Summary of Key
Points in the Report
·
The success
of preventive Probation programs through multi-agency collaborations
·
The need
for female-specific Probation programs
·
The accomplished
and planned expansion program of Santa Maria Juvenile Hall
·
The facility
needs at Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall
·
The relationship
of the Los Prietos Boys' Camp and the Tri-Counties Boot Camp with the Forest
Service
INTRODUCTION
When a person under 18
years of age (a juvenile) is placed into probation in Santa Barbara County, he
or she becomes the legal responsibility of the Santa Barbara Probation
Department. The custody, care, and education of the juvenile offender are
defined by legal mandates.
The Chief Probation Officer, appointed by the Presiding
Judge of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, has overall responsibility
for the Probation Department. Members of the Probation staff are employees of
the Court.
Juveniles are referred to
probation by a precipitating event, usually
·
truancy
from school,
·
problems at
school outside the authority of the school,
·
out-of-control
actions,
·
committing
a new offense, or
·
violating
probation sanctions.
Rehabilitation, not punishment, is the goal of the juvenile
probation system in Santa Barbara County. In pursuit of this goal, the Juvenile
Justice Coordinating Council designs and adjusts a range of responses to
juvenile offenders and their offenses. Annually, the Council publishes a “Local Action Plan” that identifies
community needs and defines responses designed to meet those needs.
Federal law, State law, and the orders of the Court shape
the types of services provided by the Probation Department. The Probation
Department also takes into consideration the risk the juvenile may present to
the community and the needs of the juvenile and his or her family, as
identified by the local Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.
The Probation Department is also provided with authority
under Sections 880 through 891 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code.
This Code is the legal basis for the development, implementation, and operation
of juvenile detention facilities in the State of California.
This report is in three parts:
I. Juvenile Justice: The Santa Barbara County
Model describes
the coordination of resources that the Santa Barbara County Probation
Department has developed over the years to fulfill the mandates of
rehabilitating juveniles who have been placed in its custody—those either
accused of law violations or those found to have committed violations of the
law. The Santa Barbara system, recognized in 1997 as a model program for State
Board of Corrections funding, is now a mandatory model for all California
counties. This model is valuable to our community in many ways. In addition to
the State accolades, significant efficiencies have resulted from this
coordination of resources. Other Santa Barbara County departments have been
awarded grants (non-County monies) to further multi-agency collaboration
efforts first started in the Probation Department.
II. Juvenile Justice Issues in Santa Barbara County
describes
gender-specific needs to be included in the continuum of probation responses to
juvenile crime. Also discussed here are issues of parity in status and
compensation between juvenile institutional probation staff and other
law-enforcement employees in the County.
III. Juvenile Probation Housing in Santa Barbara
County assesses the
Probation Department's execution of its responsibility for the development and
operation of juvenile detention facilities. These community-based programs are:
A.
Non-Institutional Juvenile Field Service
Housing, which includes
home-supervision, foster family development, and group homes; and
B. Institutional Juvenile Housing, which
is comprised of two types of facilities:
·
Juvenile
halls: Santa Maria Juvenile Hall, and
Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall
·
Juvenile
remediation camps: Los Prietos Boys’
Camp, and Tri-Counties Boot Camp
####################################################################
I. Juvenile
Justice: THE Santa Barbara County MODEL
Summary: Measures of Success of the Model
·
The County has experienced an
11% Reduction in Juvenile Crime (1996 to 2000).
·
Out of 6,419 juveniles
referred to the Probation Department in 2000, only 12 were remanded to the
California Youth Authority.
·
The Santa Barbara Probation
Department’s design was used as a model for all California counties in designs
for Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils.
·
The Juvenile Justice
Coordinating Council is effective in reducing redundant program development,
thus saving County taxpayers’ money.
Planning for the Santa Barbara juvenile justice system is the responsibility of
the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC), which is chaired by the Chief
Probation Officer.
Through interagency collaborations, the
JJCC has designed a continuum of responses to juvenile crime that is
coordinated in the Probation Department. These efforts have resulted in an 11%
reduction in juvenile crime as measured by juvenile referrals to Probation from
1996 to 2000. In 2000, 6419 juvenile referrals were made to the Probation
Department but only 12 juveniles were committed to the California Youth Authority,
where repeat offenders are sent. This is a remarkable record of crime
prevention and of remediation of juvenile offenders.
Many of these collaborations have been
functioning for years. In fact, the State Board of Corrections studied the
system of response used by the Santa Barbara Probation Department and, in 1997,
it became the model for legislation mandating the formation, in all counties,
of Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils.
