SHIRLEY KIMBERLIN Everything I list turns to SOLD! 805-886-0228 skimberlin@aol.com
This week’s listings on the back page
Summerland beach oil well excavated
Dancing in their graves
BY PETER DUGRÉ
The Becker Well, an improperly abandoned oil well thought to plague Summerland Beach with its oily discharge and noxious fumes, was successfully excavated on Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Thursday, Oct. 29, during low tides. According to the California State Lands Commission, it’s the first step toward capping and remediating the well, which was uncovered, allowing a consultant to measure and assess the well casing’s condition and to GPS the location. Information from the work will be used to develop an engineering plan to properly re-abandon the well. The $70,000 excavation, assessment and engineering grade estimate for the full project is fully funded. The next phase, well abandonment, is expected to cost around $1.5 million, and Heal the Ocean is working to help secure grant funding for the fix. Local, state, and federal officials gathered to monitor the work, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, the California Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, and the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. A spill containment boom and absorbent pads were on site, as well as sheet pile shoring for deep excavation.
OIL WELL continued on page 27
BOYD
Dia de los Muertos Carpinteria stormed downtown streets on Sunday afternoon and brought one of the liveliest parties of the year to the Carpinteria Arts Center. Event director Lisa Thomas brought a second year of fun and festivities made more meaningful by its many tributes to loved ones lost. Youth artists also contributed to the event—Rincon High School’s ethnic studies and art classes worked with artist in residence Carlos Cuellar and Thomas to design and paint parade floats and giant paper mache calaveras. For more photos of the celebration, see page 4.
Arts Center to buy Cajun Kitchen property BY LEA BOYD
The ink is still drying on escrow papers to provide a new home for the arts in Carpinteria. By purchasing the Cajun Kitchen building, the Carpinteria Arts Center will shave $3.9 million off the cost of creating a new space for a gallery, classrooms and offices. “It seems like a golden opportunity— a once in a lifetime opportunity—that the property next door to the arts center would become available,” said Gary Campopiano, longtime boardmember for the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council. Former plans to construct a two-story building on the existing property at 855 Linden Ave. and create an operating endowment came with a $6.9 million pricetag. New plans to purchase and repurpose the 2,600-square-foot Cajun building, connect the two properties and secure an endowment fund should cost about $3 million. “With this purchase, we get much
needed classrooms to teach the arts to the community, we maintain the much loved open space of 855 Linden Avenue for community events, our gallery gains street front exposure and we acquire kitchen facilities to support arts related events. Taking this path, we will also be saving significant time and dollars in providing Carpinteria the exciting new arts center that it deserves,” stated board co-chairs David Powdrell and Norm Arnold. Current owners of the Cajun building, members of the Jimenez family, initially intended to lease the space and had several restaurant owners pursuing it. In weeks of discussions with the Arts Council, they arrived at the decision to sell for $1.5 million. “We’re happy to know the property will be in the hands of a wonderful local organization. They really care about the community and will definitely add to an already great
DOBBINS
New plans to purchase and repurpose the 2,600-square-foot Cajun building, connect the two properties and secure an endowment fund should cost about $3 million. area,” said owners in a statement. The Carpinteria Valley Arts Council went through the lengthy design and permitting process to build the twostory center in 2010 and 2011. Local ar-
chitect Andy Neumann’s contemporary plans for the space appealed to many,
ARTS CENTER continued on page 11