Canary

Modernity isn’t a word anyone would associate with Solvang, and the city’s Design Review Committee would like to keep it that way.  The committee, which was revamped a few years ago to allow for more wiggle room when it comes to new building design concepts in the city, was nonplussed with the audacity of a […]

Equilibrium. Balance. Equity.  These are the things that 2nd District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps is very concerned about when it comes to housing.  “How do we achieve an equilibrium of balance for these impacts?” Capps asked county Planning and Development Director Lisa Plowman during her Feb. 14 presentation on the 2023-31 Housing Element. […]

Nobody likes housing development.  Except for possibly Santa Maria, which doesn’t seem to have very much opposition to building homes or apartments. That city is all-in. And its residents are too—unless, of course, the housing aims to provide shelter for folks who don’t have it. Then there’s a problem.  But I digress. The point is […]

Do you know how to put your political career at risk in Santa Maria? All you have to do is support a homeless housing program, apparently. At least, that’s according to the two members of Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors who spoke at a recent community meeting about a new project slated for an […]

The Jan. 23 Solvang City Council meeting was awkward. Awkward with a capital AWKWARD.  Newly elected City Councilmember Elizabeth Orona had to share the dais with the person she beat out to claim her seat on the city’s governing body. Why? Because her fellow council peeps voted to appoint that loser to fill a seat […]

Guadalupe residents know the meaning of community. After the recent storms that sent floodwaters over the Santa Maria River levee and into town, its residents and officials banded together to take care of their own.  The city contracted with a local H-2A housing owner to provide shelter for displaced residents. The 20 families that evacuated […]

Our community got hit hard, some say harder than expected. Meteorologists say harder than we’ve been hit in decades. All we have to do is look around. It seems folks in South County got more government resources to take the sting out of the crisis, while some in our community got hit with less help.  […]

It’s 2023. And with that big bad announcement, I’ve got another thing in store for you: Santa Barbara County needs to facilitate the building of more than 5,000 housing units by 2031. And that’s just in the unincorporated areas of the county. Santa Maria needs to coax developers to erect more than 5,400. Santa Barbara: […]

Nipomo’s $3-million and many-years-in-the-making skate park is two months away from completion, but some skaters just can’t wait.  The SLO County Parks and Recreation Department had to send out a warning to the public before Christmas because skateboard tracks are already appearing in the bottom of the recently poured skate bowls.  “Waiting just the few […]

It’s refreshing to see a county leader putting on the YIMBY hat and walking the talk. That’s “yes in my backyard,” as opposed to the more popular naysayers’ NIMBY acronym. Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino has been wearing his thinking cap since last January’s proposal to accept state money and turn a Motel 6 in […]

What’s the advantage of being labeled a disadvantaged unincorporated community? You might get a new fire station, but if you’re looking for water or sewer service, you might be out of luck. And if you desperately need flood control help, well, bonne chance!  While the county is required to catalog infrastructure deficiencies in certain unincorporated […]

Santa Barbara County 2nd District Supervisor Gregg Hart took his leave from the governing body on which he’s served for the past few years, stepping into the halls of the state Legislature during the first week of December and making room for Laura Capps to take his seat on the dais.  She was sworn in […]