Guest Commentary
Gobble Isn't Thanksgiving! (Orcutt, what is that sound?)
By: Ken McCalip
That gobbling sound heard in North Santa Barbara County by local Orcutt area folks is not another Thanksgiving, but the sound of the City of Santa Maria slowly gobbling up areas of greater Orcutt, an area that has had a distinct cultural identity from the city's from the very beginning. The first early settlers led by Don Patrico O'Neill, a former Irish soldier, opened a trading center, La Graciosa, consisting of a store and saloon around 1863 near present day Old Orcutt that by 1870 had 370 inhabitants living in surrounding shanties.
Later, homesteaders with familiar names such as Stubblefield, Halloway, Righetti, Twitchell, Glines, Hobbs, and Martin soon moved to the area. La Graciosa's saloon accommodated the justice of the peace, who had juristriction from the Santa Maria River to Santa Barbara. Orcutt also had a famous outlaw, Soloman Pico, who inhabited Soloman Peak and ambushed travelers who came across the dusty Santa Maria Valley.
La Graciosa to fade to a memory until the oil boom of 1904 revived the area and the town was renamed Orcutt in honor of William Orcutt, a Union Oil geologist. Cowboys and oil workers bellied up to the bars and the boom attracted prostitutes, many saloons, drinking and gambling. Slowly over the years, the town was tamed.
It is this colorful western oil town history that makes the greater Ocutt area separate and unique from its neighbor Santa Maria. Orcutt still has a cultural center in the Old Town area that is slowly improving and through the years the greater Orcutt area has been content with being looked after by the County of Santa Barbara as an unincorporated area of the county with excellent county services.
But the growth of the city of Santa Maria with its eye on the Bradley property in the Orcutt foothills points out a need to re-examine the relationship of the Orcutt area with the County of Santa Barbara. Can this relationship withstand the growth pressures from the city and protect the semi-rural atmosphere that most in Orcutt apparently want to preserve?
Orcutt's citizens have always been an independent lot and this independent spirit was shown a number of years ago when these citizens appeared many times before the Public Utility Commission, unlike the city council of Santa Maria, to turn down the state water project because it required them to pay for water for new housing projects. Later, an Orcutt citizens' group sued the county to insist that the Orcutt General Plan provision be upheld that required all new developments to have an adequate water supply. This worked for a short period to control excessive growth, but the city now uses the sale of state water to help promote city growth and to help annex areas of Orcutt. This new reality can be seen in the recent gobbling up of the Adams' commercial property by the city of Santa Maria. Under this new reality the Orcutt area gets the new growth and the City gets the new tax basis. The city now controls with water sales most growth decisions for Orcutt. Doesn't seem quite fair?
In addition to not being fair to Orcutt, it is not fair to city water rate payers as the proceeds from the sale of the city's share of state water to Orcutt projects is not used to lower city water rates. It is also not fair when Orcutt voters are not allowed to vote on annexation with a questionable deadline decision by the city that prevented a vote on this issue.
It would seem that the Orcutt area with its unique and separate historical identity should be able to control its own destiny. Should be able to determine growth issues. Should be able to determine new shopping center issues and keep the tax basis for itself. Should be able to determine housing density that keeps the semi-rural character of the area in tack. Should be able to determine if we do not want grid locked intersections or do want a reasonable lack of crowds as well as open spaces for us all to enjoy.
If the current relationship with the county can not preserve the Orcutt area's identity then it is time to explore other relationships with the county including city-hood, a large service district, or other relationships that we can afford that are somewhere in between city-hood and what we have now that preserve what should be Orcutt's sphere of influence. The gobbling sound needs to stop and at the very least we should begin now to discuss these issues.
Ken McCalip is a Orcutt native who holds bachelor and doctorate degrees in history, cultural geography and law from various California universities. He can be reached at foxmt.one@verizon.net.
Gobble Isn't Thanksgiving! (Orcutt, what is that sound?)
By: Ken McCalip
That gobbling sound heard in North Santa Barbara County by local Orcutt area folks is not another Thanksgiving, but the sound of the City of Santa Maria slowly gobbling up areas of greater Orcutt, an area that has had a distinct cultural identity from the city's from the very beginning. The first early settlers led by Don Patrico O'Neill, a former Irish soldier, opened a trading center, La Graciosa, consisting of a store and saloon around 1863 near present day Old Orcutt that by 1870 had 370 inhabitants living in surrounding shanties.
Later, homesteaders with familiar names such as Stubblefield, Halloway, Righetti, Twitchell, Glines, Hobbs, and Martin soon moved to the area. La Graciosa's saloon accommodated the justice of the peace, who had juristriction from the Santa Maria River to Santa Barbara. Orcutt also had a famous outlaw, Soloman Pico, who inhabited Soloman Peak and ambushed travelers who came across the dusty Santa Maria Valley.
La Graciosa to fade to a memory until the oil boom of 1904 revived the area and the town was renamed Orcutt in honor of William Orcutt, a Union Oil geologist. Cowboys and oil workers bellied up to the bars and the boom attracted prostitutes, many saloons, drinking and gambling. Slowly over the years, the town was tamed.
It is this colorful western oil town history that makes the greater Ocutt area separate and unique from its neighbor Santa Maria. Orcutt still has a cultural center in the Old Town area that is slowly improving and through the years the greater Orcutt area has been content with being looked after by the County of Santa Barbara as an unincorporated area of the county with excellent county services.
But the growth of the city of Santa Maria with its eye on the Bradley property in the Orcutt foothills points out a need to re-
Orcutt's citizens have always been an independent lot and this independent spirit was shown a number of years ago when these citizens appeared many times before the Public Utility Commission, unlike the city council of Santa Maria, to turn down the state water project because it required them to pay for water for new housing projects. Later, an Orcutt citizens' group sued the county to insist that the Orcutt General Plan provision be upheld that required all new developments to have an adequate water supply. This worked for a short period to control excessive growth, but the city now uses the sale of state water to help promote city growth and to help annex areas of Orcutt. This new reality can be seen in the recent gobbling up of the Adams' commercial property by the city of Santa Maria. Under this new reality the Orcutt area gets the new growth and the City gets the new tax basis. The city now controls with water sales most growth decisions for Orcutt. Doesn't seem quite fair?
In addition to not being fair to Orcutt, it is not fair to city water rate payers as the proceeds from the sale of the city's share of state water to Orcutt projects is not used to lower city water rates. It is also not fair when Orcutt voters are not allowed to vote on annexation with a questionable deadline decision by the city that prevented a vote on this issue.
It would seem that the Orcutt area with its unique and separate historical identity should be able to control its own destiny. Should be able to determine growth issues. Should be able to determine new shopping center issues and keep the tax basis for itself. Should be able to determine housing density that keeps the semi-
If the current relationship with the county can not preserve the Orcutt area's identity then it is time to explore other relationships with the county including city-
Ken McCalip is a Orcutt native who holds bachelor and doctorate degrees in history, cultural geography and law from various California universities. He can be reached at foxmt.one@verizon.net.
