Meet the Candidate: Farr defines herself as a ‘moderate liberal’

Santa Barbara County Supervisor

3rd District

Four-year term

Doreen Farr

Age: 56

Political party: Democrat

Years in 3rd District: 10

Elected office: None

Appointed office: Santa Barbara County

Planning Commission

Work: retired; former businesswoman and

planning consultant

Family: divorced; three children

Web site: www.doreenfarrforsupervisor.com

By Chuck Schultz/Senior Staff Writer

Doreen Farr of Solvang thought she’d be battling the incumbent when she decided last year to run for 3rd District supervisor of Santa Barbara County.

Several months after she started raising campaign money, though, Supervisor Brooks Firestone unexpectedly announced in September that he would not seek re-election.

“I fully expected to be running against Mr. Firestone,” said Farr, 56, a retired businesswoman and consultant who served for three years on the county Planning Commission. “It was quite a surprise to me, and I think everybody, when he decided not to run.”

If campaign dollars are any measure, she is one of the front-runners in the five-person race for Firestone’s pivotal seat on the Board of Supervisors. By early this month, Farr estimated she had raised about $160,000 in donations.

The other 3rd District candidates whose names will be on the June 3 ballot include Dr. David Bearman, Steve Pappas, Victoria Pointer and David Smyser.

The sprawling district includes the Santa Ynez Valley, Los Alamos, parts of the Lompoc Valley, western Goleta and Isla Vista.

Formerly a resident of the Goleta Valley, Farr was a planning commissioner for the 2nd District from January 1999 to March 2002, when she stepped down to become a planning consultant to the newly formed city of Goleta.

An environmentalist who describes herself as a “moderate liberal,” she also served as president of the Patterson Area Neighborhoods Association in Goleta and as a board member of the Citizens Planning Association.

She moved to Solvang in 2004 after she and her ex-husband sold the Goleta Valley Voice newspaper, which they had jointly owned. It didn’t take her long to immerse herself in the valley’s sometimes testy

land-use politics, though, by becoming president of the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance citizens group.

“I think I’ve defined myself as a moderate liberal,” Farr said. “I really feel my work in the community, in a variety of different ways, speaks well to that, because it has been non-partisan work. I have support across the political spectrum.”

Yet, her list of endorsements and campaign contributions for the non-partisan race shows much of her support comes from local Democrats.

One of her priorities if elected, Farr said, would be to balance community needs for housing, open space and transportation. She favors limiting new development to areas within the urban boundaries of each community, not letting it spill into rural or semi-rural areas.

“I think we still have lots of opportunities for growth, in both housing and commercial development, within the existing urban limit lines,” she said. “That’s where we have to look to first.”

She sees a big need, too, for more rental housing for low-income residents.

Despite the county’s budget woes, she’s not convinced boosting tourism to generate more sales and hotel-motel tax is necessarily a good idea.

“I think that would have to be very carefully handled,” Farr said. “I’m not opposed to it. It depends what specific projects come forward and where they are proposed” to be built.

Other new possible sources of revenue that should be considered, she said, are “increasing fees for new development” or putting a county tax on all oil pumped from onshore wells in Santa Barbara County.

She said the county also should ensure that it recoups every dollar of its “massive expense” for enforcement, inspections and cleanup of spills and permit violations relating to Greka Oil Co. “The county taxpayers should not be funding that.”

Smyser claims to be backed by most of the county’s farmers and ranchers, but all the other candidates — including Farr — insist preserving and protecting agriculture will be a high priority if they are elected.

“We need to make sure new development is not sited on agricultural land whenever possible,” Farr said.

Buffers should also be maintained between new residential-commercial development and adjoining agricultural land, she added.

While she knows the county is bracing for a multi-million deficit in 2008-09, Farr opposes making across-the-board cuts or slicing millions of dollars from alcohol, drug and mental-health services programs. If those clients don’t get the treatment, counseling and other help they need, many could end up in jail or homeless, which might end up costing the county even more in the long run, she reasoned.

At candidate forums, she has taken aim at Firestone’s claim — frequently echoed by Smyser — to being a “bridge builder’ between politically and philosophically divergent interests in the sprawling 3rd District.

“I found him (Firestone) to be neither moderate nor a bridge builder,” Farr contended. “In many way he has inflamed” community controversy on issues, she said.

She faults the supervisor for losing touch with his Goleta constituents, and promises to have regular community meetings there, if elected.

Chuck Schultz can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2241.