And Then There Were 11

After several weeks of going over applications with staff members, the office of 3rd District County Supervisor Doreen Farr has announced the names of the 11 brave souls who will be charged with helping craft the planning future of the globally significant Gaviota region. The nominees still have to be vetted by Farr’s fellow board members at the County Board of Supervisor’s meeting next week. However, the hope is that the environmentalist-heavy hodgepodge of land owners, business operators, ranchers, and land-use experts can, working in concert with County staffers, draft a Gaviota-specific general plan for the Supes to vote into reality by 2012.

Originally designed to be a five to seven member group (a number picked in hopes of streamlining the blood, sweat, tears, and name calling of previous groups such as the Gaviota Study Group and the infamous Common Ground), the final set of nominees doubled in order to accommodate the plethora of applications and divergent interests in the ever tumultuous sea of Gaviota stakeholders. It includes several people involved in the aforementioned groups. Specifically, the nominees are: landowner Jose Baer, Hollister Ranch resident Beverly Bosie-Cossart, El Capitan Canyon General Manger Terri Bowman, Michael Feeney from the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County; landowner, lawyer and Study Group veteran Charles Kimbell (Kimbell has also been appointed the Advisory Committee’s Chair); prolific land-use consultant Mark Lloyd; environmental consultant Christina McGinnis; Naples Coalition President Phil McKenna; landowner Jenifer McNabb; Orella Ranch owner/operator Guner Tautrim; and current County Agricultural Advisory Committee member and long time area rancher Paul VanLeer.

The Supervisors are scheduled to approve the nominees October 20.