Category: keyt-local-news

Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – A pair of high-profile developments in the heart of downtown Santa Maria are beginning to take shape in their construction process.

At the site of the old Mervyn’s/Fallas building in the Santa Maria Town Center West shopping center, work at the future home of Heritage Lofts is about a third of the way through according to project developer Brett Vernon.

“I’m just really excited,” said Brett Vernon, The Vernon Group President. “We’ve been working on this thing for almost five years. It feels really good to see it, to see a building starting to take shape.”

In August, the Santa Barbara-based company broke ground on the project that will redevelop the old commercial building into a 104-unit residential complex.

“Right now, we’re currently framing in, roughing in, plumbing, electrical,” said Vernon. “Since it’s an adaptive reuse building, we’re able to work on multiple stories at the same time where that’s not typical in construction. We actually have the second floor further ahead than the first floor, which usually you’ve got to build from the ground up, so we’re ahead of ourselves in some areas and behind ourselves in other parts of the building. Things are going as planned. Typical little hiccups that we have in construction. Other than that everything’s on everything’s looking good. We’re on schedule. We’re looking forward to getting people in here and reactivating downtown.”

Vernon added he expects construction to last for about another year and for the first residents to move in as early as March 2027.

Across the street at the Santa Maria Town Center mall, construction is also taking place on new market and retail space inside the building that was the longtime former home of Sears building.

Work is now happening on both the inside and outside of the building, transforming the site into a new “El Super” market on the ground floor, with addition retail space planned for the second floor.

“There’s lots of construction activity going on,” said Chenin Dow, Santa Maria Community Development Director. “This is the Charles Company that’s building this project, and it really is gut and replace with what’s existing in the building, so there’s lots of changes that need to be made and lots of activity going on.”

Compared to the Heritage Lofts, which is being reshaped dramatically on the outside and now looks very different than it did just a few months ago, the new El Super building is currently seeing most of the work taking place on the inside.

Still, there is a quite a bit of work taking place indoors that will fill the long vacant building that’s been empty since 2020 with much-needed retail space

El Super provided News Channel 3-12 with an update on construction that will continue on for the next several months.

“We are excited to share that construction at our new El Super location is progressing on schedule. We look forward to opening our doors to the Santa Maria community later this year and can’t wait to bring our customers the fresh, quality products and authentic shopping experience El Super is known for. Stay tuned for more details on our grand opening!”

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – With a federal funding problem looming, Santa Barbara is urgently timing its next round of dredging at the Santa Barbara Harbor entrance.

The infill of sand is clogging the opening but it still has a path for vessels coming in and out, mainly at higher tides.

“We are in touch with the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Waterfront Director Mike Wiltshire at a recent meeting of the Santa Barbara Harbor Commission. “They are targeting in mid-March. That is really tight. It is something we are thinking about every day.”

The Harbor Patrol is checking every day to test depth and widths, especially after recent storms with wave action bringing in tons of sand.

“It is going to get narrow and dire for a week, potentially two weeks,” said Wiltshire. Then Pacific Dredge will be in Santa Barbara with the all-electric dredge the city uses.

He also said there is only one round of funding left in the budget. After that no more federal funding has been allocated. That then puts the burden of the $4-million cost on the local budget.

Another concern is the possibility of the harbor entrance getting shut off with another burst of sand especially if the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Blackfin is still docked.

There is also an active commercial fishing fleet in the harbor which serves local and other restaurants with its catch which includes urchin, halibut and rockfish.

Wiltshire said, “this is not normal conditions.”

For now he said, “We do have a light at the end of the tunnel.” That will come when the dredge arrives.

Thursday some people were fishing in areas where there’s normally less sand, but they were able to walk farther out on the sandspit. There was also a man with a metal detector checking exposed sandy areas looking for valuables.

Boats going in and out were very close in the area that can be used. The Harbor Patrol is available for an escort if needed.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –

Dos Pueblos 10, Oaks Christian 9 (OT): Austin Fauver scored in the final minute of regulation to tie the game at 9 and Dylan Wooten scored early in overtime to complete the comeback for the Chargers.

