Category: keyt-local-news

Dave Alley

BUELLTON, Calif. (KEYT) – The demolition of the iconic Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant has moved forward after a recent decision made by the Buellton City Council.

Last week, council members removed a historical designation on the closed business that clears the way for the property owner to tear down a portion of the vacant building.

“In order to in order to allow the demolition, we needed to remove the historic landmark designation,said Scott Wolfe, Buellton City Manager. “In removing the designation, the City Council also put in place a number of requirements that have to be met for the demolition permit to to be issued, and those requirements will be memorialized in an agreement that will be signed by the developer and the city prior to a demolition permit being issued.”

The famous restaurant first opened in Buellton in 1924 and for decades was a popular destination for both travelers and locals alike.

However, the restaurant closed in 2024 just months before its 100th anniversary and since then the main building and adjacent structures have fallen badly into disrepair.

All of the buildings and surrounding parking lots have become a squalid sight, with broken windows, overgrown weeds and trash strewn around the property.

For the past two years, it’s been a common area for trespassing, unauthorized occupation, as well as illegal activities such as vandalism, drug use and drinking

“It’s a disaster,” said Wolfe. “It’s become increasingly difficult to secure the building. It’s constantly being broken into by vandals and it’s just a matter of time before someone gets injured or somebody gets killed in the building.. There’s very little of the inside that is still remaining and there’s not a whole lot we can do to save the building at this point. It is beyond hope. This is painful. This is a this is something that’s been around for as long as anyone who’s still living here can remember, but it’s it’s clear that it has to go.”

While the City Council has given clearance to the demolition of the building, not all of the structure will be taken down.

“One of the largest pieces of the historic landmark that’s still on the site is a portion of the building which was prior to it being part of Pea Soup Andersen’s was part of an old hotel called the Bueltmore Hotel that is eligible for listing by the state as a historic landmark,” said Wolfe. “That part of the building that faces the parking lot right now, that part of the building will remain, but everything beyond that and all the outbuildings and such will be brought to the ground and removed.”

Wolfe did not give a timetable when any demolition would take place and added its unknown what the future plans are for the site that is owned by local developer Ed St. George.

“The future plans are up in the air,” said Wolfe. “We don’t know. The specific plan for the Avenue of the Flags gives a number of different alternatives. It could include retail. It could include office. It could include some residential, or any combination of those three. We have seen some preliminary plans in the past, but those have all been retracted.”

As for whatever eventually replaces Pea Soup Andersen’s, Wolfe stressed it will need to be something unique and special.

“This is one of the gateways to our city,” said Wolfe. “We don’t want to see something very generic being put in there, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the end, the City doesn’t get to pick exactly what gets built, but the City Council has a lot of influence and the Planning Commission, have a lot of influence over what some new facility might look like, and so we’ll be looking carefully at that.”

To help make sure the once historic restaurant is memorialized and its memory kept alive in the future, St. George is looking at ways to retain some of the components of the building so that a potential future monument may be created and displayed.

“What has to happen before that demolition can take place, is the the property owner needs to coordinate the removal of any artifacts that still remain that could be salvaged and preserved, said Wolfe. “We will work with the developer to ensure that some sort of appropriate monument, either on site, or in very close proximity to the site, takes place. We don’t know what that will look like yet. We hope that depending upon the architecture, some aspects of that building could be used in either the exterior architecture of the building or something inside the building, but certainly some sort of monument outside of the building would be important as well.”

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – A one-month nomination period is open for three Santa Maria City Council seats.

There are steps potential candidates must follow.

Gloria Soto represents District 3 and Maribel Aguilera represents District 4, and their current terms end this December.

“Voters will elect one city council member for district one to serve the remainder of an unexpired term ending in November of 2028,” says Jane Teh, administrative analyst for the City Of Santa Maria.

Richard Batalla was appointed as Santa Maria’s interim District 1 representative after Carlos Escobedo vacated the seat in March.

He says he intends to campaign for election this November to serve the remainder of the term.

“And the city council members for districts three and four to serve full four year terms,” says Teh.

Aguilera is campaigning for Santa Barbara County Board Of Supervisors’ District 5 seat.

“Voters will also consider our Ballot Measure C,” says Teh.

To be nominated, you must be over 18, a resident and registered voter of the district you intend to represent.

