In a year overshadowed by a contentious presidential election full of surprises, northern Santa Barbara County still managed to make its fair share of headlines.
Local elections had their own drama in places like Lompoc and Santa Maria, where some incumbents held their own while others were voted out. The Lake Fire broke out near Los Olivos, burning thousands of acres over the summer, while senior mobile home park residents battled against new owners and management, and SLO and Santa Barbara counties struggled to clean up the Santa Maria Riverbed. Of course, more than that happened, but we couldn’t include it all. So we picked a few highlights to reflect on as 2024 comes to a close.
—Camillia Lanham
Another election, familiar faces
The 2024 election cycle was packed with candidates, tax measures, and school bond measures. Alice Patino and Carlos Escobedo will return to the Santa Maria City Council as mayor and 1st District representative, respectively. They’ll be joined by newcomer Gloria Flores, who beat incumbent Mike Cordero to represent the 2nd District. In Lompoc, former city officials will join 4th District City Councilmember Jeremy Ball—the only candidate who ran unopposed in the county this election—on the dais. Former City Councilmember Jim Mosby beat out incumbent Mayor Jenelle Osborne in his third attempt at the job, and former Planning Commissioner Steve Bridge will represent the 1st District after Gilda Aiello decided not to run. Lompoc voted to privatize Ken Adam Park (pictured) to make way for a space education center and theme park and approved a $160 million bond to upgrade to Lompoc Unified School District’s 16 sites. Santa Maria-Bonita School District will also see new improvements after voters approved its $77 million bond, but two other North County school districts—Santa Maria Joint-Union High School District and the College District in Santa Ynez Valley—didn’t make the cut. Santa Barbara County, Buellton, and Solvang visitors will see higher lodging bills at the end of their stays thanks to voter-approved 2 percent bed tax increases, driving rates up to 15 percent.
—Taylor O’Connor
Firefighters on the ballot
Several union contracts expired at the end of 2023, and two unions—the Service Employees International Union Local 620 (SEIU), which represents almost half of the city’s employees, and the Firefighters Union Local 2020 (57 members)—spoke up during Santa Maria City Council meetings to advocate for higher wages and cost of living adjustments. SEIU’s efforts came to fruition in February with a new contract agreement, but the firefighters’ union never got there, with the city declaring an impasse in April. Displeased and determined to get to an average market salary, the union shifted its efforts to the election and backed candidates in each of the three City Council races and contributed more than $15,000 to the campaign efforts. The new contract became a center talking point during debates and campaigns, but the efforts didn’t sway enough voters. None of the firefighter-backed candidates won their races, and the contract remains up in the air.
—Taylor O’Connor
Wildfire returns after two quiet summers
The brush and chaparral that thrived during a relatively wet winter dried out in the summer heat, fueling the Lake Fire that ignited outside of Zaca Lake over Fourth of July weekend. The blaze consumed more than 38,000 acres in the span of three weeks, prompting evacuations for Santa Ynez Valley residents and faculty residing at Midland School, a boarding high school outside of Los Olivos on Figueroa Mountain Road. Firefighters expected the blaze to grow, but cooler temperatures and some extra humidity helped the response teams contain the blaze. As part of fire suppression efforts, the Los Padres Forest Service carved 170 miles of 12-foot-wide contingency lines to keep the fire from crossing. At the end of fire season, the Forest Service aimed to restore the damage. From mid-October into early January, Forest Service units and the Chumash Fire Department went back to the Lake Fire sites to push the soil back, repair roads, protect tribal historical and cultural sites, build berms to direct water flow, pull out invasive plants, and restore the forest to its natural state as much as possible. Los Padres anticipates campers and hikers can return to the area after Jan. 12.
—Taylor O’Connor
Lompoc faces the grand jury
Lompoc’s Tourism Business Improvement District organization came under scrutiny from the Santa Barbara County grand jury early in 2024 for underreporting more than $500,000 to the city between 2020 and 2022. A grand jury report accused the city of a consistent lack of oversight when it comes to how Explore Lompoc spends the bulk of a 3 percent tax hotels pay to the city to fund tourism enhancement projects. Community members also accused then Lompoc City Councilmember Gilda Aielo, who’s also Explore Lompoc’s president, of misappropriating funds, but the city disagreed with many of the allegations in the report, including that any money was misappropriated.
