City Council — August 24, 2026

To the Carpinteria City Council meeting. Today's date is August 24th, 2026 and I will request a roll call please.

Thank you Mayor Alarcon. We were in closed session to discuss four items, two were for conference with legal counsel for existing litigation both cases of which are included on tonight's agenda and the other two items were for a conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation and there's no reportable action this evening great

And then we will be continuing one of the items for after, well continuing one closed session item.

Correct Mayor Alarcon I understand that the council would like to continue one of the items under the conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation to after tonight's regular open session items and so I think that should come up in the item on the agenda where its confirmation of agenda items

We have let's see public no not that one. Let's see here.

Yeah agenda modifications I'm trying to get there.

Thank you and we will now

Mayor we have no raised hands.

Okay, I will close public comment and bring it back

to the council for a motion. I move to adopt the proclamation of the City of Carpinteria recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the California Coastal Act

We have a first and a second all those in favor aye any opposed none The motion passes and we will begin reading the proclamation with Councilmember Solorzano

Whereas in 1972, the people of California approved Proposition 20, the California Coastal Zone Conservation Act establishing that the protection of California's coast and ocean is a paramount concern for present and future residents of the state and nation.

Whereas in 1976, the California legislator enacted the California Coastal Act and the State Coastal Conservancy Act creating a visionary framework to protect, conserve, restore and responsibly manage the state's extraordinary coastal resources while providing for carefully planned development and

Whereas the California Coastal Act established a unique partnership between the California Coastal Commission and coastal cities and counties, including City of Carpinteria through local coastal programs that balance local decision-making with statewide goal of protecting California's coast for the benefit of all.

Whereas the California Coastal Act has safeguarded public access to and along the shoreline, protected environmentally sensitive habitats, preserved agricultural and scenic lands, supported sustainable coastal economies, and enhanced the quality of life for millions of Californians and visitors.

Whereas the City of Carpinteria is home to one of California's most treasured coastlines where beaches, wetlands, coastal bluffs, agricultural lands and marine resources contribute to the city's environmental health, economic vitality, cultural heritage and community identity.

Whereas the City of Carpinteria is home to one of California's most treasured coastlines where beaches, wetlands, coastal bluffs, agricultural lands and marine resources contribute to the city's environmental health, economic vitality and cultural heritage and community identity.

Whereas the City of Carpinteria is recognizing the importance of continued stewardship of its coastal resources through collaboration with residents, community organizations, local businesses, regional partners and state agencies to address emerging challenges including sea level rise, coastal erosion, climate change, habitat protection and equitable public access.

Whereas the California Coastal Act continues to provide the policies and tools necessary to preserve California's iconic coastline while supporting resilient coastal communities and ensuring that future generations may enjoy and benefit from these invaluable natural resources,

Whereas the City of Carpinteria proudly joins communities throughout California in recognizing the lasting legacy of the California Coastal Act and reaffirming its commitment to protecting and enhancing the coast for generations to come. Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Carpinteria hereby proclaims 2026 as a 50th anniversary year of the California Coastal Act in the City of Carpinteria and celebrates five decades of coastal stewardship, public access, environmental protection and community partnership.

And we'd like to request for representatives from the California Coastal Commission who will accept the proclamation. Welcome!

Yes, thank you so much. My name is Jackie Phelps and I'm a district supervisor in the Commission's Ventura office and I'm one of the staff members that is fortunate enough to work with the City of Carpinteria. So yes thank you so much for honoring the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act which is the visionary law that set the standard for coastal resource protection and stewardship.

As we all know, California's identity is profoundly linked to the enjoyment and preservation of its 1,200-mile shoreline. The California Coastal Commission is the agency that implements the Coastal Act to protect that shoreline so current and future generations can experience the incomparable beauty, inspiration, and joy of a healthy, vibrant coast. In the 50 years since its passage, the Coastal Act has proven to be one of the most effective and resilient environmental laws in the country.

