A small but growing effort to plant trees instead of buildings on a 20-acre parcel in Orcutt is looking more like a civics lesson for the two girls spearheading the movement.

“Tree Amigos” founders Sarah Schwab, 14, and her 12-year-old sister, Anna, have already collected 1,000 signatures in a petition to prevent development on Orcutt “Key Site 11”- on the corner Clark Avenue and Orcutt Road - and turn it into a commemorative tree grove.

Now that they've reached their signature goal - which Sarah said should keep community leaders interested - the girls are seeking 4,000 additional signatures.

“We're going to do it at a slow and easy pace,” Anna said in their Orcutt home, which has a backyard view of the heavily vegetated parcel where the Orcutt Creek runs through.

The sisters hope the parcel will be turned into a tree mitigation site where the public could plant trees in honor of a special date, such as the anniversary, a birth, death or even a pet.

But a review process is already underway to turn the site into an apartment and retail building project proposed by Coker Ellsworth of Arroyo Grande. English-Joseph Property Investments - a local family operation - owns the land, Ellsworth said.

The project is up for “conceptual review” at a Santa Barbara County Planning Commission meeting July 11.

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Ellsworth said he'll present the results of a traffic study requested by the commissioners based on concerns that additional traffic created by the project could severely affect the intersection, which is next to Highway 135 on- and off-ramps.

When asked about the Tree Amigos and their efforts, Ellsworth said he was “caught off guard” because he hadn't heard of the group. However, he said he isn't surprised by local opposition to the project.

“I know there's some neighbors that wouldn't like to see it,” he said. “That's a pretty common occurrence” in these types of projects.

And that opposition seems to be growing due to the girls' efforts to gather signatures and inform Orcutt residents of the issue. On Sunday, they will continue their efforts in their neighborhood.

Additionally, the girls have sought the support of local community leaders, including county board members and the Orcutt Area Advisory Group.

On June 11, the girls addressed 100 letters to community leaders in nearby cities and throughout the county. As of Wednesday, three had expressed support and two had declined, they said.

“We're not quite sure that everyone will respond,” Anna said. “Everyone says that they feel strongly about the community but we're not sure they're going to come through.”

They've also sent a letter to one of the owners of the property, Jane Joseph, Ryan said. Sarah said the purpose of the letter was to pitch their idea to Joseph and “to see how much opposition we'll be getting from her.”

While Joseph and the other land owners couldn't be reached for comment, Ellsworth said the owners will likely stick with their project instead.

“Absolutely,” he said, “we've got two years and a lot of money invested in this already.”

The girls say they'll plow on through to gather more signatures and eventually vie for a spot on the County Board of Supervisor's agenda.

“When you tell them that you've gotten so many (signatures), that tells them that it's something the community wants,” Anna added.

Thus far, the two girls said they have not yet built any expectations, just hope.

Grade-A achievers

Tree Amigos of Orcutt may have the ambition of a land-conservatory group defying the muscle of a developer in modern Orcutt, but ‘Amigos' is just a side project of two home-schooled sisters putting their heads to civic use.

Since kindergarten, Sarah Schwab, 14, and her sister Anna, 12, have been taught at home by their parents, Ryan and Terri.

They may not have much peer competition in class, but the girls aren't short on achievements either.

Anna is the recent recipient of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth “State Award” for the second year in a row, according to her father.

To qualify, he said, seventh-grade students must be among the highest-scoring takers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT - an exam required by most colleges before admission. Anna's score was 2020 out of 2400.

Last year, when Sarah was 13, she scored a 12 out of 12 score in the essay portion of the SAT, Ryan said.

On their spare time, the girls volunteer at the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum and take swimming lessons.

- Luis Ernesto Gomez

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or lgomez

@santamariatimes.com

June 25, 2007