—Camillia Lanham
Mobile home park protection
Santa Barbara County’s senior residents took center stage this year after Del Cielo Mobile Estates, an Orcutt 55-and-older mobile home park, fell under new ownership that brought in Harmony Communities, a Stockton-based property management company, to oversee the park. Shortly after the park’s sale, Harmony Communities notified Del Cielo residents of the owners’ intention to convert the park into an all-ages community. Fearful of rent increases and losing needed senior housing options, senior park residents throughout the county requested that the Board of Supervisors protect mobile home parks with an overlay that prevents conversion. Supervisors acted quickly and approved a 10-month moratorium that would prevent park conversion until an overlay could be finalized. The new Del Cielo owners responded with a lawsuit against the county, claiming that the moratorium forces them to violate the federal Fair Housing Act that prohibits “discrimination based on familial status.”
—Taylor O’Connor
Santa Maria Riverbed cleanup
To address the fire risk, sanitation and safety concerns, and environmental impacts of people living in the Santa Maria Riverbed, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties partnered to spearhead a multi-phased cleanup to remove debris from the riverbed and connect individuals to case management services and shelter options. With an estimated 110 to 150 unhoused individuals with approximately 100 pets living there, local nonprofits, including C.A.R.E.4Paws and Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO), among others, teamed up during the months-long encampment cleanup to provide pet and human health care services on Tuesdays through mobile clinic operations. C.A.R.E.4Paws sent volunteers out to provide food, water, and flea medications to the pet families, and its clinic served 70 pets by the end of the cleanup’s duration—with 35 spay/neuter surgeries taking place. Human health care service providers saw cases of syphilis, hepatitis C, wounds, substance use, and poor dental hygiene. The nine-month effort removed 150 tons of debris and provided approximately 100 people with services.
—Taylor O’Connor
Allan Hancock College chases a bachelor’s
After 12 years of trying to provide a four-year degree pathway to local students at Allan Hancock College, the community college finally got one—kind of. At the start of the 2024-25 school year, 20 sociology students started taking classes as part of the 2+2 program, a Cal Poly and Hancock partnership that enables students to complete a Cal Poly bachelor’s degree in sociology on Hancock’s campus while taking classes from Cal Poly professors. Hancock also received provisional approval from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office for a new Bachelor of Science degree in applied professional studies, a career tech degree that prepares students for ag, manufacturing, space, and health care, among other industries. But it’s just a first step. If any of the state’s public universities object to Hancock offering the degree, it could stop the process from moving forward.
—Camillia Lanham
Royal Theater addresses funding woes
Guadalupe chased deadlines and ran down bumpy, alternative routes to try and get the Royal Theater project off the ground, leaving residents frustrated with a lack of updates and communication from the city. The City Council and city staff found out that the funding pot was about $3 million short of what’s needed to complete the project—which proposed revitalizing the historic site with a new state-of-the-art movie theater and performing arts center and a meeting space for local organizations. Facing federal deadlines to use $4.8 million provided by the U.S. Economic Development Agency, Guadalupe originally proposed a bond measure to fund the gap, but the measure didn’t make the election ballot. Still, the city marched forward with bids for new construction, historic renovation, and a manager to operate the building while simultaneously seeking donations from foundations and launching a capital campaign. To cut costs, city staff submitted design changes to halt construction on certain amenities until later, before getting the City Council’s approval and letting the public weigh in.
—Taylor O’Connor
Agriculture and outdoor recreation
Santa Barbara County’s growers and ranchers will be able to add farm stays or campsites, host special events, process their food, and/or sell it at a farmstand on-site since the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county’s Agricultural Enterprise Ordinance in December. County Planning and Development staff invested years into the document, the first of its kind that encompasses a plethora of activities for agriculturalists to apply to their operations. The Planning Commission discussed the ordinance eight times before sending it to supervisors for final approval. Some small farmers and vintners celebrated, saying it would bring supplemental income to the table for them, while growers who focus on row crops (particularly in the Santa Maria Valley) worried about the impacts additional activities would have on the health and safety of people and the crops—which face strict regulations.
—Taylor O’Connor
All day, all night at the YMCA
Some Santa Ynez Valley residents opposed the Stuart C. Gildred YMCA’s proposal to expand its operation to 24/7. The 2023 request asked to allow one exercise area and restroom to operate seven days and nights a week without limitation, but neighbors appealed the permit due to concerns about noise, safety, and light. The Planning Commission pushed a mid-summer decision to later in the year, and then a September decision to November, requiring the YMCA to put an adaptive management plan in place to deal with complaints that might come in about day and night operations. In November, the Planning Commission approved the plan.
—Camillia Lanham
This article appears in Dec 26, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025.
