Update from The Project for Resilient Communities

We have been getting several phone calls, emails, and questions regarding the decision to pull the six Ring Nets out of three canyons above Montecito. This week has been an extremely critical one for TPRC’s project.

We are proud to be a part of a community that rose to the occasion to keep our community safe. While it was our intention and wish to keep this part of our safety infrastructure in place for the long term, that decision ultimately was outside our control. If you have hiked our trails this past week, you have seen that the Debris Nets have been removed in advance of the quickly approaching 11/15 deadline mandated by the California Regional Water Quality Board and canyon restoration work is being completed.

After the recent year of more focused conversations on transferring the Net System to the County, we could not get to a contract with the County to accept the responsibility to manage our six net system. That is a whole other story. 

With rains coming and a forecast for a rainy winter, a mandate from the Water Quality Board that work could not be done in the impacted canyons after November 15 and no sign of a contract approved by the Supervisors was on the table for the County to take over the Nets and no confidence that we could get to a deal, TPRC faced being responsible for the nets by moving forward.

As you know, immediately after the 1/9 Debris Flow in 2018, many of our community members went missing, and tragically, 23 of our friends and family members lost their lives in this disaster. In the immediate aftermath, the County was appropriately focused on search and rescue efforts, but historical data showed our community was and would continue to be at significant risk of another debris flow given the barren mountains behind our homes. It was also abundantly clear; our current infrastructure wasn’t a sufficient deterrent to loss of life. As concerned citizens, we founded TPRC because we simply didn’t want to lose anyone else. 

We understand and believe that more discussion is warranted. The first question is: Should the County be responsible for all the Public Works Infrastructure, specifically the debris and flood infrastructure, that protects the life, safety, and property of our Santa Barbara community? Including proven, innovative approaches such as Debris Nets? Or should it fall to private citizens to provide the funding? We could not reach an agreement with the County on this approach.

You will be hearing more from TPRC very soon. Thank you for your support.

Pat McElroy and Brett Matthews