Ruling burns hopes for bridge

Santa Barbara County officials' hopes of completing a $6 million project to replace portions of Gaviota Beach Road and the nearby bridge that flood regularly were dashed Wednesday night, following a decision by the California Coastal Commission.

“We were denied. But it's a little worse than that, because the tone of the meeting was that we are bad boys and girls - bad people - for bringing this project forward,” said 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone, who represents Gaviota. “It wasn't, ‘how can we save $6 million or the project to make it work?' It was an almost certain righteousness in cutting us off.”

By supporting an appeal of the project filed by several local environmental groups, the Coastal Commission forced the county to give up federal and state funding that would have made the project a reality. With no local dollars available, there is basically no chance the project can be completed any time soon, said Scott McGolpin, county deputy director of roads.

“If no project goes forward, it means you have the existing situation,” McGolpin said. “The road is inundated every winter, roads are closed and people are cut off from the basic necessities.”

Santa Barbara County officials had secured $6 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and State Office of Emergency Services to complete the proposed bridge replacement project, which must be completed by next August or the county will lose the money, McGolpin said.

About $900,000 of federal money was spent designing and studying the project to date, Firestone said.

There is not enough time now to design, study and construct a brand new project before the deadline.

Firestone said this project is the biggest issue in the area since he took office and was very disappointed about the ruling.

“We lost $6 million, we have no project and I hope it doesn't rain,” Firestone said.

The project involves removing a 782-foot-long, 18-foot-wide stretch of Gaviota Beach Road and an 80-foot-long bridge over the Gaviota Creek. In their place, a new 34-foot-wide road and 256-foot-long bridge would have been built in approximately the same location.

Heavy winter rains flood the existing bridge regularly, knocking out the main access road to the nearby Hollister Ranch neighborhood and Gaviota Beach, and the new span would go a long way to fixing the reoccurring problem, McGolpin said.

There are roughly 500 Hollister Ranch residents and about 200,000 people visit the Gaviota beach each year - all people who are affected by flooding.

The Coastal Commission staff recommended denying the project, because it involves widening the road to nearly twice its existing size, which “has direct impact to riparian habitat, wetlands and sensitive species. Because of the significant expansion, both in height and width, the proposed project cannot be characterized as purely a replacement project,” according to a staff report.

Representing one of the groups that appealed the project, Mike Lunsford of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy said he was pleased with the decision, but hoped the interested parties could work together to design a project that would protect the fragile wetlands near the creek, he said.

“The ruling was stronger than I expected it to be. It was a unanimous vote and it should now be clear to the county that they were pursuing a project that was inconsistent with local coastal plan policies,” Lunsford said.

The county addressed the environmental issues “adequately” and added eight culverts to the project which would ensure 46 inches of water make it to the wetlands, more than is necessary according to federal standards, McGolpin said.

“The culverts were designed so the wetlands can survive and thrive,” he said.

During environmental review of the project, several alternatives were studied, including a version that was ranked environmentally superior. Under that proposal, the bridge was higher and, therefore, disturbed less of the wetland.

However, the project costs $2 million more than the original project, which makes it financially unreasonable, McGolpin said. FEMA agreed to fund the $6 million bridge, but will take those dollars away if another project is pursued, he added.

County Public Works Department staff will notify FEMA of the Coastal Commission's decision and ask for further direction, McGolpin said.

Randi Block can be reached at 347-4580 or rblock@santa

mariatimes.com.

Aug. 11, 2006