: Doreen Farr, County Supervisor: dfarr@nullcountyofsb.org

Subject: Las Varas Ranch Coastal Trail and Open Space

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Dear Mr. Daniel Blough, Chair, Santa Barbara County Planning Commission

I strongly support the County requiring a blufftop location for the California Coastal Trail and protection of blufftop open space as part of development of the Las Varas Ranch! I urge the Planning Commission to do the following:

• Don't let the developer block historic public coastal access to Edwards Point!
• Explore creative tools to acquire blufftop open space and the Coastal Trail.
• Require that the developer provide a blufftop location for the California Coastal Trail consistent with draft Gaviota Coast Plan.
• Support the County's Coastal Plan that identifies Edwards Point as a "major Coastal Park."

Please do everything possible to protect blufftop open space on Las Varas Ranch and acquire a nearshore California Coastal Trail!

[your name and community of residence]

Please express your concern in your own words.