Its strong resource protection policies have provided the legal foundation to preserve tens of thousands of acres of natural lands, create thousands of public access ways, and support a $51 billion ocean-based economy. However, none of this could have been accomplished without strong partnerships and collaboration with local governments like the City of Carpinteria.

Locally, the Coastal Act is carried out through implementation of local coastal programs which empower local governments to make decisions for their coastal area. In fact across the state, local governments approve about 90% of permits for development in the coastal zone. Nearly every section of coast enjoyed by the public today is the direct result of one or more of those decisions based in the Coastal Act. The trails are walked, the waves are surfed and the vistas are open for all to enjoy.

Looking ahead, the Coastal Commission remains committed to our mission of stewarding a healthy, resilient and accessible coast for all Californians. And we hope that celebrating past accomplishments will help to inform and inspire the next 50 years of coastal protection. So thank you all so much.

Thank you. Ms. Phelps, we'd love to present you with the proclamation and take a photo in the front.

Got it.

We will now

and Mayor if I can interject out of an abundance of caution, I will recuse myself from this item as I am now a member of the Carpinteria Arts Center Board of Directors. Great thank you.

From 2001 to 2026 and I will now open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips for this item. Do we have anyone via Zoom?

I'm here we have no raised hands.

Okay, I will close public comment and I will ask for a motion on behalf of the council.

So moved.

We have a first can we please have a second? I will second it. No issues with seconding so we have a first and a second all those in favor aye any opposed none motion passes and we will begin reading I will begin reading the proclamation whereas the City of Carpinteria recognizes We have a lot of proclamations this evening. Whereas since opening its doors in 2001, the Linda Fairley Carpinteria Arts Center has served as a welcoming cultural hub in the heart of downtown Carpinteria dedicated to creating a vibrant community through the arts by providing opportunities for creative arts education exhibition appreciation and community gathering and

Whereas for 25 years, the Linda Farrelly Carpinteria Arts Center has enriched the lives of residents and visitors by offering diverse educational programs, exhibitions, performances, concerts, camps, workshops, and special events that inspire creativity, celebrate artistic expression, and foster lifelong learning for people of all ages.

Whereas the Linda Fairley Carpinteria Arts Center has remained committed to ensuring the arts are accessible to all, providing scholarships community partnerships affordable programming and inclusive opportunities that strengthen connections among individuals families artists and organizations throughout the Carpinteria Valley

Whereas the Linda Fairley Carpinteria Arts Center has become a trusted gathering place where creativity, collaboration and community thrives. Supporting local artists, encouraging cultural appreciation and serving as a vibrant venue for civic educational and community events

Whereas Linda Farrelly Carpinteria Arts Center has become a trusted gathering place where creativity, collaboration and community thrive. Supporting local artists, encouraging cultural appreciation and serving as a vibrant venue for civic educational and community events

Whereas Linda Fairley Carpinteria Arts Center celebrates its silver anniversary, it continues to look forward to the future with commitment to expanding access to the arts, strengthening community partnerships, supporting artists and educators inspiring creativity for generations to come.

Now therefore, be it hereby proclaimed that the Mayor and City Council of the city of Carpinteria do hereby recognize and congratulate the Linda Fairley Carpinteria Arts Center on the occasion of its 25th anniversary celebrating a quarter century of service, creativity, education, and community enrichment. The city extends its sincere appreciation to the art center's dedicated staff, board of directors, volunteers Teaching artists, donors, members, partners and supporters whose vision generosity and commitment have made the Arts Center an invaluable asset to the Carpinteria community. And I'd like to invite Executive Director Christina Calkins up to the podium.

I am so excited to celebrate all of you with you on September 12th and Mayor, thank you for planning to come to that event to share the proclamation with the wider community. We can't quite fit everyone in our council here For 25 years, the Arts Center has grown and served more and more people in our community. And it actually started before it was a non-profit as a dream of some artists they created a gallery called Step One.