The
Grand Jury commends the Probation Department for originating, and the Juvenile
Justice Coordinating Council for continuing, a thoughtful and productive
approach to the problem of juvenile crime. The planning for responses to the
issues affecting juvenile offenders in Santa Barbara County is comprehensive.
The Grand Jury recognizes the complex inter-departmental and community
coordination that is the basis for many of the programs and resources that make
up this approach. This saves County taxpayers the expense and confusion of
redundant program development.
·
The
Superior Court, the Public Defender, the District Attorney, the Sheriff’s
Department, all municipal Police Departments, and the Probation Department
·
All school
districts and the County Education Office
·
The Social
Services Department, Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Services (ADMHS), and
the Public Health Department
·
The Board
of Supervisors and the County Administrator
·
A
representative of the Santa Barbara business community
· In addition, many community non-profit agencies participate, as does a member of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission (JJDPC).
Primary Prevention Programs:
D.A.R.E., Youth and Law, Gang Awareness Education, Partnership for
Families.
Early Identification and Assessment of At-Risk Juvenile
Offenders: Challenge I Grant in the Santa Maria area .
Early Intervention Project:
Part of the above Challenge I Grant in the Santa Maria Area.
Diversion Programs: Teen Court, Community-Oriented Diversion
Enforcement.
Supervision Programs: Multi-Agency
Integrated System of Care (MISC), Family Caseload, and Neighborhood and
Family-Based Supervision.
Response to Status Offenders:
(Status offenses are infractions and violations of local ordinances.)
Truancy Prevention Programs, Daytime Curfew Ordinance, and Runaway Shelter
Care.
Treatment Programs: Out-of-Home Placements, Counseling and
Education Centers (CECs), Tri-Counties Boot Camp, Los Prietos Boys' Camp.
Aftercare Transition Program:
This is provided through the Challenge I Grant.
Secure Custody and Community Confinement Programs:
Juvenile Hall and community confinement, crisis resolution group homes,
and individual family placements.
II.
JUVENILE JUSTICE ISSUES IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
Summary: Important
Probation Developments, 1996-2000
·
Juvenile
criminal referrals (for first-time offenders) have been reduced by 30%, at
least in part due to the Probation Department’s successful prevention programs.
·
Increased
supervision intensity by Probation Staff has resulted in a 21% increase in the
number of juveniles apprehended for probation violations (second or higher
offense).
·
The number
of females referred to probation has increased by 20% and referrals for violent
crimes committed by females have increased by 40%.
A strong indication of the success of the Prevention, Early
Identification, Early Intervention, and Diversion Programs is the 30% reduction
in juvenile criminal (felony and misdemeanor) first-time referrals to the
County Probation Department over the four-year period from 1996 through 2000.
Increased programming for juveniles within the residential programs also
contributes to this success.
However, the number of probation violations by juvenile
probationers who have committed criminal offenses has increased by 21% over the
same time period, and the number of juvenile probationers who have been
apprehended for status offenses as well as violations of local ordinances
(truancy, tobacco, runaways, and other infractions) has increased by 34%. These
increases result, at least partially, from increased supervision intensity by
Probation Staff, and efforts to follow up with swift and certain consequences
for violators.
Gender-Specific
Issues
The number of crimes
committed by female juvenile offenders has grown dramatically as has the
severity of their crimes. Many of the issues that lead to delinquent behavior
among female offenders—for example, high rates of physical and sexual
victimization—are not effectively addressed in coeducational settings. The
number of females referred to Probation for all crimes increased over the past
four years by about 20% of all referrals (male and female). The number of
referrals for violent crimes by females increased by 40% of all referrals (male
and female) over the same period.
Probation Staff Issues
Members of the Probation Staff undergo 40
hours of facility training and four weeks of academy training (total initial
training: 200 hours). In addition, they receive strong management exposure and
have on-line access to all Probation Department policies. (Because the policies
are on line, they are easily updated and referenced.) After training, a
beginning staff member is paid marginally less than the pay received by other
beginning law enforcement personnel in the County and surrounding counties.
In 1998 and 1999, the staff turnover was 30% from the
juvenile hall (institutions) into Probation Field Service, indicating that
institution-based probation work may have less allure than field work. In County
Probation Field Service management as well as other law-enforcement agencies
within and out of Santa Barbara actively recruit these trained juvenile
facility staffers.
