Community Environmental Council |

Programs > Sustainable Land Use

Just a 40-minute commute from downtown Santa Barbara, the rural communities that comprise the Santa Ynez Valley have not been immune from the pressures of growth on the South Coast. Residents' concerns about leap-frog development, the loss of agricultural land and maintaining the region's small-town feel and rural landscape resulted in a CEC-led project focusing specifically on the Santa Ynez Valley.

The two-year project included both a process — more than 5,000 hours of discussion among a core group of 40 Santa Ynez Valley ranchers, business leaders, educators, and others — and a final report. Participants grappled with such issues as growth, open space, water usage, traffic, cultural diversity, and the future of the Valley's agricultural industry.

Download the Valley Blueprint report. Also, learn more about the people behind the Santa Ynez Valley project on page 8 of our annual report. To get involved with the implementation of the group's recommendations, call us at (805) 963-0583, ext. 103, or email us.


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