Because they knew it was just the first step in becoming a community arts center. And so thank you so much for the honor and I hope you all can mark your calendar on September 12th, we're going to have a very special unveiling of our teen mural project It involves black light and glowing paint. So our celebration will be in the evening from 5 to 8, so I hope everyone can come. And we're looking forward to the next 25 years and beyond. Thank you.

And there's several volunteers and board members that are here, if they'd please come up at this time to get a picture.

Thank you. And I just want to thank our city attorney for providing me with that guidance. I just want to be sure to appear as impartial as possible and not give any illusion of bias, so I want to make sure the community understands why I recused myself.

Thank you Vice Mayor Solorzano and thanks for being flexible there. Yeah, I didn't see you sneak back in.

We will now be

I'm here we have no raised hands.

I will close public comments and bring it back to the council for a motion

I'll move to adopt the proclamation designated August 21st, 2026 as Senior Citizens Day in the City of Carpinteria.

Second.

We have a first and a second all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None motion passes and we will begin reading the proclamation with Councilmember Solorzano.

Whereas the city of Carpinteria recognizes older adults as valued members of our community whose wisdom experience service and lifelong contributions have enriched our city and helped shape the welcoming connected community we enjoy today and

Whereas Senior Citizens Day provides an opportunity to honor the accomplishments, resilience and continued engagement of older adults while recognizing their important role in strengthening families neighborhoods in our community as a whole. And

whereas the city of Carpinteria is committed to fostering opportunities for healthy aging lifelong teaming learning social connection volunteerism recreation and community participation through its age well senior services program and

Whereas AGL Senior Services Program offers a wide variety of classes, wellness programs, educational opportunities, social events and nutrition services and community partnerships that help older adults including me remain active independent and connected.

Whereas the city celebrates the many volunteers, caregivers, family members, community organizations and staff whose dedication supports the health dignity and well-being of Carpinteria's older adult population. And

whereas recognizing and investing in older adults strengthens our entire community by promoting inclusion intergenerational connections and a high quality of life for residents of all ages

Whereas Senior Citizens Day is nationally recognized and provides an opportunity to honor the contributions and achievements of older adults across the United States.

Now therefore, the City Council of the city of Carpinteria hereby proclaims August 21st 2026 as senior citizens day in the city of Carpinteria. And I would like to ask program coordinator Jenna Jenkins to come up and receive this proclamation on behalf of the city.

City Council, Mayor and staff thank you so much. This is means a whole lot to me because we are talking about a population in our community that has the voice to speak up when something needs to be heard and they have the history of our community and they have the dreams for its future They have the wisdom that really only comes with time and experience. And they've got the spice that keeps us on our toes, you know who you are back there and here?

But most of all they have the passion, the passion that helps make Carpinteria what it is today so acknowledging them and our aging adults is so important to me so thank you so much.

I just would like to thank you for the proclamation, so well put. It encompasses everything that I had hoped seniors would be recognized for and I thank you for the Age Well program and I thank you so immensely for this lady right here who has done an incredible job putting forth programs, putting forth ideas and just making it all work. And I will never miss an opportunity to say again that i'd like to see a senior center brick-and-mortar building in the city of Carpinteria. I feel we deserve it as so many other communities have.

Other than that again thank you so much for the recognition.

It's definitely a team effort by so many people, but I have some of our wonderful Age Well members and I would love to have them come up for the photo if that's okay. All right Age Well members come on up or anybody

And Mayor I apologize we do have one raised hand that came in a little late. I believe it was for this item so I

Okay yeah I'm happy to open that back up and for this item.

All right we have Lisa Gervitz, Lisa go ahead.

