Article taken from the
Santa Barbara News Press
Fund-raising
effort under way for Ellwood propert By JENNIFER
GOLLAN 1/30/03
Community leaders joined environmentalists and developers Wednesday to kick off a $20.4 million fund-raising campaign to preserve Ellwood Mesa, creating a safe cocoon for some 60,000 monarch butterflies that migrate there for the winter. "This is a remarkable conservation effort," Reed Holderman, executive director of the Trust for Public Land California, told a cheering crowd of more than 50 community leaders and activists. The group said they hope to raise $6 million in private donations by June 30 and more than $14 million in federal and state funds to purchase the 137-acre scenic coastal property from developer Comstock Homes and turn it over to the city of Goleta. The deal stems from decades of community efforts to prevent development in the area. Goleta Mayor Jack Hawxhurst, joined by 3rd District Supervisor Gail Marshall and Councilwoman Cynthia Brock, rallied local residents, shaking a donation can. "Many individuals and organizations have expended Herculean efforts to provide us with the opportunity to acquire the awe-inspiring Ellwood Mesa," said Mr. Hawxhurst. "Today we catalyze an unprecedented outpouring of public support for this project and initiate a new phase of fund-raising to take us the last steps toward preserving this unique land for the new city and the entire region."
Harriett Phillips of the Goleta Valley Land Trust stepped forward with the first donation of $500,000, and said: "We all need to pitch in if we want to see our beloved Ellwood Mesa protected forever."
People who donate $500,000 to $5 million will have the opportunity to name parts of the park, and those who donate $10 million can name the entire park. The fund-raising goal of $20.4 million is only a portion of the land's market value, said Shelley Ratay, a trust representative. Appraisals of the property, located between UCSB and a Santa Barbara Shores Park, are expected this summer, however. In July 2002, Comstock Homes agreed to allow the trust to acquire the Ellwood Mesa in exchange for 38 acres, located inland in Santa Barbara Shores Park, where the company's CEO, Robert Comstock of Manhattan Beach, said he plans to build 78 luxury homes. "The land swap makes all the sense in the world," he said. "It will create a win-win situation."
Under the deal, the trust will accept the mesa as a gift, then help Mr. Comstock and his partners qualify for millions of dollars in state tax credits for portions initially slated for development. The money raised through the campaign will compensate the developers for the difference between the tax credits and the land's appraised value. The San Francisco-based trust is the only nationwide nonprofit organization working to preserve land as public open spaces for recreation and observing nature. The group has participated in deals to preserve the Douglas Family Reserve in Santa Barbara, the Carpinteria Bluffs and parts of the Gaviota coast.
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