“In the event an incumbent does not file nomination papers by August 7th, the last date to file the nomination for that office will be extended to Wednesday, August 12th,” says Teh.

Anyone who wants to campaign for a council seat must visit the city clerk’s office and declare their intent to run, then obtain 20 to 30 registered voter signatures from their district.

“City council members are responsible for establishing city policies, adopting the city’s budget, approving local ordinances and resolutions, and making decisions that affect city services, infrastructure, public safety, economic development, and the overall quality of life for residents,” Teh explains.

After the nomination month is over, the applications are processed and all candidates who meet qualifications will appear on the November ballots.

From late August through October, qualifying candidates campaign for voter support.

“Serving on the City Council is an opportunity to contribute to the future of Santa Maria,” says Teh. “Council members play an important role in shaping local policy and helping address the needs and priorities of the community.”

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Young wheelchair athletes are spending the week at UC Santa Barbara, where the annual Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp is giving children the chance to discover new sports, challenge themselves and connect with others.

Participants rotate through activities including basketball, tennis, rugby, swimming, racquetball and other adaptive sports led by coaches and volunteers.

Cottage Health is partnering with the long-running camp, which welcomes children from across California each summer.

Beyond competition, the experience encourages independence, teamwork and friendships that often continue long after the week ends.

For many participants, it’s their first introduction to wheelchair sports. Others return each year to sharpen their skills and reconnect with friends.

The camp wraps up with a celebration recognizing each athlete’s accomplishments.

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Hot summer days and crowded beaches are nothing new but the muggy, tropical conditions are unusual.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Carol Ciliberti said the NWS is monitoring the conditions.

“We have extreme heat warnings and heat advisories in affect for much of Santa Barbara County this week Tuesday through Thursday”, said Ciliberti, “these are dangerous conditions so please take extra precautions remember to check on the elderly kids and pets.”

The Office of Emergency Management recommends signing up for alerts at https://www.readysbc.org and residents may check the weather at https://www.weather.gov/lox/

“We send out an email notification county-wide just reminding people ‘hey this is our first large heat event and we want to make sure everyone is aware and paying attention and taking precautions if they need to especially for those vulnerable populations,'” said Hubbard.

Parents at the beach in Carpinteria are heeding the advice and have tips of their own.

“Re-apply sunscreen, a hat if she will let me wear it. Or if she will wear it herself and then an umbrella because I have a little pool too keep her cool because the ocean is too cold,” said Eleanor’s mother Coriander Dagger.

Since homes without air conditioner are common in the county and can become heat traps, many seek air conditioned places such as the library of a movie theater.

One option is the large Arlington Theatre will be hosting another watch party. This time, it is Spain and France World Cup Semifinal Watch Party for free on Tuesday at noon.

Marilyn and John Carlander said although they don’t have air conditioning, their Hidden Valley home tends to stay cool, but if it doesn’t they joked that their adult children who have air conditioning should check on them.

Umbrella and fans are good things to have on hand.

The heat should serve as reminder to staying hydrating with water and maybe a cool treat.

And pay attention to alerts including those regarding power.

There could also be a temporary public safety power shutoff or PSPS to prevent fire later in the week.

To learn more visit, https://www.sce.com/outages-safety/outage-preparedness/outage-types/public-safety-power-shutoff-psps

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The 2026 Santa Barbara County Fair closed its extended run at the Santa Maria Fairpark on Sunday.

The annual event was lengthened to eight days this year, three more than the typical five days the fair has run for more than 25 years.

On Monday, the Fairpark looked hardly like it did just hours earlier when the fair officially closed for the year at 10 p.m. Sunday night.

“Today, it’s very shocking,” said Santa Maria Fairpark Interim CEO Todd Ventura. “This morning, what used to be a carnival less than eight hours ago is largely already gone. Many of the vendor booths are pulled out at midnight and 1 a.m. to get on to their next event. It’s really it’s really interesting to see this place go from what it was hours ago to where it is today.”

The fair included many changes this year, including a two-weekend schedule, as well as a new layout, larger carnival, alternate parking lot and back entrance, different vendors, booths and many other first time attractions.

“Change was the theme of the year,” said Ventura. “I think a lot of the changes worked really, really well. Are there some things we need to change and tweak a little bit? Absolutely. But by and large, we’re very happy with with the way things played out.”

