The State of California's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance became effective on January 1, 2010. Santa Barbara County has developed two draft application supplements to satisfy the State Ordinance. For more info, please see the Water Conservation in Landscaping project page.

This year's webinar program features sessions from the American Planning Association’s National Conference held in Boston in 2011. From the available sessions, staff has selected interesting topics to present, such as covenants and law, rural tourism, livable streets, retrofitting suburbia, and several aspects of sustainability.

The Long Range Planning Division's Draft Work Program for Fiscal Year 2012-2013 is now available for download and review on the Long Range Planning website.

A new interactive map of current projects is available. Pan, zoom, and click for information about ongoing projects in the County.

A Draft EIR for Mattei's Tavern was released for public review on February 17. You may comment by providing testimony at the Environmental Hearing on March 26th and/or submitting written or oral comments to the project planner prior to the close of the public comment period on April 2nd. See the project page for more details.

Santa Barbara County is developing an Energy and Climate Action Plan to achieve energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy, water efficiency and conservation, reduced vehicle trips, and minimized waste. You can get involved and provide input by taking this survey.

Would you like free advice on making your development design more energy efficient? The Innovative Building Review Program (IBRP) is a free program to advise developers on energy-efficient design.