S.B. Planning Commissioner Appointed to Water Quality Control Board

Governor Jerry Brown appointed Santa Barbara Planning Commissioner Michael Jordan to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, thus filling one of three vacancies that have deprived that board of the quorum necessary to conduct business for the past year.

Jordan said he hopes to help the board find the proper balance between pure environmentalism and pure business, particularly as it deals with such mega-issues as regulating the water running off agricultural fields.

Jordan served on the city’s Creeks Advisory Committee before serving on the Planning Commission and has been involved in city affairs as an advocate for the downtown tourist, lodging, and restaurant industries. “You don’t want to pay $10 for a head of lettuce because of draconian environmental regulations,” he said, “but you don’t want to compromise on the safety of our water quality either.”

Jordan said his first staff report was 628 pages long. He will be the second Santa Barbaran on the board, which is now chaired by downtown attorney Jeff Young. He said he doesn’t expect to confront the highly contentious ag runoff issue until next year, after he and the other two appointees have had an opportunity to digest it a little.