Yes hi congratulations to the city and the age well program but I also wanted to give a shout out to Rory's ice cream for offering seniors free ice cream on Friday that was really a delight so thank you all. Thank you for your comments

Okay I will officially close the public comment section and we will now

Hello Mayor, Council Members thank you so much for having me here my name is Taylor Vience and I'm the new Thank you for having me here, my name is Taylor Vians and I'm the new executive director of the Chrisman California Island Center. Some of you surely know our founder Marla Daly and I'm working closely with her but very excited to take the reins over there So As you know, in our backyard we have the Channel Islands.

Absolutely magical spot right here. I'd like to ask now if people have been out to the islands, but I will go on from that. Our goal at the Christman California Island Center is to provide a gateway to the islands, remove some of the barriers to entry whether that's time, energy or other resources. We have removed admission costs from the center and we are hoping to be more than just an additive Additive to the experience of going to the islands, but also to present an opportunity for people to experience the history and wonder of the islands who perhaps might not be able to make it themselves. Here we have a quick overview of the eight islands. I won't get into too much of the history, but I'd like to start at the beginning of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation.

That was founded by Dr. Cary Stanton and his assistant Ms. Marla Daly has taken the reins for the last 40 years, and the Christman California Island Center is a home to all of the artifacts and history dating back almost 200 years from the Santa Cruz Island Foundation. I usually also like to ask if anybody had met Dr. Cary Stanton before his passing, but I will keep on going on.

I like to ask this because it's quite an interesting trench of life, if you will. He was living like a Victorian gentleman out there on Santa Cruz Island all while overseeing one of the largest cattle operations in the county over 54,000 acres. All of his property and real estate there on Santa Cruz Island did transfer to the Nature Conservancy. It's still there as a closed nature preserve, however his personal effects have transferred to the center and all those can be seen there on the corners of Carp and Linden.

So here we have the Christman Center. Has anybody been to the Christman Center before? We've been open two years and it's in the old Bank of America building. I know it had a life as a bank before that. Fun fact, that was the most robbed bank in Santa Barbara County while it was open. We've only been there two years but I'm happy to report we have had no robberies.

So here's a picture of the outside of the center. You'll notice a beautiful mural by beloved local artist John Wolbrint there on the outside. We are open from Wednesday to Saturday and the archives are open by appointment, very accessible. Admission is free come one come all. So, it's important to state that our focus isn't only on the Channel Islands right here off our coast. We consider all California islands including the Baja Islands and then also the Farallones up north. So we're home to 500,000 objects, books, archives spanning almost 500 years of human history and admission is free. I like to mention that a lot. We are an educational research center as well. Obviously, we have these beautiful galleries and each has an exhibit to each separate island but also part of our mission is to forward research as well as the preservation of history in California Island's history so whether that's from prehistory, we have relics from the Chumash period, we have Juana Maria, the lone woman of San Nicolas' donut stone That's original, we have some pygmy mammoth artifacts and then we also have a huge amount of artifacts from the ranching and human history on the island.

As I mentioned our archives have over 500,000 items. Original things dating back over 200 years with the lone object going back 500 years. And that is all available to our community by appointment. We have permanent exhibits on each of the islands, as I mentioned. We also have a gallery of Richard Diebenkorn paintings. We have 33 on view out of our 43 in the collection.

These are seminal and very important to California history. He was friends with Dr. Stanton quite interestingly and painted many things while he was out on the islands. We also have an Island of the Blue Dolphins exhibit that's very friendly for all ages. Foundation produced in 2016. We have webcams live on all of the islands, which is very fun to see how things are going out there and then a full ham radio station set up. Right now we have a marine debris exhibit done in conjunction with CSU Channel Islands and we will be having an opening on October 9th. I invite you all to come.

I'm pointing out some select collection highlights here. We have the last surviving bottle of wine made on Santa Cruz Island, which is quite interesting to see. We have a lot of worked abalone from the ranching history time whether that's cufflinks, bolo ties, buttons, cutlery you'll see and a lot of the ranching equipment. Some incredible examples of leather work done on Santa Rosa Island proper We also have a native plant garden in our courtyard.

