With the new year comes new chairs for the Buellton Planning Commission, which filled two vacant leadership roles during its first hearing of 2024.
Former Chair Patty Hammel delivered a brief farewell speech, after announcing her decision to retire early. Hammel’s term as planning commissioner was originally set to expire in December 2024.
“It’s just been an honor and a privilege to support the community and to meet developers and work with them on these projects … to work with this commission and past commissions,” Hammel said at the Jan. 4 meeting. “I think I’ve worked with 12 different commissioners over six and a half years.”
Hammel abstained from voting during the Planning Commission’s elections of chair and vice chair. Former Vice Chair Art Mercado was unanimously elected as chair. Both Mercado’s new position and Planning Commissioner Shannon Reese’s new role as vice chair were determined by a 4-0 vote.
Mercado thanked Hammel “for the utmost dedication to the Planning Commission for these many years” during the meeting.
“She’s done a fantastic job leading us in the right direction,” the new chair said. “We have been led on a great path.”
With 11 months left on Hammel’s term, the Buellton City Council will appoint a new planning commissioner after the position is noticed and applications are collected and reviewed, according to city staff.
Shortly after electing two new chairs, the Planning Commission appointed Reese and Planning Commissioner Laura Romano DeFazio to serve as officers on the city’s Green Team Committee, which meets periodically to discuss environmental sustainability topics and promote citywide resource conservation and efficiency.Â
DeFazio, who volunteered to serve on the Green Team Committee, brought up a green issue of a different kind during city staff’s rundown of some development projects underway this year.
“I actually heard two bits of what may be gossip, and that’s why I’m asking,” DeFazio said. “I heard that Pea Soup [Andersen’s] closed? Somebody posted something today.”
Without naming the source, DeFazio cited a social media post that claimed the local restaurant will close permanently and be torn down to make way for something new, although a sign in front of the eatery’s entrance reads: “Temporarily closed for redevelopment.”
“I saw that, but I have not heard that firsthand from anybody,” Planning Director Andrea Keefer said. “I haven’t heard anything more than what’s been posted. … I think we know just as much as you do.”
DeFazio’s second “piece of hot gossip” was about the In-N-Out Burger corporation eyeing alternative spots in Buellton for a potential drive-through, in light of the City Council rejecting the company’s proposal to build near the corner of Highway 246 and McMurray Road.
“At this point, staff doesn’t know of any solid facts of whether they’re looking at another site,” Keefer said. “But they seem like they want to be here.”
This article appears in Jan 11-21, 2024.