Remember when coastal parts of Santa Barbara were considered safely outside the high fire zone? Those days are gone, and that’s why I am voting in support of creating a Coastal Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District.
It’s a long title for a simple concept: properties in a high risk area would pay an annual assessment (roughly $125 for a single home), and in exchange the City implements fire suppression at and near those properties. Because it qualifies as a ‘tax’ on the affected properties, it has to be approved by voters.
Up in the foothills, these Districts have been around forever. Homeowners in Mission Canyon and similar areas know the value of kicking in a small annual amount, so that experienced work crews overseen by the City’s wildland fire specialists come to their neighborhood, clear roadside vegetation (where a lot of fires start due to sparks from passing cars), manage vegetation to reduce fuel loads, and provide free advice about home hardening and defensible space. This map shows areas that see the need, and are getting support as a result:
When I moved to the Alta Mesa 5 ½ years ago, it didn’t occur to me that my new home was in a high risk area. I even bragged to friends from San Roque about how they were in a high risk area, and I was safely not. Ha! That brag was on May 20, 2021, just hours before the Loma Fire burned below TV Hill and threatened the very heart of downtown.
We now know that: 1) fire season is now year-round; 2) fire can start in and burn through urban areas, not just up in the hills; 3) management and reduction are critical to reducing loss when a fire does happen. Coastal communities never used to need to think about this. Now, we do.
The City of Santa Barbara sent out ballots last month to properties in coastal areas that were rezoned as high fire that same year. We’ve been living at risk, but without the resources to reduce that risk. A new fire assessment district focused on coastal and coastal inland areas would directly address that.
If you live in the yellow or green areas below, you received a simple ballot in the mail about a month ago, asking you to vote on whether or not to establish a new district to protect your property and neighborhood. If you haven’t already voted, this is your chance to say YES, to generate the funds needed for the City Fire Department to do for coastal areas what it is already doing up in the foothills—reducing fire risk, protecting homes and neighborhoods.
Ballots are due by June 30. They can be mailed in or handed in at City Hall during a public hearing on the issue, which starts at 2 p.m. on June 30. Please help yourself and your neighbors by voting YES to create a Coastal Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District.
