SB Botanical Gardens- Supervisors' deliberation hearing JUNE 1st

SB Botanical Gardens- Supervisors' deliberation hearing JUNE 1st
The SB Botanical Gardens is where a Chumash Village site known as Xana’yan is located. The Santa Barbara Planning Commission approved over 25,000 square feet of new buildings at the Botanical Gardens. This would mean development directly on the village site. This site is very well known to have human remains.

Please support this issue, your attendance is necessary and needed at the hearing tomorrow!

Forwarded by Roberta Cordero:

Dear folks trying to preserve and protect the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Landmark and safety of all,

Please come to the Supervisors' deliberation hearing on the SBBG.
When: June 1, 2010
Time: Probably afternoon, right after lunch. Watch Channel 20.
SBBG are agenda items #3 FOMC; #4 MCA; #5 Chumash; #6 SBBG against the County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission

Please come to speak on Agenda Item #6 (if allowed and I think it has to be as these are new conditions) to:

1. Require review and approval of Terrace area restoration plan by CHLAC.

2. Require review and approval of paving and hardscape plan on the Landmark by CHLAC

3.If the historic Garden ( all parcels except the omission of one parcel acquired prior to 1950) is to have Cultural Landscape Master Plan, require that all parcels, especially the triangle at Mission Canyon and Tunnel Rds. APN 023-060-018 (1941), be included and that CHLAC have review and approval of the Cultural Landscape Master Plan for both the Landmark the all of the rest of the "historic garden".

Not addressed at all but should be.
A. Require that the entire SBBG, except small parts of employee housing parcels directly around the employee homes and not visible to the public, be required to be planted exclusively in native CA plants. It is especially important that all new landscaping around the buildings east of Mission Canyon Rd. (Gane House, etc.) be exclusively native CA plants. The current administration may try to change the SBBG away from being devoted exclusively to native CA plants and the CA floristic province, to include world wide plants that can grow here. Even a small % of non-native plants distorts the Garden's purpose in Mission Canyon since the 1930s and confuses the public. Historically, non native CA plants were to be reomoved.

B. Require review and approval by CHLAC for all changes to the Landmark that come to the Planning and Development Department prior to P & D approval. Why? P & D does not understand the aesthetic and practical nuances of "substantial deviation of the historic design concept and historic use" that a historical cultural landscape that is a landmark requires.

Requiring CHLAC review and approval should be generalized for changes on ALL LANDMARKS. Changes are not necessarily "improvements". Nor are they necessarily "requirements".

For instance, the cement pavers would not have been approved by CHLAC. P & D saw no problem. They deviate substantially from dirt trails and natural local materials. The are not required for ADA compliance.

The deck by the Cottage was replaced after the Jesusita fire without CHLAC consultation, review or approval.
Result: P & D allowed gaudy, shiny stainless steal railings that look like alluminum. They are aesthetically out of place on the Landmark.
CHLAC most likely would have advised (according to John Woodward, Chair of CHLAC) that the railings be anodized to a brown color with to blend in rather than stand out. A matte rather than shiny finish could have been created then too.

Changes to the Landmark have to be very thoughtfully and precisely done with historical context and wishes of historical donors and the historical landscape master plan's intent in mind. Changes on a Landmark do not fit with general regulations of P & D for the general home owner.

Please come to the Supervisors' hearing on June 1 to support the community appeals and our Historic Landmarks Commission.

Thank you again for all the time, expertise, and passion you have given to trying to save our community's SB Botanic Garden for now and in the future.

Best,
Paulina
805 682-5183

part 1
http://www.facebook.com/l/51a4d;www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc_7TZ_wax8

part 2
http://www.facebook.com/l/51a4d;www.youtube.com/watch?v=95JHD4U4XC8

part 3
http://www.facebook.com/l/51a4d;www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W31iLBVK-s

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