Not long after voting to reject an affordable housing mandate from the state, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Janet Wolf (2nd District) sent a letter to her fellow board members requesting that they reconsider the matter at an upcoming meeting.
Wolf’s suggestion seems to have been prompted by the threat of a lawsuit and the possible suspension of the board’s authority over housing and development projects because of the initial decision.
A hearing to further consider the county’s rezoning program is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24.
The board voted 3-2 during its Jan. 27 meeting to reject the mandate. To comply with state regulations, the board would have had to select two parcels of land in Orcutt for residential rezoning. The parcels would have been home to 370 low-income residential units—the final portion of the 6,064 units the California Housing and Community Development Department directed the county to find or make room for in 2007.
Following the vote, the board directed staffers to tell the California Housing and Community Development Department that the county had designated enough units in Isla Vista to meet its housing requirements. The vote didn’t sit well with Supervisor Salud Carbajal (1st District) who later said, “When the state comes a-calling, don’t call on me.”
On the other hand, many Orcutt residents who were thrilled with the initial vote are calling on the board to uphold its decision.
Orcutt Area Advisory Group, Inc. president Mertie Walker is encouraging the Board of Supervisors to stick with its first decision. The group was one of several organizations to go on record before the supervisors, urging them to reject the state mandate.
This article appears in Feb 19-26, 2009.