Skip to main content

Santa Barbara News-Press: September 29, 2022

Page 1

Santa Barbara zoo director to retire

Dolly Parton in outer space

Nancy McToldrige looks back at her four decades with the zoo - A5

Country singer part of the adventure on ‘The Orville’ - A7

Our 167th Year

75¢

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 9, 2 0 2 2

Direct Relief helps during Hurricane Ian Goleta nonprofit sends medical aid as storm slams Florida warned of “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida Peninsula.” Millions were under evacuation orders. Later Wednesday, the storm became weaker, becoming a Category 3 hurricane, still with winds reportedly as fast as approximately 115 mph. The storm landed Wednesday near Cayo Castro and is expected to move through central Florida before leaving the northeast

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Goleta-based Direct Relief sent additional medical aid Wednesday to Florida as Hurricane Ian struck. The hurricane made landfall on Florida’s west coast Wednesday afternoon with winds as fast as 150 mph. It is one of the strongest hurricanes to make landfall there, and as it did so, it was a Category 4 storm. The National Hurricane Center

Florida coast sometime today. Earlier this summer, Direct Relief pre-positioned a dozen hurricane prep packs in the state. The packs contain more than 210 products, including a range of antibiotics, syringes, basic first aid supplies and medications to treat diabetes, hypertension, severe allergic reactions and other conditions. And Direct Relief Wednesday was coordinating multiple rapid response shipments of medical aid across the state and planned

to continue to respond to requests in the coming days and weeks. “Several of our contacts in Florida — health centers and clinics — have made orders for additional supplies that left our warehouse today,” Tony Morain, vice president of communications for Direct Relief, told the NewsPress Wednesday evening. Mr. Morain said many of Direct Relief’s contacts are without Please see RELIEF on A10

DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS

Goleta-based Direct Relief sent medical aid Wednesday to Florida, which was hit by Hurricane Ian.

Cooler days ahead

Speakers urge SB City Council to enforce short-term housing rules

National Weather Service says highs will fall to the low- and mid-70s along the coast

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

The sun shines high in the sky above a driftwood creation at a beach in Summerland. Sunny skies will continue along the coast today and Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

A heat wave persisted this week in Santa Barbara County and the rest of Southern California, but the National Weather Service promises cooler days ahead. On Wednesday, highs were 81 in Goleta, 74 in Santa Maria and 91 in Santa Ynez. The weather service predicted highs today of 78 in Santa Barbara, 79 at UCSB, 75 in Santa Maria and 86 in Santa Ynez. Lompoc is expected to be a good place to cool off, with a high of 73. It’ll be sunny today and Friday in Santa Barbara and Goleta, but the weather service predicts fog will prevail today in Lompoc, Santa Ynez and Santa Maria, with partly cloudy conditions in all three cities on Friday. The highs will start to fall Friday, according to the weather service: 75 in Santa Barbara, 73 at UCSB, 72 in

Lompoc, 73 in Santa Maria and 82 in Santa Ynez. On Saturday, the weather service expects partly cloudy conditions nearly everywhere in Santa Barbara County, but the area will be cooler. Projected highs are 73 in Santa Barbara, 71 at UCSB, 72 in Lompoc, 71 in Santa Maria and 79 in Santa Ynez. The weather service said Sunday’s highs will be 74 in Santa Barbara,72 at UCSB, 71 in Lompoc, 71 in Santa Maria and 81 in Santa Ynez. Partly cloudy conditions are expected to remain. Things will warm up a bit on Monday, with projected highs of 77 in Santa Barbara and 83 in Santa Ynez. Santa Maria and Lompoc will remain in the low 70s for their highs. One consistent hotspot has been Cuyama, which is expected to continue to have highs in the 80s and nothing but sunshine today and throughout the weekend. email: dmason@newspress.com

FOLLOW US ON

6

66833 00050

3

Visitors enjoy a relatively empty Butterfly Beach Wednesday in Montecito. The coast offered relief from the heat, and the National Weather Service promises cooler days ahead.

The Santa Barbara City Council heard a great deal of information Tuesday about proposed short-term rental housing changes, but the details provided by staff only seemed to increase the number of questions from council members. And many of their questions had to do with enforcement to crack down on illegal operators. Staff told council members that they are more than aware of the illegal operators — including those who actually pay transient occupancy taxes — but simply lack the staff and funding to enforce the current ordinance and licensing process. Council members — and residents in council chambers — had plenty to say about highlights of a proposed shortterm housing program that would operate throughout the city, would restrict short-term rentals to those who use their primary homes (not second homes) for that purpose and would limit short-term rentals to 90 days a year. The program would also require annual permits, which in conjunction with business licenses and transient occupancy taxes, would pay to increase enforcement regarding illegal operators. Staff was seeking direction from the council on how to proceed, and what parts of the proposed program should be tweaked or changed. The council obliged by offering comments, corrections and suggestions before voting 7-0 to have staff draft a short-term rental housing ordinance and forward the framework to the Planning Commission for review, with the addition of council comments and answers to their questions they posed during the meeting. “This is only the beginning of a very long complex conversation,” Mayor Randy Rowse told the News-Press Wednesday. “There was a lot of confusion about this item, and we thought it best to tee it up nicely for them, and

let them chew on it. They’ve got more of the expertise, and none of the politics.” Staff got more than direction during a contentious council meeting. After project manager Timmy Bolker, with the city Department of Community Development, presented staff’s ideas, it was the audience members’ turn. And they didn’t mince words. Some spoke in favor of shortterm rental housing, noting they can earn income by renting out their homes when they are gone. One speaker said he came to Santa Barbara two years ago as a tourist and stayed in shortterm housing situations until he could buy a home here. Others noted that they use local people to clean their homes as well as plumbers, who the speakers noted would lose income without short-term housing. And several chafed at the idea of overreaching government officials telling them what they could do — or not do — with their private property. On the other side, there were those who spoke passionately about keeping short-term housing in the coastal zone and out of residential neighborhoods. And some who spoke in favor of banning them outright. The only thing that seemed to unite them was their desire to crack down on illegal operators providing short-term housing. One speaker put it bluntly. “Enforce! Enforce! Enforce!” he said. Staff responded that the only way to enforce the law was to increase income through permit fees and by expanding the program throughout the city. They said they simply don’t have the manpower or resources to do so now. The figures Mr. Bolker provided backed up the extent of the enforcement problem. He said that currently there are 1,560 short-term rentals in all areas of the city — mostly single-family homes operating as quasi-hotels — and out of 1,119 units in total, only 19 are legal, and that only 82 are paying Please see HOUSING on A10

INSIDE

L O T T E RY RESULTS

Classified................. A6 Life...................... A7-8 Obituaries.............. A10

Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: N/A Meganumber: N/A

Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 1-6-2-2

Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 8-14-24-43-51 Meganumber: 9

Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 18-26-31-32-37

Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-11-01 Time: 1:49.63

Wednesday’s POWERBALL: N/A Meganumber: N/A

Sudoku................... A9 Weather................ A10

Wednesday’s DAILY 3: 1-5-1 / Wednesday’s Midday 6-7-4


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Santa Barbara News-Press: September 29, 2022 by Santa Barbara News-Press - Issuu