Ventura pointed out attendance numbers won’t be known for at least a few more days as staff works to add up all the statistics.

“It’s a little bit early for attendance,” said Ventura. “I was actually just looking at some of the numbers this morning. We feel it was very strong. Maybe we didn’t have that one day that was sort of off the charts with attendance, but we certainly had really steady attendance every day. Of course, there’s days that are better than others and weekends are always typically more popular, and I think, the case this year.”

One area where the fair really found success was at the Junior Livestock Show and Auction, which by far exceeded last year’s numbers.

According to the Livestock Superintendned Hailey Rose Switzer, over the two days of the Livestock Auction on Friday and Saturday, the total amount raised was $2,521,233.85.

This year’s amount was approximately $600,000 more than the total amount raised in 2025, a significant and jump from one year to the next.

“I’m really impressed,” Eden Romonde, a Righetti High School FFA student, said Monday morning. “I’m very grateful for all the buyers that came and came out and took their time and supported us.”

For local agriculture students, the money earned through their animal projects will be directed towards any way they choose, with many deciding to save it later for college.

“It was really nice having all the local people come and support us because it means a lot,” Josie Rowley of El Camino 4-H Club said on Monday. “We’ll put it towards good uses.”

Ventura emphasized just how impressive this year’s auction total added up to since the number of animals entered was roughly the same amount as last year.

“You’re seeing more dollars spent per kid, per animal, than previously,” said Ventura. “They are just great numbers and we owe that to the kindness of the business people that we have and the generosity of our community.”

With the 2026 Santa Barbara County Fair now in the history books, Ventura pointed out that planning for next year’s fair is already underway.

“As I was auctioneering on Saturday night, after I sold the last the last goat just before 9 p.m., I told the crowd that was in the barn at that point in time that planning for 2027 begins in about 30 seconds,” said Ventura. “That was no joke. We already are looking at 2027 and the things that we could do differently and the things that we can try to improve.”

As the Santa Maria Fairpark Board of Directors looks ahead, Ventura, who has served on the board since 2023, said it has a vision to move the 34-acre downtown venue and the fair into a new and prosperous future.

“I think they’re going to continue with that vision and try to continue to refine and tweak and make adjustments and make things work better,” said Ventura. “We have what I think is a really solid foundation here and our board has given good input and is really on a collaborative push to make things better. We’ve got some great partnerships with the City of Santa Maria and the (Santa Maria Valley) Chamber of Commerce has been really big for us. We continue to have those meetings and those discussions and see how we can all collaborate to make the Santa Barbara County Fair bigger and better than ever and a better guest experience for everyone.”

Ventura added no dates have been selected for the 2027 fair and a decision is the event will once again cover two weekends is still to be decided.

“I’m guessing the board is going to want to go over two weekends again,” said Ventura. “But again, that’s just a guess. We have to we have to talk about that as a board and make a decision.” 

Another important decision the Board of Directors will have to make is who to hire as its permanent CEO.

The Fairpark has been without a permanent CEO since March 2025, with Ventura serving over the past several months ahead of the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival and Santa Barbara County Fair.

Ventura indicated Monday he could potentially remain in the position, or the board may decide to bring someone else into the position.

“I’m very, very grateful this fair season being a director and then sort of thrust into the CEO role,” said Ventura. “I’m very grateful to our community, my board, all the great community partners, the foundation, the Fairpark Foundation was really instrumental. Of course, we couldn’t do any of this without the community, the volunteers. I didn’t really know previously exactly what it took to do this. It’s a lot. Without our community and without some of the people that I previously mentioned, we couldn’t do it. There’s 100% we couldn’t do it, so just feeling very grateful and very, very blessed to live where we do in such a great area.”

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John Palminteri

MONTECITO, Calif. (KEYT) – A sailboat that drifted onto the Montecito shoreline last week has been crushed and removed.

It was in an area where the higher tides and crashing waves could have broken it up and sent pieces into the water and down the coast along Butterfly Beach.

The sailboat was believed to be in the nearshore anchorage before drifting away.

A county policy gives the owner a chance to salvage the vessel, if not, it is tagged for removal.

That happened last week when the Santa Barbara County Sherif’s Department posted a flyer on the boat indicating it was going to get removed.

Marborg Industries was called out early this morning at low tide.

A crew with heavy equipment broke the vessel up and put it into a large rolloff dumpster.