We have benches of each of the islands that are to scale and relative to their size where they are, you can find many endemic species that only grow out on the islands there in our courtyard which is a great way to wet the palette and get excited about what you will see out there if you get the chance to make it out there. And we also have a space for community activities, presentations, events please inquire.

We also are looking to invite members of our community to get involved, whether that is just to come through and see what we have. We also have opportunities for private tours, educational events, community speakers or Tocents if anybody would like to come and get involved in that way. We are working on increasing foot traffic right now, so please tell your friends and I will leave some materials here on the table as well as my business card if you would like to follow up further. Thank you very much for your

time. Thank you for the presentation and just before you leave I'll ask if any council members have questions? Mr. Baines, I think we might have some questions for you from the council if you can come on over to the dais. Thank you and thank you for your presentation.

Actually, not a question but thank you for coming back anyway. I just wanted to thank you so much for presenting this information. I think that it's a great way to get the word out more to the community. It sounds like you said the admission is free and then what were the hours again?

That is 10 to 4 Wednesday to Saturday. However if there is no response from the community that we'd like to expand those hours we're absolutely happy to.

Great okay thank you and just again thank you for sharing more information about this resource for the community.

Absolutely! We're proud to be a part of the Carpinteria Community.

Any other questions from council members? Okay seeing none thank you so much for your presentation. And I'd like to open up public comment on this agenda item, I don't have any speaker slips do we have any one via zoom?

We have no raised hands

okay I will close public comment and we will move on to the presentation of the Carpinteria community pool fundraiser kickoff

Good evening, Mayor, Vice-Mayor and Council. I'm really excited to be here this evening to officially kick off the fundraising campaign for the Carpinteria Community Pool Project. I also have with me our two aquatics coordinators, Lexi Persoon and Caleb Pina who I sincerely thank for just running the pool so fabulously each and every day, the Junior Lifeguard Program, The Beach, and helping with this project and the fundraising.

So we've talked quite a bit about the pool over the last year or so, but tonight I wanted to give you just a quick overview of where the project stands, what still needs to happen and most importantly introduce our community fundraising campaign and how people can get involved. Just as a little bit of background for those who may not know, this project really started in spring of 2025 with the facility needs assessment. From there we issued a request for proposals, brought 19 six architects on board earlier this year and this summer they recently completed the schematic design.

What we learned through this process is that this really is an infrastructure project There are certainly some things people will see when the project is complete, but a lot of the work is the not so exciting but very necessary stuff that keeps a pool functioning. This includes the pool deck and gutters, mechanical equipment, chemical feed systems, the pool heater and accessibility improvements including restroom improvements and American with Disabilities Act shower ADA shower.

The pool has served this community for a long time and the goal of this project is to make the investment now so that it can continue serving the community for many more years. So, where do we go from here? Schematic design is complete as I mentioned but there's still quite a bit of work between where we are today and construction. The next steps include design development the creation of the construction documents review through the division of state architect and health department permitting bidding construction and ultimately the project closeout I do want to emphasize what is noted on this slide in the bottom right, it's the timing and ultimately the scope of the construction are contingent upon funding.

That's really why tonight's fundraising kickoff is so important. Here you can see a tentative project schedule. Currently 19-6 is in the design development phase and will soon begin working on the construction documents. The plan as it is laid out right now would put construction beginning at almost exactly one year from today, and again I cannot stress this enough the project scope and therefore the timing are again contingent on the funding. If we are not able to raise enough funds to complete the project in its entirety, we may need to scale it down, do the project in phases which would shorten the closure of this construction but would result in additional closures down the line when funding was secured to make the additional improvements.

Before I talk about the public campaign, I want to recognize that we are absolutely not starting at zero which is just incredible. We have already had some incredibly generous community members and foundations step forward to support this project. I want to recognize the Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation, The Bliss Family, The Ann Jackson Family Foundation, The LaCentra Summerlin Foundation and Marilyn Jenkins for their grants and donations to date.

