The Carpinteria Planning Commission members used its December meeting to review and approve the section of the Rincon Trail that will be just north of Carpinteria, running about three miles from Santa Claus Lane south to Carpinteria Avenue. The trail will run parallel to the 101 Freeway alongside the salt marsh. With little opposition, the vote was 5-0. Helen O’Neill represented FOBB at the meeting.

Bates Beach north of our clothing-optional section has been designated as a protected harbor seal rookery and is closed to people effective from December 1 through May 31, 2022. The closure starts 750 feet east of the Casitas Pier and ensures that mothers and pups are not disturbed. Please respect the closure and do not hike there. Disturbing seals is prohibited by the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, which can impose a fine of up to $10,000 and or one year in prison.

Gary attended the South Coast Chamber of Commerce Business Mixer on November 30, 2021, at the Carpinteria Art Center on Linden Avenue. About 60 people attended, mostly business leaders and small shop owners from the town. This is the first in-person mixer since the pandemic began and it was nice to see many of the business supporters of the beach again. The event gave me the opportunity to make some new contacts and tell them about our beach.

Due to the change in the local beach weather from summer conditions to Autumn, all organized visits to Bates Beach both on Thursdays and on weekends were discontinued. That said, Veterans Day was an unusually warm (80 degrees!) day in Southern California, so Helen organized an impromptu Bates Beach trip that afternoon. She wrote to us later: “A fun crowd of a dozen people, including four newbies from Simi Valley who had never been to Bates, enjoyed a great afternoon on the sand. The Frisbee and Ukulele were brought out and the water was beautiful for swimming, even if a little chilly.

Our portable "Entering Clothing-Optional Area" sign is working out really well. We received no complaints. Later. we all dined at Rincon Brew Pub, using our $2 bills.”

The Carpinteria Architectural Review Board held a hearing on October 28 to consider that portion of the Rincon Trail which is on its city property. This is about 40% of the trail and is the part that falls on the north of the hill separating the freeway from the beach, the rest – the controversial part – is on county property. The meeting focuses on that part of the trail that starts at Hwy 150 and runs parallel to the 101 Freeway heading south for about a quarter mile.

The contest part of the Trail includes a bridge that will cross the railroad tracks from the freeway side and to the beachside of the hill, just east of where the nude beach is.

About 50 people attended the hearing at City Hall prepared to protest the southern side of the proposed Trail. Besides FOBB, the vast majority of those in attendance were paragliders who were protesting the plan’s removal of over 100,000 cubic feet of the hill above the beach required by the proposal. Doing so will remove the wind updrafts necessary for the gliders to soar. The Committee chair told them to hold their complaints for a different hearing in a few months when the Planning Commission will consider the revised Environmental Impact Report on the Trail.

Gary Mussell, Dir of FOBB, got to speak for a little over 3 minutes and pointed out that the Trail’s proposed terminus at the Bates parking lot was unsafe for bikers to ride through due to heavy auto use there. I also questioned the safety on the Trail path as there was no lighting and only minimal fencing. It is important there is adequate step-back fencing to keep people from peering over the cliff as our clothing-optional beach below.

Last, FOBB announced its support of a change in the Trail route to be more inland away from the beach alongside the freeway. The paragliders agreed and several of them congratulated me after the meeting for my supportive remarks.

In the end. The Board voted 5-0 to pass the Trail proposal along to the City Planning Commission, which will meet in January after a revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is released about the viability of the inland route.

The SCNA Board of Directors approved a proposal by the Friends of Bates Beach to form a separate steering committee to oversee its future operations with the eventual goal of making legal the clothing-optional section of the beach at the Ventura-Sant Barbara County line.

The nine-person steering committee was put together at the group’s monthly meetup dinner in Ventura on October 8, 2021. The team will take over the tasks currently performed by the current director, Gary Mussell, who is planning to retire early in 2022.

Among the decisions of the steering committee approved by the SCNA Board is to establish new dues of $10 for membership in FOBB. This is separate from SCNA dues so that the organization can establish a source of income for FOBB independent of SCNA. The tentative date for starting the separate dues is proposed to be January 1, 2022.

The reason for the additional dues is that there are many expenses associated with running the Friends group’s organizational infrastructure, such as rental of a PO box, www.friendsofbatesbeach.org website maintenance, payment for the www.meetup.com website, printing of various brochures and handouts, and purchase of beach equipment such as a popup umbrella, carry-all wagon, volleyball set, etc. For the past fifteen years, SCNA has been paying for these, but they want to cut back. Plus, a major goal of FOBB is to become more independent.

There are no plans to separate into two different clubs at this time, as FOBB still needs the non-profit status and infrastructure benefits provided by SCNA.