DP trailed the Lions 5-1 after the first quarter and 8-4 after the third quarter before staging a furious rally to win their first game on the year.

DP (1-2) was led on offense by Fauver who scored 4 goals. Wooten had 2 goals and 3 assists.

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Mike Klan

NIPOMO, Calif. (KEYT) – The Titans scored early and often and they stayed late celebrating school history.

Nipomo routed Dos Palos 6-1 to win the CIF-Central Section Division 5 championship. It’s the Titans first CIF crown in boys soccer.

The Titans scored four times in the first twenty minutes and the only drama left was just how many goals would Nipomo put up the scoreboard in this lopsided final.

Finn Callaghan opened the scoring with a perfect redirection header for a goal. Chase Meyer left-footed shot skipped past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 Titans.

Roman Cortez scored in front of the net and Shane Smeda made it 4-0 with a goal from outside the box.

Just before the half Nipomo scored again off a set piece. Casey Lemus headed home a corner kick and the Titans went to the break up 5-0.

Each team scored a goal in the second half as Nipomo called off the dogs.

The Titans raise the CIF plaque for a job well done.

The season does not end here as the Titans (18-5-3) will now get ready for next week’s State playoffs.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) –

Easton Tournament:

Santa Barbara 20, Hueneme 0 (5 inning mercy rule): Zach Anthony pitched a no-hitter in a game shortened due to the run-rule. The Dons scored 17 runs in the third inning. Hueneme issued 15 walks in the game. It was the Dons first win on the year in three games played.

Dos Pueblos 6, Newbury Park: Chargers finish 4-1 in the tournament. Nick Salcido got the win working 4 1/3 innings and striking out 4. Matti Di Maggio got the save striking out 2 in his lone inning on the mound. He also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, a walk and a stolen base.

San Marcos 7, Simi Valley 2: Landon Johnson and Mason Crang both homered as the Royals got their first win on the season in two games.

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Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – It was a sweep but it felt like a five-set thriller.

#12 UCSB had set points in both the second and third set but top-ranked UCLA showed their mettle and completed a hard-earned sweep 25-23, 28-26, 32-30 to stay undefeated at 13-0. Ten of those wins are by 3-0 sweeps.

The Gauchos are now 8-6 on the season.

(UCSB was led by George Bruening who had 16 kills. Entenza Design).

Riggs Guy and Ethan Saint each added 10 kills for the Gauchos.

The Bruins got a match-high 19 kills from Zach Rama and Sean Kelly tallied 14 kills.

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Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Vaqueros dug themselves too big of a hole to climb out of and they lost to Fullerton 70-63 in a SoCal Regional first round playoff game played at UCSB.

Seeded #9, SBCC fell behind 16-4 after the first quarter and 34-11 at halftime.

SBCC made just two field goals in each of the first two quarters but bounced back to make 14 shots in the second half.

For the game the Vaqueros only shot 25% from the field.

(SBCC was led in scoring by Kaylee Lawson who had 24 points including 15-18 at the free throw line. Entenza Design).

Fullerton got a game-high 30 points from Erin Choi.

SBCC finishes the season 21-8.

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Jarrod Zinn

GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – The restoration project of Guadalupe’s Royal Theatre is running into minor delays.

They were mostly anticipated.

The project manager says discrepancies in the royal theater’s financial records has forced them to adjust the schedule, but only by a day or two.

“There’s a little bit of that going on where we expect to add days to the project,” says project manager Tom Brandeberry. “But at this point we haven’t had anything really that extensive.”

City leaders at last night’s council meeting acknowledged the theater has a lot of history to account for.

“This is something that started back with my predecessor back in October. Or maybe before then,” says David Trujillo, Guadalupe’s Interim City Administrator. “And we’ve been kind of going back and forth.”

Interim city administrator David Trujillo also says any construction delays involve normal structural issues such as water rot or code updates.

