Last week, Heal the Ocean had the opportunity to attend the monthly meeting of the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) and give public comment.

We have been working to find a solution to the septic woes of Los Olivos for a number of years, and we have recently been advocating for the Santa Ynez Community Service District (CSD) to include Los Olivos in its sphere of influence so that it can provide the town with necessary sewer infrastructure and services.

At the LAFCO meeting, a large number of Los Olivos citizens gave their support for forming their own, independent CSD for making their own decision on wastewater handling. HTO told LAFCO we have the same goal in mind, but with attention to keeping costs down for the residents, as well as shortening the length of time to get a wastewater system in place. A write-up of this meeting was published by Santa Barbara Noozhawk, you can read it here

We remain optimistic about the future of Los Olivos, and hope that the enthusiasm of the community has exhibited will carry over into quickly developing new wastewater management solutions.