SBCAG Elects New Leadership

Holly Sierra, Alice Patino, and Gregg Hart

Source: SBCAG

Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) elected their 2020 leadership and approved the Board of Directors regular meeting schedule through December 2020. The Board of Directors selected Gregg Hart, County Supervisor Second District to serve as Chair and Holly Sierra, Mayor of Buellton to serve as Vice-Chair. The Board also extended their appreciation to outgoing Chair Alice Patino, Mayor of Santa Maria. 

“As a former Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Deputy Director, I understand transportation and housing issues facing our region,” said director Gregg Hart. “I will work hard with my Board colleagues, SBCAG staff and our partners to secure full funding to complete the 101 widening project, expand rail service, increase funding for transit, bike, and pedestrian improvements and create new opportunities for affordable housing.”

In 2020, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, in partnership with Caltrans, will be focused on the Santa Barbara U.S. 101 Multimodal Corridor Project, which is the priority project of Measure A, the transportation measure passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2008. Measure A funding helped leverage $184 million in competitive Senate Bill 1 funding for the project from Carpinteria to Summerland with construction starting in 2020. In the new year, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments will seek to leverage additional Senate Bill 1 funding to secure the remaining investment needed for the entirety of the project to Santa Barbara. The funding also supports improving local connections for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit and rail users. The public can stay informed on the progress by signing up to receive updates at www.sbroads.com.

Santa Barbara County Association of Governments will also be engaged in Connected 2050, Santa Barbara County’s next Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP-SCS).  The RTP-SCS is the long-range transportation plan that is updated every four years and helps guide future planning efforts and policy decisions that affect transportation, including its relationship with housing and land use.  The current RTP-SCS, Fast Forward 2040, as its name suggests, plans out to the year 2040.  Connected 2050 will plan out to 2050.  Connected 2050 will also align with the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process as directed by the State of California to support how Santa Barbara communities can adequately plan to meet the housing needs for our region. Public participation will be vital to the development of Connected 2050 and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments will conduct public meetings and surveys in advance of a draft release of Connected 2050 anticipated in June 2021.

Regular meetings of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Board of Directors occur on the 3rdThursday of each month, convening at 10:00 a.m. Listed below is the 2020 Meeting schedule and locations. Santa Barbara meetings are held in the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at 105 East Anapamu Street, 4th Floor, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Santa Maria meetings are held in the Santa Maria Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at 511 East Lakeside Parkway, Santa Maria, CA 93455