Following this winter’s heavy storms, dozens of roads throughout Santa Barbara County have been awaiting much-needed repairs.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is appropriating roughly $24 million toward numerous storm renovation projects. More than $2 million of those funds will be used to help restore access to the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes.
“What is good is that the county has stepped up! I want to thank our supervisors in the area for stepping up to the plate and doing a fantastic job,” said lifetime Guadalupe resident George Alvarez.
“I really have to hand it to the county for making Guadalupe a priority,” added Erika Weber, Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center Executive Director.
She says every day, her office fields calls from the community, asking if the park has reopened.
“There are a lot of people who fish out there every day, and without access, that has impacted their livelihood and their families,” Weber explained. “We know that visitors to the area, people that love to be out in nature who want to take a walk, or a hike, or a bike ride have been impacted.”
In recent months, the county's public works crews have been working on storm damage along the Santa Maria River Levee in Guadalupe, an effort Alvarez feels will yield benefits when the next round of rain arrives.
“If you go down and check out the levee, it has been dredged. They did a fantastic job,” he told KSBY.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s vote of approval from the board of supervisors also guaranteed several millions in county funds to fix washouts and undermined pavement along Jalama Road near Lompoc, as well as several damaged streets in the unincorporated areas west of Santa Maria.
“I have been saying all along and I will say it again, thank you so much to our county and our board of supervisors,” Weber said.
She adds that in the months since the Dunes have been closed, much debris has washed onto the coastline from the ocean. She says her group is awaiting access to the park so they can get to work on a beach clean-up.
“The first chance we get to take our buckets and nabbers down to the beach to start picking up trash, we will be out there to do it,” she added.
The remaining funds for Santa Barbara County’s storm repairs will address roads in the Santa Ynez Valley and throughout the South Coast.
Officials with the County of Santa Barbara’s Public Works Department say construction on the last phase of the Guadalupe Dunes should get started in the coming weeks, with its tentative reopening scheduled for next summer.
