On Tuesday, August 4, 2015, in the lobby of the Santa Barbara Public Library, Chair Dan Montello accepted from Mr. Charles L. King a copy of Mr. King’s self-published book, “Santa Barbara County Planning Commission Plans for Orderly Development 1927 to 1965,” a history of planning in Santa Barbara County during the mid-20th century. Mr. King was a planner for the County of Santa Barbara from 1956 to 1988. We currently house the book in the Department of Geography’s main office in Ellison Hall, as it awaits a space in our library.
Mr. King explains the content and purpose of his book this way: “It all began in December 1927 when the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission was created by the County Board of Supervisors to make decisions on land use issues . . . . My book is an attempt to bring to life the commission, its staff and their work in detail, and give the reader a front row seat to all the land use issues they decided upon, often, without full cooperation or approval from a large segment of the community who did not understand the role of the planning commission . . . . As the population of Santa Barbara County began to grow, some citizens, not elected officials, realized there was a need to establish rules to live by in order to maintain the value of their individual properties and way of life.
Fortunately, in 1927 the California State Legislature, under Chapter 874, adopted enabling legislation allowing counties to voluntarily create a County Planning Commission. Due to this new law, a number of property owners in Montecito petitioned the Board of Supervisors to create a Planning Commission and appoint citizens to serve on the commission. The Board of Supervisors created a County Planning Commission in December 1927. The goal of the commission was to create a Master Plan for the county and to bring about orderly development with zoning and subdivision regulations . . . . Santa Barbara County became one of the first four counties in the entire United States and the first county in the State of California to create a Planning Commission.”
