Tag archives: debris basin

At this month’s Montecito Association Land Use Committee meeting, Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and Montecito Trails Foundation president Ashlee Mayfield presented an update on the network of community trails that the two groups are committed to building and maintaining. “Trail repair was a top priority in a poll we took following the debris flow. […]

It was another successful Beautification Day on the books, as over 150 volunteers turned out last Saturday, November 2 to help beautify Montecito and gather for lunch in the upper village. The 34th annual Montecito Association Beautification Day was organized by co-chairs Mindy Denson, Houghton Hyatt, Kathi King, and Trish Davis, along with Montecito Association […]

On Monday, November 4, the County of Santa Barbara hosted a design workshop to present preliminary sketches of the debris basin slated for Randall Road, as well as give an update on the progress of the quick-moving project.  The debris basin project, which includes the acquisition of seven parcels on Randall Road and one on […]

At this month’s Montecito Association Land Use Committee meeting, the committee heard from Flood Control Deputy Director Tom Fayram, who gave an update on the Randall Road debris basin project.  The project, which includes the acquisition of seven parcels on Randall Road and one on East Valley Road, will offer improved debris catchment from San […]

In an update from the Partnership for Resilient Communities, executive director Pat McElroy reports that work continues on the Swiss-made, steel ring nets being installed high up in San Ysidro, Buena Vista, and Cold Spring Canyons. After successful anchor tests, helicopters have been moving thousands of pounds of equipment and supplies from a staging area […]

Earlier this week, the Montecito Association’s new ad hoc committee met to discuss insurance woes and debris flow zones. “We heard from our members that they really feel a need for more information about getting and keeping insurance, as many of them are being hit with non-renewals from their insurance companies,” said Sharon Byrne, the […]

Following a November decision by the Board of Supervisors to negotiate with eight property owners on Randall Road and East Valley Road, Santa Barbara County Flood Control has started the environmental process to build a debris basin along the San Ysidro Creek channel, filing a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of Environmental Impact Report with the […]

At this month’s Montecito Association monthly board meeting, SB County Water Resources Deputy Director Tom Fayram reported on Montecito’s debris basins following the strong storms over the last several weeks. “We’ve been going full throttle since January,” Fayram said, adding that hundreds of trucks have been in Montecito clearing debris basins, sometimes 24 hours a […]

With more, albeit mild, rain on the way, the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District continues to clear our local debris basins following several strong storms earlier this month. This week County crews began utilizing Goleta Beach to dump beach compatible rocks and sediment, following the beach disposal at Carpinteria Beach at Ash Avenue that […]

A succession of winter storms has dropped four to six inches of intense rainfall on Montecito, and so far, cleaned-out debris basins, combined with wider creek channels, have saved the day. Now is an ideal time to pause and reflect on how you as an individual can help to make the Montecito community a safer […]

Santa Barbara County Flood Control reps report that Montecito debris basins performed nicely during the most recent winter storms in late November. Flood Control cleaned approximately 3,100 cubic yards of material from the Cold Springs debris basin, and about the same amount from the San Ysidro Creek debris basin, resulting from the late November rainfall […]

Last week we reported on the impending release of a revised Debris Flow Risk Map, which includes revisions to evacuation zones. The release of the map precedes three scheduled community meetings in Montecito and Carpinteria this week and next; the map went live on Monday, December 3, and all residents are strongly encouraged to check […]

While keeping a wary eye on the weather this winter, residents of Montecito are watching their rainfall charts, fearful of a repeat of heavy storms and mandatory evacuation notices. Seared in our minds are personal memories of the 1/9 disaster when a massive debris flow destroyed or damaged 470 homes in Montecito, and brutally took […]

For some reason the memory of silent-film star Charlie Chaplin is exploited with the fantastical myth that he “built” the Montecito Inn. Totally untrue. In David Myrick’s definitive history (“Santa Barbara & Montecito,” Volumes I and II), he explains the origin of the Montecito Inn in some detail. “Don B. Sebastian and William S. Seamans,” […]

During closed session at the SB Board of Supervisors hearing last week, the BOS voted unanimously to begin negotiations with homeowners on Randall Road in hopes of buying seven properties (plus one on East Valley Road) to build a new debris basin where the multimillion dollar homes were once located.  The short road, which ends […]

The Montecito community faces a difficult 2018-2019 winter season. If we get too little rain, we will return to drought worries; too much rain and Montecito residents face evacuation and the possibility of additional mud and rock flows. Of the two perils – severe drought versus debris flow – the more pressing danger is the […]

First, the bad news: “There’s plenty of material up here waiting to come down,” says Kevin Taylor, division chief of Operations at Montecito Fire Department. He says this as he, I, and Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman examine the Montecito back country and the dry steep mountains directly above in a four-person, single-rotor helicopter flown […]

Mark your calendars for June 11, 2018. That’s the expected date for the public release of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Recovery Maps for Montecito. The map release will mark a critical milepost in making the rebuilding decisions that will shape the future character of Montecito for the next 50 years.  FEMA Recovery […]

As Montecito residents recover from their fifth mandatory evacuation since the start of the Thomas Wildfire, there is a growing frustration that the future fate of Montecito will not be resolved by a “Montecito Strong” community visioning plan of our own making, but by external forces outside this community’s span of control. Fifteen weeks have […]