Over the last 20 years, Walt Pavlakovich and his wife, Ginny, have routinely walked on well-worn paths that cut through the lot adjacent to Pioneer Park where they enjoy admiring the diverse ecosystem.
“There’s sand dune environment with old growth chaparral, a big meadow with native wildflowers, all in this tiny little area right next to Pioneer Park,” Pavlakovich said. “The biodiversity was just stunning and remarkable.”
The area is also home to the last natural stand of California coastal oak trees in the city of Santa Maria, according to a plaque at the park dedicated to former City Councilmember James May.
This stand recently lost a few trees. On a walk through the lot in late April, Pavlakovich said he saw an oak tree that had been cut down. A few weeks later, more trees came down and other plants were uprooted.
Pavlakovich began making phone calls to city and county officials to try to figure out what was behind this clearing, but he had little initial success. Eventually he learned the land was owned by the Santa Maria Public Airport District and was included in the district’s master plan, which has been in place since 2008.
Despite knowing who owns the land, Pavlakovich said he still found it difficult to learn why it was being cleared. He met other residents who shared his concern and were equally confused about the work taking place. Pavlakovich said they heard rumors—including plans to grow strawberries, the clearing out of homeless encampments, and the removal of trees to provide firewood to the Santa Maria Elks Lodge.
Some of these rumors are partially true, but they’re missing context. Santa Maria Airport General Manager Chris Hastert told the Sun that this parcel is not an extension of Pioneer Park and is not open to the public. In an email Pavlakovich forwarded to the Sun, Hastert said the district plans to post additional signage around the property clarifying that it’s not open to the public. And on June 5, workers began putting up new fencing around the property.
Regarding the Elks Lodge involvement, Hastert said the district invited the group to cut down some trees and remove the timber for firewood. But, he said, this work would have been completed anyway and the district plans to hire a professional contractor to subsequently finish clearing the site.
As for the clearing itself, Hastert said it’s part of the district’s overall effort to proactively take care of its parcels.
“This is one piece of a larger effort to … better maintain all vacant parcels that the Santa Maria Airport District owns for safety, security, and potential liability,” Hastert said in an email to the Sun. “This has nothing to do with development or any change in use of the parcels.”
Hastert said maintaining airport property has been a point of focus for the district over the last few years as homeless encampments have popped up on some airport land. Although this isn’t the situation on the lot next to Pioneer Park, the parcel is part of the district’s broader efforts to clear and maintain the property it owns.
The effort began at the lot next to Pioneer Park in July 2019 when the district terminated its lease with tenants who’d used the land as a grazing area for animals for nearly 14 years.
“As we continue to develop other sites around the area, we have discovered that being 100 percent in control of and managing our own land allows us more flexibility, different management practices, and easier access, which aids the already slow development process,” the district’s termination notice to the previous tenant states.
The district’s master plan outlines steps toward developing this parcel, along with others the district owns south of the airport and north of Union Valley Parkway. This lot specifically is slated to become commercial office space.
Santa Maria Community Development Director Chuen Ng said the airport hasn’t submitted a development application for this parcel, but it’s the district’s land, so it has the right to conduct clearing efforts. He said, hypothetically, the district could clear the entire lot before submitting a development application.
Unlike Santa Barbara County, the city doesn’t have an ordinance in place regulating the removal of oak trees, Ng said. However, the city did certify an environmental impact report in 2007 that examined how the district’s master plan would affect the area’s environment.
The broader impacts that clearing this land could have on the environment are what’s most concerning to Pavlakovich and the roughly 10 other residents the Sun spoke with about this parcel. Pavlakovich said he’s seen a variety of wildlife on the land, including great horned owls, coyotes, bobcats, and lizards.
Concern for the birds and other animals that live there led to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) getting involved in the situation. CDFW Patrol Lt. Jamie Dostal said the department received a call from a resident about a large number of oak trees that had been cut down, and although removing oak trees isn’t within the department’s jurisdiction, destroying bird nests is a misdemeanor violation that the department enforces.
Dostal said a warden with the department walked the site and couldn’t find any nests but assumes that with the number of trees that were cut down, some nests were probably disturbed. Another member of the department reviewed the environmental impact report for the airport’s master plan and found that tree removal is only supposed to take place from September through February to protect nesting birds. When the remnants of trees that have been cut down are removed, he said the department may revisit the site to check for evidence of destroyed nests.
In the meantime, Pavlakovich said he and another resident have plans to meet with an attorney to discuss their options in trying to prevent the rest of the lot from being cleared.
“We can’t reverse what has happened, but we can preserve what’s still there,” Pavlakovich said.
Reach Staff Writer Zac Ezzone at zezzone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 11-18, 2020.