The cost was covered by the non profit group Heal the Ocean.

The county is investigating what recourse it has legally or if they owner has any insurance.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Some bear sightings in the local foothills are in areas where the public lives and hangs out, reminding us that we are sharing the space with local wild animals.

A California Brown Bear, which actually has black fur as some do, was strolling along Torito Road in the Montecito area near Toro Canyon.

Video taken by a resident Heather Sage showed the bear looking very healthy.

It was in a neighborhood, but hikers say they are not uncommon on the trails a little higher up and nearby.

Off of Highway 154, at Cold Spring Tavern, a mama bear was spotted with two cubs on the property by a family driving through for lunch.

Those who go to the historic stagecoach stop restaurant have reported seeing a bear in the area several times before.

It’s not known if this bear is that bear, possibly with a larger family now.

For those who got a glimpse, including Jaimie Herrera who took some pictures, the scene was playful for the cubs, but the mom was very watchful and protective.

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Caleb Nguyen

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – John Palminteri has been named the Grand Marshal for the Desfile Histórico Fiesta parade next month.

Palminteri has been with Your News Channel since 1988 and has covered decades of various Fiesta events.

Palminteri expressed extreme gratitude and humility from the announcement and will be a great part of the Fiesta celebration starting August 1st.

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Maria city councilman Richard Batalla met with residents of Cesar Chavez Drive this evening.

The sunset gathering yielded a productive discussion.

Cities and organizations across the country are removing Chavez’s name from streets and schools in response to recent sexual misconduct allegations against the late farmworker rights leader.

“Any sort of thing related to him, it’s been beginning to get like erased, so to speak,” says Brandon Felix-Villarreal, who lives on Cesar E. Chavez Drive. “And it just seems like a knee jerk reaction.”

The city council voted unanimously in June to rename the street.

“They sent out a survey, like asking all of us whether we wanted to go ahead and change the street name,” says Felix-Villarreal. “And pretty much it was a near unanimous no. We’re going to have to change all our bank account stuff, credit, people have trusts, shipping addresses for everything. You know, like I have a medication that’s delivered biweekly.”

About sixty homeowners who live on the small street next to Tommie Kunst Junior High are protesting the name change, and Councilman Batalla took the time to meet with them personally.

“I believe district one lacked leadership for, for a while,” says Richard Batalla, District One Supervisor for the City Of Santa Maria. “And you can notice it when you’re talking to people that live in this area. It was a great conversation. They took out a lot of their anger of what’s going on. And I’m just here being the best public servant I can be.”

The residents say the $26,000 price tag will be added to their taxes, and they’d rather see the money spent on safety enhancements around the junior high school instead.

“I almost died down the road because somebody T-boned me,” says Felix-Villarreal.

The councilman listened and acknowledged their concerns.

“I did hear them out. I do agree with them. There needs to be some transparency here,” says Batalla. “This street name has been changed three times, and I think as a city overall, we need to focus on bigger issues that we’re currently facing rather than the street name.”

Batalla says he plans to relay the meeting and the concerns of his constituents to his colleagues on the city council.

“That’s why I applied for this position to begin with,” says Batalla. “I’m from this town. I want this town to succeed. I want this town to give back to my kids when they’re old enough.”

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) The 106th Santa Barbara National Horse Show wrapped up two weeks of competition on Sunday.

The equestrian event took place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.

Hunter / Jumpers competed during the final week and weekend.

Judged looked for style and form during the Hunters competition in the outdoor ring.

They looked for agility and more during the Jumpers competition in the Kramer Arena.

Riders of all ages, from far and wide, took part.

Many have watched the show improve over the years.

“I have been riding here since I was a really little kid, so coming back here to support and show here is really special to me, I won my first Grand Prix here on my horse Rockus, so it is nice to come back, it is very nostalgic,” said Zacko Hardin of Kristin Hardin Stables in New Cuyama.

Ashley Shelton, 17, of Bakersfield rode Lyric on Sunday.

“I love the connection you get form horse to rider, it is a really special one where you have to put trust in your animal and they also have to put trust into you and it is a really special thing,” said Shelton.

Hardin  and his horse finished second in the Grand Prix on Saturday.

Before heading home riders posed for photos with their ribbons that often line their stables at horse shows.

For more information about Hardin Stables visit https://www.proequest.com

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