The High Cost Of Santa Barbara's Slow Growth

...Now "this bastion of 'slow growth' is learning that it comes with some steep economic, social and even environmental costs:The area from Goleta and Santa Barbara to Montecito and Carpinteria is one of the least affordable regions in the state, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. As of December, only 6% of the county's households could afford to buy a median-price home there, less than in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Among the impacts cited in the article:

"> Traffic congestion, energy consumption and air pollution. An estimated 30,000 commuters, forced by housing prices to live far from where they work, clog U.S. Highway 101 and choke side streets during peak drive times.

> Spillover growth. Seventy-five miles away, in northern Santa Barbara County, houses are engulfing farmland. Sprawling Santa Maria is soon expected to pass Santa Barbara as the county's most populous city. But prices are on the rise there, too, largely because of demand from Santa Barbara-area workers."

"...'There are intended and unintended consequences to these growth policies,' said Dave Davis, who retired two years ago as Santa Barbara's community development director and now heads the city's Community Environmental Council. "'t's truly a mixed bag.' "

Thanks to Mindy Oliver