A return to action
Salty at the beach
New restaurant to open above Santa Barbara Maritime Museum - A4
Our 165th Year
Sports activities to resume next week for Santa Barbara public schools - A10
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W E DN E S DAY, s E P T E M B E R 16 , 2 0 2 0
Cold Spring approved to reopen Cold Spring School, located at 2243 Sycamore Canyon Road, displays banners in preparation for inperson class that will start on Tuesday.
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
District seeking funds for $7.8 million bond measure By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Cold Spring School District Board of Trustees met Monday during its regular meeting time with a full agenda. Reopening and renovations were the biggest items. The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the California Department
of Public Health approved the district’s waiver to reopen, Superintendent Dr. Amy Alzina announced on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. Merso Labs tested all the district’s teachers and some community members for COVID-19, and the staff tested negative. Testing will return the second Thursday of each month. On-campus classes will start on Tuesday. Dr. Alzina said during the board meeting
that parents are happy the district applied for the waiver, and the school can expect 177 students. Only 20 seek distance-learning accommodations. One teacher will be dedicated to teaching students online. The teacher wasn’t comfortable returning in person, so the district Please see cold spring on A10
Supervisors show support for Prop 15 By JOSH GREGA
Proposition would require commercial and industrial properties with more than $3 million in holdings to be taxed based on their market value.
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a resolution in support of Proposition 15 during Tuesday’s meeting. The board voted 3-2 in support of the resolution in favor of the statewide ballot proposition that would amend the California State Constitution to require commercial and industrial properties with more than $3 million in holdings to be taxed based on their market value. Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and board vice chair and 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam voted against the resolution. The item’s board letter from Tuesday’s meeting describes Proposition 15 as a corrective to Proposition 13, which was approved by California voters in 1978. Under the property tax system created by Proposition 13, residential, commercial, and industrial properties are taxed according to their purchase price, with tax limited to a
maximum of 1% of that price with an annual adjustment of either the inflation rate or 2% per year, whichever is lower. According to the board letter, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office has found that the rate at which most properties grow outpaces 2% per year, making the taxable value less than the market value. Under Proposition 15, properties with the exception of those zoned as commercial agriculture and those whose business owners have $3 million worth in holdings Please see PROP 15 on A2
City Council denies appeal to grant project design approval Santa Barbara Unified won’t seek school waiver By GRAYCE MCCORMICK
District schools will only be open for small cohorts
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara Unified School District announced Monday night that it would not apply for a waiver to reopen elementary schools. Instead, it will make use of the county Public Health Department’s policy on small cohorts. When deciding if the district would apply for waiver, administrators surveyed parents to see what they’d prefer. It was almost even between reopening and distance learning. The parents who preferred distance learning were afraid that others wouldn’t wear masks or practice personal hygiene, Superintendent Hilda Maldonado told the News-Press. Through the small cohort model, schools will start welcoming in students struggling with the distance-learning model, starting with those who need accommodation most. Ms. Maldonado said she hopes to start this Monday, but there’s a lot of work involved in setting it up. She plans on catering the cohorts to the families that need it. The groups prioritized for small cohorts are: students with moderate to severe disabilities; housing insecure; multilingual
NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
The Santa Barbara Unified School District has opted not to apply for a school waiver for its elementary schools, such as McKinley Elementary School. The district will instead make use of the county Public Health Department’s policy on small cohorts.
and enrolled for less than three years; foster children; students without connectivity; seniors behind on school credits and students failing core courses. Cohorts must be kept at or below 14 students, and interactions between cohorts must be prevented, according to the guidelines on small cohorts. Teachers who interact with students must undergo regular
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testing. The students will be taught in a traditional manner, with the teacher delivering instruction in the classroom. The students will be physically distanced, though. Children of district teachers will continue to receive childcare and stay enrolled online. Football, cross country, volleyball, water polo and sideline cheer practices will begin Monday.
Athletes must maintain physical distancing and are limited to skills and conditioning throughout practice. No equipment can be shared, and practice must be outdoors. The district plans to resume all other sports in October. For more on how local schools will resume athletic activities, please see A10. email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
The Santa Barbara City Council unanimously denied an appeal of the city’s Single Family Design Board’s project design approval for expansions to a single residential unit at 160 Conejo Road. The project gained design approval March 2, 2020, but it was appealed by neighbors Daniel and Shelley Berger who claimed several issues, including inaccurate noticing, lack of communication from the applicant and concerns with the health, safety and welfare of the property. In a statement during the council meeting Tuesday, the Bergers said the property is not kept and poses a fire hazard and a health hazard due to lack of proper sewage upkeep. In addition, Mrs. Berger shared stories of individuals living on the property who were not permitted to live there and allegedly dealt drugs from the property. However, Dan Dumong, who has now taken ownership of the property, said the intention of the expansions to the unit are to address these problems. The expansions include new windows and doors, upgrading existing windows and doors and new landscaping. “The property does have a sorted past, but that was prior to our ownership,” he said. “That was hardly our doing and we should not be held responsible for that. We cleaned the debris
and trash that was left from the squatters of that property to keep those people from coming back to it.” To address the concerns of the neighbors, the council put in a request for staff to monitor the property. “I’m deeply concerned by what appears to be a pattern of neglect that isn’t just unsightly, but truly dangerous,” Mayor Pro Tempore Kirsten Sneddon said. “The addition I have no problem with. What does give me pause is the safety aspect.” The senior planner of the project, Irma Unzueta, assured that there have been no new enforcement cases on the property since the new ownership, and it is intended to be a single family residence. “This is really the pathway to fixing all the problems I’ve heard about,” said council member Jim Jordan. “I hear and recognize what the neighbors are saying, but to me, this leads to making improvements.” In other news, the council unanimously approved a onetime allocation of $50,000 to fund the Santa Barbara Better Together Fund Small Business Grant Assistance Program, which will be matched by the Santa Barbara Foundation, resulting in $100,000 to fund small businesses. This comes after the city received $1,154,592 of coronavirus relief funds through the state.
email: gmccormick@newspress.com
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