Position Papers




Santa Ynez Valley Alliance

News

HLAC Votes to Pursue Landmark Status for Mattei's Tavern

[12 May 2010] The Santa Barbara County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission (HLAC) met on Monday, May 10th, to consider the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance nomination of Mattei's Tavern for historic landmark status. On a 6-to-1 vote, the Commission voted to pursue landmark status for Mattei's, establishing a sub-committee of two commissioners to meet with the property owner in an attempt to work out the details of the nomination and bring back their results to the larger Commission. For background information on the effort to preserve Mattei's, see below.

Santa Ynez Valley Alliance Nominates Mattei’s Tavern for Historic Landmark Protection


Mattei's Tavern as it appeared in 1888.

[14 January 2010] At a press conference held Jan. 13, 2010, the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance formally announced that it was nominating Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos for designation as a Historical Landmark.  The nomination was submitted to the County’s Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission (HLAC) for consideration.

The nomination is consistent with the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan, which speaks to community involvement in historic preservation:

HA-SYV-2: "Historic resources shall be protected and preserved to the maximum extent feasible."

Action HA-SYV-2.1: "The County and the community should continue to work to identify structures and places that qualify for nomination to landmark status and forward these requests to the County Historical Landmarks Commission."

On May 12, 1997 the Santa Barbara County Historical Landmark Advisory Committee voted unanimously "to designate the entire Mattei's Tavern property as a Place of Historical Merit"; however, the appropriate paperwork to finalize the designation was not completed by the owner. To this day, Mattei’s Tavern still cannot be found among the 68 historic places or landmarks recognized by the County.

“Like most people in the Santa Ynez Valley, we always thought that Mattei’s Tavern was an historic landmark. After all, following Mission Santa Ines, it is the second most recognized and beloved historic site in the Valley. We were shocked to learn that Mattei’s has no formal historic landmark status. And that is simply why we are here today, to ask the County’s Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission to recommend to the Board of Supervisors that the Mattei’s Tavern site be designated an historic landmark,” stated Mark Oliver, President of the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance.


Mattei's Tavern as it appears today.

Watch January 13, 2010 Press Conference
[Video running time: 36:51]

Links

 

Valley Alliance Hosts 3rd Annual Membership Event

Fall Meeting Features Supervisor Doreen Farr, Jody White, and New VA Coordinator Mark Preston

Doreen Farr — Our Keynote Speaker

As the leader of the county’s largest supervisorial district, Supervisor Doreen Farr, the meeting’s keynote speaker, discussed many of her responsibilities, as well as several issues of concern to Valley residents, including the proposal to develop Mattei’s Tavern into a resort.

              

Valley Resident Jody White Honored


SYVA Coordinator, Mark Preston (left), with honored
SYVA board member emeritus, Jody White (right).

At its annual meeting on September 13, the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance honored long-time activist and former Valley Alliance Board Member Jody White (above-right) with the Environmental Stewardship Award. "Having been part of preserving what is great about the Santa Ynez Valley for nearly three decades, Jody more than deserves this Award,” stated Board Member Gail Marshall.

 

Valley Alliance Coordinator Introduced

The Alliance’s new Coordinator, Mark Preston, a longtime resident of the Santa Ynez Valley, was also introduced. Mr. Preston, who also has a great deal of community service experience, will be working to increase community education and outreach. The Coordinator position is partially funded by a generous grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara.

 

Permit Streamlining

Several years ago the County formed a "Process Improvement Team" to look at ways that
the Planning Department processes and policies could be streamlined for greater ease and efficiency. Some of the changes which have subsequently been made have been positive, for example the reformatting of the zoning code and putting more information on their website that is "user friendly." However, many changes to the permitting process are "downshifting" the level of decisionmaker on land use permits. This results in the general public having little or no chance to participate in the process in a meaningful way. For example, someone building or remodeling a house used to have to go through a land use permit process which required the posting of the permit on the property as to what changes were being proposed. This gave the neighbors and other interested community members ten days to learn about the project and ask questions. If issues arose, a neighbor could appeal the decision. Now, with permit streamlining, in most cases there will be no posting of the permit and no opportunity for the neighborhood or surrounding community to know about what is to be constructed before it happens and no right to appeal the decision. This permit streamlining is being applied to many types of land use decisions in all zone districts, particularly residential and agricultural.

 

Get Your VA Shopping Bag!

Once again, this year I want to thank those in the Valley who have stepped forward to
support our mission. And once again, more than 100 of you have joined the effort to
keep the Valley rural, as we know it.

SYVA Board Treasurer, Donna Will (right), hands out VA
shopping bags at Solvang Farmers Market.

And even more, this year you can show your support for our community and the Valley Alliance by using our very own environmentally-friendly shopping bags. Made of recycled material and slightly larger than most bags, they’re ideal for shopping at the local farmer’s markets in Solvang and Los Olivos. Support your Valley farmers and businesses. Buy local and use your bag! — Mark Oliver, President