Article taken from the Santa
Barbara News Press Santa Ynez land use compels
all sides to debate amicably By
NORA K. WALLACE 04/22/05
Most farmers and ranchers rarely agree with environmentalists about anything having to do with property rights and land use. But Wednesday night in Solvang, the two sides talked frankly as four of the largest landowners in the Santa Ynez Valley detailed their desires to preserve the rural character of the region while keeping agriculture financially productive. It's a perspective that hasn't always been part of the debate, according to some of the 80 residents who packed the Veterans Memorial Building. The discussion is part of a years-old battle in the county between those who seek to preserve the land and those who make their living from it. In the past, such meetings could be rancorous -- such as the saga that resulted in an oaks protection ordinance that some in the county now want to revoke. On Wednesday, all ideas were on the table. No one wants to see sprawling pastures and oak-dotted hillsides replaced wholesale by housing developments, residents said. But there must be some willingness, participants said, to try new ideas, whether it be sales tax increases to pay for conservation easements; changing some land-use regulations; or considering small-scale developments on land that historically has been farmed. "If we don't start, we'll never get there," said Bob Field, chairman of the Valley Plan Advisory Committee. "We need to get to an understanding of the need to preserve ag land and operations. It's more than an open-space issue." The committee asked four landowners to speak about their land and desires for the future: Willy Chamberlin, whose family controls 11,000 acres; Bill Giorgi, whose family ranches and farms 1,500 acres at Nojoqui Falls Ranch; C.J. Jackson, whose family runs the 10,000-acre Alisal Ranch; and Nancy Crawford-Hall of the 10,000-acre San Lucas Ranch, who couldn't attend but had a statement read in her absence. "We need to get a perspective," Mr. Field said. "These big parcels are irreplaceable treasures, and they're going to get away from us if we don't do something." The county's chief executive officer, Mike Brown, offered one scenario as an example. If farmland is identified with accessible roads, a few luxury homes could be built unobtrusively. The income to landholders might be an encouragement to farmers to keep the rest of the land in agriculture, he said. And people able to afford expensive homes, he claimed, wouldn't necessarily become financial drains on the county, such as using school districts, courts, mental health services. "We need to get smart and get a whole array of tools to do this," Mr. Brown said. "One tool might not be a panacea; it'll be a number of tools. It's little projects and little steps." But Mr. Chamberlin, a former county supervisor, said he doesn't believe the county "has enough tools to handle this yet. You're talking about someone's life savings," so the concern among farmers and ranchers is significant. The word "preservation" can sometimes frighten landowners, who worry their property rights are in jeopardy, he said. But that fear, he said after the meeting, shouldn't put the discussions off-limits. Families struggle nowadays with the increasing value of the land they farm and ranch, and while many prefer to keep the land in agriculture, the financial burden is sometimes overwhelming, he said. "We're not saving agriculture in the Santa Ynez Valley as much as we're saving the rural lifestyle," he said. "We have to recognize that." The county could help, Mr. Chamberlin said, by changing some zoning rules, or "allow farmers the flexibility to modify their operations to get the most value." Another potential fix, Mr. Giorgi suggested, has to do with internal county workings. "Urban planners try to apply urban rules to the rural landscape," he said. The county, he added, should start working on "incentive-based approaches instead of punitive." Michael Feeney, executive director of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, proposed that landowners and the county consider options such as the conservation easement, a contract that sets development restrictions on land while also protecting it in perpetuity. "You're going to have to have a lot more meetings to turn this notion into something workable," Mr. Feeney said. "Tonight's the beginning of the process." |