City Council votes unanimously to continue program through December while exploring whether to make it permanent
Since March 2020, the City of Carpinteria has issued 28 permits for businesses and other organizations to expand their operations outside or into public street rights-of-way. (Jade Martinez-Pogue / Noozhawk photo) By Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @MartinezPogue
May 16, 2021
| 9:30 p.m.
With Santa Barbara County gaining increasing control over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Carpinteria City Council voted last week to extend an emergency ordinance allowing local businesses to expand operations into street rights-of-way.
“Many local businesses were forced to close for a number of months over the past year and, when open, business activities have been severely restricted,” City Manager Dave Durflinger wrote in a staff report to the council.
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The cities have asked for additional information from the county to analyze the data leading to the higher costs.
In addition to the new higher rate for next year, the cities balked at so-called “true-up” costs for 2019-20, through which the county seeks the difference between the estimated and actual costs for service.
“The sheriff’s department has applied those true-up costs but has included major issue here in the current year billing that patrol hours are a part of the true-up billing. Of course, that’s not the case; it’s not part of the contract. That affects the current year and going forward,” Durflinger said.
By Melinda Burns
| 2:49 p.m.
It is the winter of discontent for many Buellton-area vintners and residents, as two more outdoor cannabis projects, one of them the largest in the county to date, have been approved for the picturesque Sta. Rita Hills wine region.
How and whether the county requires odor controls on these early projects – SFS Farms OpCo 1 at the western end of the Sta. Rita Hills and Central Coast Agriculture at the eastern end near Buellton – will set a precedent for nearly 800 acres of outdoor grows that are proposed for the region and in various stages of county review, critics say.
Bitter Feud in Wine Country: Will the county rein in the skunky smell from outdoor pot farms?
Central Coast Agriculture, a 32-acre project for cannabis cultivation under hoops at 8701 Santa Rosa Rd., was approved in January by the county Planning Commission. The project includes stricter requirements for odor control than other outdoor cannabis projects, but a citizens’ coalition says they do not go far enough. (Photo by Melinda Burns)
It is a winter of discontent for many Buellton-area vintners and residents, as two more outdoor cannabis operations, one of them slated to be the county’s largest, were approved for the picturesque Sta. Rita Hills wine region.