“We’re trying to be as black and white as we can with what cost may occur, what cost may not occur,” says Trujillo. “Just to give you guys a fair, solid picture to kind of go off of.”

Project manager Tom Brandeberry says the discrepancies are relatively small, resulting from staffing changes and miscommunications over several years.

“The finance director who isn’t there anymore,” says Brandeberry. “I went to her multiple times, suggesting in a nice way, we need to reconcile our books. I want to make sure what I’m saying is what you’re saying. Her answer would always be, yeah we’ll get to that. Never did.”

City leaders believe more time is necessary for everyone to get on the same page.

So, they passed a resolution to establish an oversight committee to facilitate clear communication between city staff and the public.

“We are by no means saying don’t establish an oversight committee,” said Trujillo at last night’s council meeting. “We let you guys make the policy and we just enforce it.”

A full progress report and launch of the project’s capital campaign is scheduled for an upcoming council meeting in march.

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) People who live near the Vic Trace Reservoir Replacement Project are concerned about trees.

James Fenkner said he attended the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to speak on behalf of the trees.

“There is a beautiful stone pine there as well as 50 other old trees that have the misfortune of being planted on city property so when you are on city property there are no protections when you are on private property they will bend over backwards to make sure you can’t cut a thing,” said Fenkner.

He has a view of an old Stone Pine Alta Mesa neighbors call the “Mesa Tree.”

Senior Project Manager Kelly Bourque said they looked into saving that and others trees but the footprint of the project won’t allow it.

“Unfortunately in order to accomplish this water infrastructure  project we have to remove some but we protected many and the hope is that this project will last 100 years and that we are improving the habitat on site when the project is over,” said Bourque.

She said they did find a away to save them all, but they plane to plant 75 trees in place of 55 slated for removal.

Most are Red Iron Bark , Holly Leaf Cherry and Blue Elderberry.

They have also consulted with the Ojai Raptor Center to project the wildlife in the area.

The commission voted unanimously in favor of the proposal, but it still needs to be approved by a number of other boards.

Fenkner said more than $100 million will need to be raised to pay for the plan.

Public Works staff said construction would happen between 2028-2030.

No trees will be removed before construction.

 The Street Tree Advisory Committee gave a presentation and asked for feedback.

They said the reservoir that was named after a water superintendent in the early 1900s was constructed in 1956 and is approaching the end of its useful life.

The multi-year project calls for the construction of two new reservoirs to deliver water to the community.

The current reservoir supplies 60 percent of the Santa Barbara’s water supply.

For more information visit, https://VicTrace@SantaBarbaraCA.gov

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – After sustaining damage from recent storms, the Santa Maria Valley strawberry crop is rebounding and ready to begin its all-important peak season.

“You always start off on a high note, which is we have water in the ground, water in the reservoirs, so we’ll be able to irrigate,” said Satellite Farms owner Randy Sharer, who has farmed the Santa Maria Valley for more than 40 years.

“The precipitation always helps. Rain is pH neutral, so you always begin at a balanced note within your soil profiles, so we’re really optimistic on, what the year looks like for the berry industry.”

While last week’s rain storm has helped in many ways, it also came with some negative impacts too, especially the hail that fell throughout the valley according to Sharer.

“We had, conditions at the end of last week where a hail storm came up the Santa Maria River, really affecting all the crops that we had in the ground, specifically the strawberries,” said Sharer. “Strawberries are not a fortified product. Very light damage really creates an issue, so the damage we had to strip all that fruit off and then just wait for the next push of fruit cycle to make what we can get to the market.”

Sharer indicated the storm damage pushed production at this farm back about two to three weeks.

“There’s a lot more green than reds (berries), said Sharer. “But we’re just now being at the end of February, just getting into the strawberry harvest here along the Central Coast. This is just the beginning of the season, so for the next months you will have fresh strawberries in the markets that you’ll be able to enjoy starting from us starting next week all the way through America’s 250th. By July is when we start to ramp down here along the east side of the Santa Maria Valley. We will be providing consumers with an outstanding product that will actually serve their needs.”

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