Tree Elimination
updated: Feb 16, 2013, 3:25 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Towbes has begun grading and tree eliminating for the Foothill Centre (Foothill Rd/San Marcos Pass), Sansum Clinic will have out-patient surgery and plastic surgery, not sure what else. Completion supposedly in two years.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 375139P	2013-02-16 03:41 PM
This sounds like another sensational story. Oh, Mr. Towbes is out there personally? Why not mention the business name. "Tree elimination" ? Are most of the trees being removed, how many? "Plastic surgery" oh like it's going to be mostly for those who can afford this? Clarifications needed.
COMMENT 375143	2013-02-16 03:54 PM
Sad.
COMMENT 375149	2013-02-16 04:30 PM
Awesome. With so many boomers, retirees, and imagrants needing quality healthcare, Sansum's current TIRED old buildings just don't hit the mark. A modern health facility will help us all. Don't tell me you are going to miss that old fenced-in gas station at 154/Cathedral Oaks? Puh-shaw.
STRAY	2013-02-16 05:39 PM
C'mon now. Everyone who is complaining that the tired old derelict gas station that was deteriorating on that lot for the past 20 years is going to be replaced by a new building needs to calm down a bit. What is there to miss?
KDEF	2013-02-16 07:47 PM
The official address for this site is 4151 Foothill Road. I understand that a number of trees are to be retained. These include some oak trees, the olive trees along Cieneguitas Street and at least two of the Abizzia trees. As with the threatened eucalyptus trees at the downtown Library, one needs to protest potential tree removal long before the bulldozers are on the ground.
COMMENT 375210	2013-02-16 08:02 PM
Here we go again the NIBY'S & tree huggers unite! Let's preserve a 25 year old defunct gas station....
REXOFSB	2013-02-16 08:27 PM
I don't care about the gas station, but I do miss the pet rattlesnake that lived in a glass cage there. I used to buy gas there sometimes just so I could go in and look at that rattlesnake. So here's an idea: bring back the rattlesnake in a glass cage in the main waiting room at the new Sansum facility! The kids would love it. Maybe even charge 50 cents for a mouse to feed the snake, like when you buy fish to feed the dolphins at Sea World. I'd much rather watch the rattlesnake than read an eight-month-old issue of the Reader's Digest.
COMMENT 375217	2013-02-16 08:41 PM
Great it about time!.
COMMENT 375223P	2013-02-16 08:59 PM
I am very impressed with the general direction of this conversation, especially the immediate critique of the opening post as sensational. Good job, citizens! Nice to have Edhat to keep up on this development/site, thanks.
D8VANILLA	2013-02-16 11:21 PM
Sansum Clinic was NEVER the same after the merge with Santa Barbara Medical Foundation. Too bad the Foundation couldn't come up to the standards of the Clinic.
COMMENT 375268P	2013-02-17 01:44 AM
It's always a shame when hawks and other birds of prey lose their patches of open space. @REXOFSB: I was kind of a fan of yours until this latest post. Snakes do not belong in cages. Encouraging children to feed live mice to imprisoned snakes? You lost your cred.
REXOFSB	2013-02-17 05:42 AM
@268P: I quite agree about snakes and other animals not belonging in cages, but I figure that a glass cage would be better for the rattlesnake than a "petting zoo"-type enclosure where kids could pet the snake. I'm sure there would be all kinds of liability issues. Think about it--I bet there's not a medical clinic in the tricounty area that has its very own rattlesnake in the waiting room. And if it got lonesome they could maybe get another one as a companion. They could name them Sansum and Delilah. I don't know why Sansum doesn't hire me as a consultant.
COMMENT 375279	2013-02-17 06:41 AM
Wait until the building goes up. Did anyone notice when the story poles were up last year? If that represented the final approved building, man, you're really gonna miss that old "empty gas station lot," a lot.
ROGER DODGER	2013-02-17 06:52 AM
What is a NIBY?