I'm incredibly grateful for their early support. Having people willing to invest in a project at this stage gives us a really strong foundation as we open the campaign up to the broader community, and I think this also demonstrates how important this pool is to the community. And that brings us to Keep Carpinteria Swimming. Our fundraising goal is $3.3 million, and we have partnered with the Santa Barbara Foundation which is serving as our 501c3 fiscal sponsor through the CARP Fund.

But rather than talk through everything on this slide I'm going to hop over for a moment to the website and see what we have been working on. I apologize I did not cue this up sooner. So here at keepcarpswimming.org you can see the history of the pool, vision and upgrades, contact and some FAQs. I want to acknowledge this design was made by one of our lifeguards Danny and we appreciate his contribution to this project as well.

Here funders or anyone rather can click to donate today and this will take you directly to the Santa Barbara Foundation link And then we will be updating our goal as it progresses and include any updates on the project as well. Here you'll be able to see some of the items that are in need of the repair, this is pool deck, stairs, the diving blocks, the worn tiles and the worn And finally, as part of the campaign we put together a short video that I think does a much better job than I can of showing what community pool means to Carpinteria and why this project is so important. So I will play that brief video for you right now.

For over 30 years, generations of Carpinterians have grown up swimming in this pool. But this pool did not happen overnight. It took years of hard work, community support, fundraising and grant funding to bring it to life. Today it's where kids take their first strokes, seniors find their rhythm and neighbors come together every day.

This pool means a lot to me I grew up swimming here at the age of eight and I've been able to go through these programs. I started with swim team and then transitioned into high school swimming and it's just been one of the greatest stories of my life.

But after decades of use the pool needs critical upgrades to remain accessible and open This pool was built by the community. Now it's our turn to protect it for the next generation. Just like before, we can't do it alone. If you're able donate today spread the word and join the effort to keep Carpinteria swimming. You'll see a lot of familiar faces there of staff who are current staff who grew up swimming in pool including our very own Lexi So we are really excited to finally share this campaign with the community and starting tomorrow, we will be getting the word out more broadly. There is obviously a lot of work still ahead of us but I'm excited about where we are and incredibly grateful to everyone who has already helped get us to this point.

And with that, I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Questions from Council?

In terms of the donation structure, is it basically anyone can donate any amount or is there a threshold that what people need to donate?

Vice Mayor Solorzano through the mayor absolutely anyone is welcome to donate any amount and we would be incredibly grateful

And then in addition to the donation link, will there be other fundraisers or for example from what I recall there were plaques at one point or names that individuals in the community could purchase and put their name on the wall. Is that something that you all are

considering? Yes, Mayor Olicon. Yes it's definitely something we are considering. I recently reached out to the original artist of the tiles that are on the donor walls as they exist right now. Unfortunately have not been able to hear back so I am looking for an artist who would be able to match the style, the font, the color. It's very specific so that it's you know a cohesive look. So if needed we will be launching the tile or fundraiser if you will for lack of better term We're also working on selling some t-shirts for additional fundraising, possibly doing events at the pool that could solicit donations at them. We have a lot of ideas that we've kind of been talking about to go along with the different seasons to bring people to the pool see what's going on perhaps do a community day which was a wonderful idea brought to us by One of our water aerobics instructors to bring people to the pool, not just to see what programs we offer but also to see what this project's about and what is the pool renovation will look like.

Great thank you.

But

definitely more to come. Any other questions from council? Okay no questions I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips on this item. Do we have anyone via zoom?

Mayor, we have no raised hands.

Okay I'll close public comment and I'd like to just say this is a great way to kick off this campaign thank you for all of your hard work I know this is quite a big undertaking and I'm looking forward to see what else comes out of this and it's nice to see that we have three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to get it started Thank You okay we will now

Good evening Mayor Alarcon, Council, staff, public hello okay I am going to circle back to housing the housing update and I'm gonna start with the cannabis updates so there is a new cannabis odor complaint and testing dashboard that the county rolled out. It's a map with identifying locations of cannabis odor complaints and nasal ranger testing, and there's a lot of mostly in real time up-to-date information about where this cannabis that cannabis odor complaints are coming from and what the testing looks like so definitely check that out.

