News of the Week
OCTOBER 10-17, 2013
SPOTLIGHTED: While Chumash Chairman Vincent Armenta says annexing Camp 4 is a fair and necessary move for his tribe, county staff worry about losing tax revenue in the deal, as much as $42 million in 10 years.
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by KELSEY BRUGGER, TYLER HAYDEN, LYZ HOFFMAN, MATT KETTMANN, and NICK WELSH, with INDEPENDENT STAFF
news briefs LAW & DISORDER Police arrested a 30-year-old Santa Barbara man early Saturday morning after he allegedly held a loaded 9mm handgun to his boyfriend’s head and threatened him during an argument, then fired off two shots as they struggled for control of the gun. Dru Stemm was booked in County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and domestic battery. His bail is set at $75,000.
County Dashing Chumash Dreams? Supervisors Send Letter to Feds Opposing Annexation of 1,400 Acres
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BY T Y L E R H AY D E N AND M AT T K E T T M A N N
he message couldn’t have been any clearer: “There are so many serious issues here,” said Doreen Farr, the county supervisor in charge of the Santa Ynez Valley, where the Chumash tribe is trying to annex the 1,400 acres known as Camp into their reservation. “The desires of 143 members of the Chumash Tribe, no matter how well intentioned for the future of their tribe, should not and cannot outweigh the very real needs of county government and 420,000 other county residents it serves.” In echoing the sentiments of more than two dozen public speakers, numerous environmental groups, and countless other community members who have shown up to jam-packed meetings in recent years, Farr and three of the other supervisors voted to send an official letter to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs expressing their strident opposition to the tribe’s dream of taking complete control of the land, which would take the property off of the county’s tax rolls and, more worrisome to most, allow development to proceed without adhering to the county’s strict planning rules. As explained in detail during Tuesday’s hearing, the annexation would likely lead to a diverse array of impacts on everything from aesthetics, traffic, and public safety to a strain on water availability in the area.“The loss of local control to regulate land uses without appropriate mitigation,” said County CEO Chandra Wallar,“can congest county roadways, impact water quality and waterways, reduce water supply to adjacent properties, degrade habitat, and also degrade air quality and the environment.” 14
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Despite these initial assessments — the county is hoping that the feds will at least require a more thorough environmental report before deciding — Supervisor Steve Lavagnino did not vote to send the letter. In the name of community accord, he said, negative knee-jerk reactions should give way to more discussions.“I am calling for us once again to reconsider opening dialogue with the tribe to discuss ways of mitigating the impacts,” he said. Lavagnino, along with Supervisor Salud Carbajal, were the only ones to vote in favor of establishing a special government-to-government relationship with the tribe in August. Carbajal was the only supervisor to vote against sending a letter to the feds in opposition to the tribe’s recent declaration that 11,500 acres to the Santa Ynez Valley should be included as part of their Tribal Consolidation Area, or TCA. A frightful term for many of the residents who fall under the jurisdiction, the TCA was an attempt by the Chumash to show that Camp is within their historic landscape, which would presumably ease annexation. But in a surprise announcement on Tuesday, Chumash Chairman Vincent Armenta told the board that the tribe wants to drop the TCA designation that was approved by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), citing concerns that the label was hurting area property values. It’s unclear if or how the effort to rescind the TCA will affect the annexation request — or if such a move is even possible — but county staff said it would investigate the matter further and proceed as if the TCA were still in place. Staff said it couldn’t consult with the BIA directly because of the government shutdown. Nevertheless, Armenta promised, “The
october 17, 2013
tribe is going to continue its quest to bring the 1,400 acres into trust. We’re going to do it both through the administrative process, which I’m sure will be appealed, and we’ll continue to pursue it through the legislative process, where I am sure we will prevail.” On the other side of the aisle, the public speakers continued banging their drums loudly. “I think as a point of planning, and a point of fairness, we should be unanimously opposed to this application,” said former county supervisor Brooks Firestone. “The federal laws under which this fee-totrust application are going forward date back to the 1930s,” said Santa Barbara City Councilmember Dale Francisco, who spoke as a private citizen and explained the laws were originally created to help impoverished Plains Indian tribes who had lost their reservation land through land sales. “This is obviously not the situation in the Santa Ynez Valley,” he said. “What we’re faced with is a very wealthy and powerful development corporation. We would allow no other similar developer the kinds of liberties the Chumash are demanding.” Camp was purchased by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians from the late actorturned-vintner Fess Parker’s estate for $40 million in 2010, and earlier this year, the tribe began the process to annex the land into its existing reservation via the BIA fee-to-trust process. The tribe — whose members historically lived in relative poverty until opening the Chumash Casino Resort in 2004 — has repeatedly said it intends to build 143 homes on Camp , not another resort or casino. The BIA produced an environmental report on that annexation, available at ChumashEA.com, and is accepting comments on the proposal until November 7.
Seven gang members were arrested 10/13 after they allegedly chased a 21-year-old victim — who has no gang affiliation — with a tire iron, bat, and knives along North Voluntario Street. Police said the victim had dropped off his girlfriend at her home at around 11:30 p.m. when he noticed a white Lincoln Town Car traveling northbound. As it passed, the driver shouted the name of his group’s gang, stopped the car, and the group gave chase. The victim was able to run to the safety of a nearby home, and police soon tracked down and arrested the group on Milpas Street. Brent Pella, a 23-year-old Los Angeles resident and recent UCSB graduate whose music video “Bike Path Love” went viral on YouTube, was arrested 10/11 for felony DUI resulting in injury. Pella was turning left onto Carrillo Street from Bath Street around 2:59 a.m. when he allegedly struck a 24-year-old man who was walking across Carrillo, causing the victim to suffer life-threatening injuries. Pella’s blood alcohol content was measured at 0.11.
The District Attorney’s Office will receive more money to expand its Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Program after the Board of Supervisors approved a fee increase from $3 to $10 for recorded real estate documents. According to the DA’s Office, fraudsters typically prey on seniors and Spanish speakers facing foreclosure. In the last three years, the six-yearold program has worked with 163 victims who lost a combined $25.4 million. The fee increase will provide $684,000 to cover $669,000 in expenses; excess funds will be saved for future investigations. Five new Santa Barbara Police Department officers hit the streets 10/14 after completing 23 weeks of academy training and graduating from the Ventura County Criminal Justice Training Center. They are Sara Baca, Bryce Ford, Katrina Freeman, Justin Hesketh, and Nicholas Molina. Starting officers earn approximately $100,000 per year, according to figures released during negotiations this summer between the police union and City Hall.
CITY There is now a freshly painted bike lane on Haley Street that runs eastbound from Chapala to Alisos Street. The new lane — which did not require the removal of parking spaces or traffic lanes — is part of recent city efforts to improve bike transportation on the Eastside. A new, short right-turn lane has also been added at State Street to improve traffic flow onto Haley Street. The city hopes to add a westbound route in the near future.