COMMENT 375288P	2013-02-17 07:36 AM
NIMBY. And, I think if they're going to have a petting zoo, it should be OUTSIDE of the front lobby. Inside would be too much. If they are going to put something exotic inside, perhaps a doctor in a glass cage...? For fifty cents, you could feed him a mouse and ask one medical question.
COMMENT 375290	2013-02-17 07:40 AM
139 - Towbes held a 'neighborhood meeting' several months ago where he announced the plan, showed drawings, feedback was encouraged. Sansum Mgmt was there also. A few weeks ago, Towbes sent a letter with the detailed explanation of the grading, tree removal, construction plans within a 2 yr time frame. Road widening will take down several more trees as will the landscaper.Parking on the west side of the 700 block of Cieneguitas Road has been banned, police arrivede within 24 hours to give out tickekts Most of this land has been pristine since time began.The area was lovely (minus gas stations) but progress insists. Traffic will be horriendous and right in front of my house. My family has been in the area since the late 1800s and now we are leaving. Upset? You bet.
COMMENT 375305	2013-02-17 08:27 AM
Does everyone know what land use zoning is? If the lot next door or across the street is not zoned as open space, expect that it will be "developed" at some point. Size of development is often determined by zone. Do you live across from a c or m zone? Expect commercial or manufacturing development.
COMMENT 375326	2013-02-17 08:50 AM
We know who Towbes is and what happens when he builds anything.......it becomes massive....... reeking of big money and political connections. Sorry to hear about your family 290.
COMMENT 375397	2013-02-17 11:29 AM
Awww, this is sad. If people don't stay vigilant, the developers turn everything ugly. Isn't Michael Towbes responsible for some of the biggest architectural and aesthetic mistakes in town? Why do they keep coddling him?
COMMENT 375409	2013-02-17 12:13 PM
375397 There is one clear answer to your rhetorical question! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (It is all about the Benjamins)
HOLAZOLA	2013-02-17 12:19 PM
It's about time this project started. This lot has been a fenced off eyesore for at least 25 years. There are only two houses that look across at the property, and they are surrounded by apartments. And I personally think that the new medical buildings will look nicer than the apartments. PS It looks like they are saving the major trees, and will be adding probably 5x more than the property has now... do a web search for "sansum cieneguitas" to see links to renderings and plans.
COMMENT 375421P	2013-02-17 12:49 PM
Towbes properties are unusually well cared for, tidy, with landscaping kept up. Considering other developers in town we're lucky to have a person and company give back much to the community.
COMMENT 375473	2013-02-17 02:24 PM
Michael Towbes and his company have built many attractive properties, both commercial and residential, and to excoriate him because he is a "developer" is very unfair. I have lived here since 1960 and know he has always been generous to the town and its charitable organizations. Many of you live and shop in his houses and stores all over the county. I am tired of people always criticizing developers. I knew Mr. Dickman who owned the old gas station too - he was a very nice guy.
COMMENT 375479	2013-02-17 02:40 PM
Amen, 473. Towbes is a good guy and he's planted way more trees in this area than he's taken out on his projects.
COMMENT 375556P	2013-02-17 09:50 PM
Towbes is a "Good Guy"? Please. Tell that to the people who live in the Eastern Goleta Valley and have been fighting tooth and nail not to have him destroy their way of life by paving every bit of farmland he can get (bribe) his hands on. If you like cement and parking lots, he's your man. Otherwise ... not so much :( And make no mistake - he's in it for the $$$. Not one drop of altruism there.
COMMENT 375570P	2013-02-18 03:49 AM
@556P: I couldn't have said it better. Anyone who thinks Towbes is into "beautifying the community" should just look around at the massive development he is responsible for.
COMMENT 375666	2013-02-18 09:57 AM
Towbes= boring, overbuilt, Orange County clones. Souless and cynical development....
KIDS	2013-02-18 03:55 PM
I agree with 421P. I live within a block from this project.

54% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.