Community members again can always report those complaints through the county website So those links are in the update. The next thing I wanted to mention was Winter Storm El Nino Prep. The county is aware that it's coming and we're all reading the same reports that everybody else is, so they're rolling out a bunch of campaigns across the county North County South County to inform residents about what they can do to be prepared and what the county is doing to be prepared.

Residents are encouraged to figure out if they live in a flood zone, pay attention to the weather forecast, definitely sign up for ReadySBC alerts And then do some home maintenance, folks. Clear your storm drains, clear your gutters, move important things to higher ground. Know how to shut off the water and the gas and electricity at your house. There are a lot of links and checklists on the county website, and I dropped a lot of those links in this update. So there's a County Storm Preparedness website That's countyofsb.org slash PW for Public Works, pw-storm-preparation. And that will kind of be the home base for all this information but one thing that I wanted to emphasize is that there is a real time data from Santa Barbara County Flood Control That includes live basin cameras that are updated all the time so you can see what the Santa Monica Basin looks like and what it's doing.

And it's currently dry as a bone, but it has been raging in the past. So definitely check that out. You can see real-time rainfall, real-time water level gauges. The hydrology section of the county website is pretty impressive, so definitely have that bookmarked if you like to look at that stuff during floods. Okay like I said please register for SBC ready SBC alerts and there's links on there about sandbag locations and availability as well seems kind of insane to talk about during this heat wave but it is good to be prepared Another thing I wanted to mention is that most homeowners insurance does not come with flood insurance, flood damage insurance. So the National Flood Insurance Program website it is administered through FEMA but there are programs available for people to apply for flood insurance so that's property owners renters and business owners So you can check that out, the National Flood Insurance Program website.

And on the website it says that these policies can take up to 30 days to go into effect so check it out now if this is something you're interested in. All right, some upcoming opportunities for residents. 3CE is the Central Coast Community Energy Program and they can help community members reduce their energy bill, assist with some home energy efficiencies and coordinate financial assistance programs. So if you're a Southern California Edison customer, which would be everybody here, you can contact the 3CE folks about those programs at southsupportat3ce.org Again I put the links in this update so there's a lot of information on the website you can look at too The last fun opportunity is Poetry Out Loud. It's a national competition, but it's facilitated through schools so it's essentially like a spelling bee but it's for poetry reading and it's for students so the local high schools can Organize this program they have until September 30th and students who do not have the program in their own school can contact the County Office of Arts and Cultures to learn about how they can participate as well.

And I did want to shout out that the Santa Barbara County champion from 2021 and 2022 was from Carpinteria High School, so I think it's time we brought that back here Alrighty, and some upcoming Board of Supervisor meetings that I think are items that are of interest to the Carp City folks. On the 25th tomorrow our new County CEO Jana Peterson will be there she's just starting she took over from Mona Miyasato so Jana is starting her first board meeting tomorrow so if you want to tune in and see what she's like Tomorrow's a good time to do that. And then on September 1st, there's going to be an El Nino preparedness presentation by County Flood Control so A little bit what I talked about but much bigger and more countywide That'll be put on by the County Flood Control Department and that will that meeting will also have a utility scale solar amendment that is being voted on this is something that is all about how are we bringing more solar to Santa Barbara County.

Initially, utility scale solar which is 30 acres or more was confined to the Cuyama Valley. So this solar amendment is about expanding that and thinking of all the different places and the new acreage that we can use solar within the county. So it's something that Director Bob Roth and Mindy Fogg have been in touch with our office about, and with County Planning and Development about how to notify Carp City when there are projects on the edge of the county and the city, and what that would look like for notifying and whatnot. So that's a big deal.