Article taken from the The
Santa Barbara Independent
Naples on the Gaviota Coast
Could It Be the Next Ellwood?
By Indy Staff
January 17, 2008
The Future Is Now
for Gaviota Coast
By Brian Trautwein, environmental analyst with the Environmental Defense
Center.
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| Photo: Paul Wellman (from file) |
Naples is the broad coastal terrace incised by numerous canyons two miles up the 101 from Goleta. Scenic views of rolling hills and the gently sloping coastal bluffs south of the 101 are postcard perfect. In breathtaking fashion, the bluffs abruptly drop off over 100-foot-tall shale cliffs to the Naples Reef 19 square nautical miles of one of Southern California’s most precious marine jewels.
Naples and Gaviota are special to the Chumash culture. Two major villages once stood at Naples. These areas have tremendous cultural significance that would be lost forever if Naples is developed. One reason this area is so special is that species of every kind abound here. From the badgers, bears, mountain lions, and sea otters to the peregrine falcons and golden eagles, Gaviota’s biodiversity is unparalleled in our region, and it is one of the top 15 areas for species richness in the world.
Living among this amazing landscape are family farmers who want to keep farming and not be hindered by urbanization. These families run a few head of cattle and cultivate orchards on the fertile soil. They generally coexist with the otherwise natural landscape a balance that is rare in this day and age.
As the gateway to the 38-mile-long Gaviota Coast the last undeveloped coastline in Southern California if Naples falls to “McMansion” development as planned and financed by people far removed from Santa Barbara County, the rest of the Gaviota Coast could be next.
The Naples, or “Santa Barbara Ranch,” development openly preferred by Orange County developer Vintage Properties would cut into scenic hillsides, pave over fertile land, and result in up to 146 homes. Almost 200 acres of farmland much designated prime farmland would be lost. The development would require three privately run sewage treatment plants on our fragile coast.
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| Credit: Environmental Defense Center | |
| An arial view of Naples, on the Gaviota Coast. |
The development’s tenuous water supplies include the increasingly unreliable State Water Project. Water would also be piped out of Dos Pueblos Creek, jeopardizing endangered steelhead trout. Runoff would pollute the beach and Naples Reef. Views would be scarred with large buildings. All this is described in the recently released 1,800-page Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Santa Barbara Ranch project (sbcountyplanning.org).
Despite Santa Barbara County’s history of careful land use planning, this EIR fails to accurately portray the environmental resources of Naples. Some impacts are not identified, and measures to reduce impacts are delayed. The EIR is so flawed it actually finds the 146-home project “environmentally superior” to a project with 110 units on substantially less acreage.
The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) is the only nonprofit public interest environmental law firm in the region. We have been hired by the Surfrider Foundation to bring our 30 years of expertise to help resolve the long-standing legal and environmental issues involved in the Naples proposal. EDC is funded solely by our nonprofit clients and donors. We use scientific research, education, coalition-building, advocacy, and, when needed, legal action to protect our coast, open spaces, human health, and the region’s environment.
EDC has a successful history of protecting important open space areas in our region, including the Douglas Family Preserve, Carpinteria Bluffs, Sedgwick Ranch, Hearst Ranch, and Ahmanson Ranch. After 15 years of working through the process and ultimately, as a last resort, filing lawsuits to enforce environmental laws, we recently helped secure protection of the Ellwood Mesa (officially the “Sperling Preserve”) through an innovative “land swap” agreement which involved purchasing development rights from the landowners and transferring the remaining development rights away from the coast. We see Naples as the next candidate for such a transfer of development rights (TDR) that provides a fair return to the landowner while preserving a rare natural resource.
At Ellwood, EDC successfully convinced the City of Goleta and the developer to transfer development rights from a sensitive coastal mesa to a nearby inland area, thereby preserving important habitats and public access trails. The solution for Naples is very similar.
County and state policies require that development planned for Naples be reduced to avoid all significant environmental impacts wherever feasible. First, the project must be properly sited and reduced in size to fit the landscape without significantly damaging this delicate coastal gem. Then, under county Policy 2-13, as much as possible of the remaining proposed development must be transferred, if feasible, into more suitable urban locations that already include basic services such as sewers, fire protection, and water. Policy 2-13 specifically calls for a land swap-type arrangement to pay the developer not to build on our fragile Gaviota Coast. This, EDC believes, is a win-win solution that provides the developer a return on his investment while fulfilling the community’s vision of protecting the irreplaceable beauty and natural resources of the Gaviota Coast.
To learn more about EDC’s efforts to preserve Naples, call environmental analyst Brian Trautwein at 963-1622 and check our Web site at edcnet.org.