Tag archives: FEMA
The Project for Resilient Communities (TPRC) and our contractors and permitting team have had a few very busy weeks. After a several months long process, we are within days of securing our final permit to begin clean out of the Debris Net filled in Upper San Ysidro Canyon. The Net was filled during the January […]
Pat McElroy is the executive director of The Project for Resilient Communities(TPRC), and his recent MJ article was both moving and telling. It spoke to what intellectual curiosity, determination, and private citizens can do when they engage. Now, I don’t know Pat, but I do know co-founder Brett Matthews from another, more eastern-centric life, which […]
Our hearts sank when on the 5th year anniversary of the 1/9/2018 Debris Flow, we had another event. And I know we were all concerned about the level of rain potentially coming down in Montecito with tropical storm Hilary. Studies have shown the debris flow events in our community can occur much more frequently than […]
Pat McElroy was at the Montecito Association Board of Directors on Tuesday, giving a report on the six steel debris flow nets that were placed in the canyons above Montecito in 2018. Recently, the citizen-led group that spearheaded the installation of the nets, The Project for Resilient Communities, filed an application with the County of […]
Once more into the breach, dear friends. Five years ago, our beloved community was targeted by a series of wildfires and mudslides that caused severe damage to our businesses and residents, including loss of life. And now we again find ourselves at the mercy of Mother Nature with rain and mud once more impacting our […]
On Monday, government officials, staff, contractors, and community partners broke ground at the future site of the Randall Road Debris Basin; a project outlined at length two weeks ago in the Montecito Journal. “It’s amazing we’ve gotten to this point,” said County Public Works Deputy Director Tom Fayram. “A project like this can often take […]
Excavation of a new debris basin along Randall Road and San Ysidro Creek in Montecito will begin in early May, officials said this week, more than three years after a river of mud and boulders jumped the banks on January 9, 2018, destroying six out of seven homes in the 600 block of Randall Road […]
As we approach the most significant storm in our area since the debris flow of January 9, the Board of Supervisors last week reviewed and approved a plan to help homeowners rebuild their properties. Public Works reps outlined two significant efforts that are currently underway by both Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA and the County, […]
By the time we go to press the long-anticipated election will be over, but as I write this letter, I’m in the dark as to what that will mean. What I do know is this past year has been like no other I’ve known; and I suspect I’m not alone. 2020 has moved us from […]
On Tuesday, June 2, the Montecito Association Land Use Committee tackled two significant projects in the works for Montecito: the Randall Road Debris Basin and the development project proposed for the Montecito Sanitary District, both of which are in the comment period of their respective environmental documents. The Land Use Committee held a Q&A session […]
We began by examining the growing power of the Federal government, and particularly the executive Branch (the President). We traced the rise of Federal power, for better or worse, from the Articles of Confederation, through the U.S. Constitution, and through World War I up until today with the respective actions of states and the Federal […]
A question one often hears in Montecito this summer involves home real estate values within the dreaded “red zone.” Those currently in the red zone, whose homes were untouched by the 1/9 debris flow, ask how can they have their homes removed from the punitive evacuation red zone. To better understand the “red zone” and […]
Paving work began on Coast Village Circle earlier this week; the beginning of a two-month long restoration project to rehabilitate the road following the 1/9 Debris Flow in January 2018. The Debris Flow caused major damage to the roadway on Coast Village Circle due to flooding and the presence of heavy equipment; the project will […]
A Simpler Solution In “Sucking It Up” written by Larry Bond (MJ #25/7), he indicates that both he and Mr. Gene Tyburn wonder “…why this common sense solution to our water woes has not been pursued.” The “common sense solution” referred to is to dredge the bottom of the lake when conditions permit to increase […]
Over the course of the past week, the Santa Barbara area received anywhere from four to eight inches of rain, possibly even a little more at what local weather people like to call “the higher elevations.” Montecito was blessed with a good amount of precipitation too (Jameson Lake is now filled and spilling over Juncal […]
On Tuesday, January 22, over 100 Montecito residents gathered at Montecito Union School to hear from the Partnership for Resilient Communities, the group of private citizens who have set out to move forward with installing environmentally-friendly Swiss-made steel nets, which catch debris as it comes down the hillsides. “When the events of last year happened, […]
This is being written as much of Montecito is under a Mandatory Evacuation Notice. Tuesday, January 15, at 10 am sharp, Montecito Inn hotel guests were required to check out, as were Four Seasons Biltmore guests. Traffic continued to move along critical roadways for a while, but many of those roads began to be closed […]
It is more than obvious that 2018 was a pivotal year for Montecito and its residents. The first week of the year, we were recovering from the Thomas Fire, which weeks earlier had suffocated Montecito and Santa Barbara in smoke and ash while scorching nearly 282,000 acres from Ventura to Santa Barbara, including ten structures […]
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 […]
At last week’s Montecito Association (MA) board meeting, Brett Matthews with the Partnership for Resilient Communities reported that his group has filed an emergency permit to install 15 temporary steel nets for five canyons in Montecito; the MA board voted unanimously to support the group’s permit application, agreeing to send a letter to the director […]
