Veronica Meadows Homes

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Veronica Meadows Homes, an outstanding addition to our community, represents the pinnacle of responsible development in the Santa Barbara community. Offering outstanding benefits to all Santa Barbara, this exemplary project raises the bar for its contribution to the betterment of our community.

We have arrived at this point after ten years and dozens of meetings with our governing leaders, community members and neighbors. The guidance and feedback has been instrumental in shaping and balancing various perspectives, and has resulted in a model project. We are very proud of the consensus we have reached, and truly appreciate all of the advice and hard work from so many contributors.

The Veronica Meadows project, like most housing projects in Santa Barbara, has its critics. They argue that the project is bad for the environment. Nothing could be further from the truth. The project will rehabilitate an 1,800-foot section of Arroyo Burro Creek that is seriously degraded due to years of illegal dumping, neglect and abuse, at NO COST to the public. No housing project in the City's history has offered a comparable environmental benefit to the community.

With our proposed plan, the needs of our neighbors, the environment, future residents, and the city all coincide. Made modest by clustering, the 23-home project (plus two Affordable Units) is on land currently zoned for 48 homes. A critical link for pedestrians and bicyclists will connect the Westside, Elings Park and Arroyo Burro beach. A traffic signal for crossing at the entrance to Elings Park will slow down and improve traffic management along Las Positas Road. Some project fees provide a critical step in advancing the construction of the planned roundabout at Cliff Drive that will end the existing gridlock at peak hour times.

A key component of our plan is replacing a bridge that was in place for generations on an existing easement. This will allow the new homes to be accessed from Las Positas Road across from the Elings Park entrance at a location where a bridge existed for generations rather than from an extension of Alan Road through the adjacent neighborhood. The EIR says that the bridge will cause a significant environmental impact on the creek, although there is information from qualified experts questioning this conclusion. It is not disputed that eliminating the bridge will route all of the project traffic through the Alan Road neighborhood and the intersection of Las Positas Road and Cliff Drive, causing a significant traffic impact at that location.

Bridge access has been endorsed by Parks and Recreation Commission, the Transportation and Circulation Committee and the City Council. All of these groups agreed that the bridge is necessary to minimize new traffic and noise impacts to the adjacent Alan Road neighborhood. They also agreed that the bridge will greatly improve recreation and circulation in the area by completing an important pedestrian and bicycle trail connecting Elings Park to Arroyo Burro Beach.

Factually, by replacing the bridge and providing 25 new homes, the project will be able to pay for the restoration of both sides of the 1,800-foot section of Arroyo Burro Creek that runs between our property and City of Santa Barbara property, including several acres of City parkland, and paying for the maintenance of these areas forever. The unique restoration effort will improve the health and water quality of Arroyo Burro Creek and free city creek restoration funds for other areas of Arroyo Burro Creek that are in desperate need of repair. Our goal is to make this stretch of the creek the healthiest reach along the entire 36,000-foot length of Arroyo Burro Creek, entirely at our own expense.

Without the creek restoration, the degraded reach of Arroyo Burro Creek along the Veronica Meadows property will continue its downward spiral. Water quality will continue to be impacted by sediment released from bank and stream bed erosion, and by runoff from disturbed soils on the property.

Those who endorse careful environmentally sensitive development should use Veronica Meadows as a model. Those who believe in neighborhood protection can use our relationship with our closest Alan Road neighbors as a model. Those who want a development to yield to reasonable demands and provide the community as a whole with benefits can use our plan as a model.