A
Probation Manager and a Probation Institutions Supervisor are responsible for
the operation of each detention facility. Facility staffs are organized within
clearly defined chains of command. The Probation Managers report to a Probation
Department Deputy Chief. Collaboration with other County departments is well
managed.
Finding 1: Continuity of service of the Juvenile
Probation staff is important.
Finding 2: Many new juvenile institutions staffers
leave institutions work within two years.
Recommendation 1: The Probation Department should consider
salary increases for institutions-based Probation staff to parity with
Probation Field Service levels as a factor in maintaining continuity of
service.
Recommendation 2:
The Probation Department should consider rotating Juvenile Probation
staff between institutions-based duty and field duty to deal with perceived
differences in status between the two Probation services and to provide cross
training.
III. JUVENILE PROBATION HOUSING IN SANTA BARBARA
COUNTY
Summary: Population
and Demographic Issues
·
The
increasing juvenile population in Santa Barbara County creates a need for more
residency programs for probation (second-time or multiple) offenders.
·
There is
need for additional placement and treatment programs for female juveniles.
A.
Non-Institutional (Field Service) Juvenile Housing
Probation Department Field
Services provide for non-institutional (home supervision, foster families,
group homes, etc.) residency programs for juvenile probationers. If appropriate
housing is unavailable in the County, the juvenile offender may be placed
out-of-County. Unfortunately, this prevents access to community-developed
programs.
In line with the increase in probation violations, the need
for additional residency programs for juveniles has increased. Projections by
the State Department of Finance indicate that by the year 2005 there will be
8,000 more youths, aged 10 to 17, living in Santa Barbara County than there are
today. By the year 2020, that number will be about 16,000 more. The Santa
Barbara County Local Action Plan projects 150 juvenile justice referrals per
year per each 1000 youth. If the referral rate remains unchanged, this projects
to an anticipated increase of about 2400 referrals to juvenile probation in
2020.
Finding 3:
More foster homes and group homes are needed now in Santa Barbara County,
and more undoubtedly will be needed in coming years.
Finding 4:
Many extra-parental placements of juveniles are out of County,
making family support and reunification harder and denying access to
community-based resources.
Finding 5:
Many of the issues that lead to delinquent behavior among female
offenders—for example, high rates of physical and sexual victimization—are not
effectively addressed in coeducational or English-only settings.
Finding 6:
More placement and treatment programs—particularly female-specific
programs—are needed for female juveniles in view of the increased numbers of
female juvenile offenders.
Recommendation 3a:
The Probation Department should continue to share resources with the
Social Services Department to recruit additional foster families and host
families.
Recommendation 3b:
The Probation Department should continue collaborations with
professionals in the County Departments of Public Health, Social Services, and
ADMHS, as well as County and municipal schools and community-based non-profit
organizations, to develop and enhance female-specific programs.
Recommendation 4:
In view of the increased numbers of female juvenile offenders, the
Probation Department should develop more female specific placement and
treatment programs.
Recommendation 5:
The Probation Department should establish and maintain links with
female-specific community-based services for non-English-speaking female
juveniles.
Recommendation 6:
The Probation Department should identify and develop female-specific
treatment programs with, as well as without, housing.
B.
Institutional Juvenile Housing
General
Considerations
The
Presiding Judge of the Santa Barbara Superior Court and the Juvenile Justice
Coordinating Council are required to do annual inspections of the juvenile
detention facilities. The California Board of Corrections inspects the secure
juvenile detention facilities at least once every two years.
Two
juvenile halls and two camp programs serve some of the residential needs
identified by the Probation Department in Santa Barbara County. These are
·
Santa Maria
Juvenile Hall; current capacity 50 youth (coed)
·
Santa
Barbara Juvenile Hall; capacity 56 youth (coed)
·
Los Prietos
Boys' Camp; capacity 56 boys
·
Tri-Counties
Boot Camp; capacity 40 boys (presently 15 from Santa Barbara and, under
contract, 20 from Ventura and 5 from San Luis Obispo Counties).
The
medical program serving all four Santa Barbara County Juvenile Detention
facilities is one of only six programs for such facilities that have been awarded
full medical quality certification by the California Medical Association (CMA).
The CMA inspects these medical facilities every other year.
Santa
Maria Juvenile Hall
The Santa Maria Juvenile Hall was expanded by 30 beds in
2000 and there are plans for 90 more beds by 2004, to cover anticipated needs
until 2015.
Finding 7:
An additional 30 beds were provided at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall in
December 2000, and 90 more beds are planned by 2004. The 90 additional beds
should accommodate the anticipated increase in juvenile hall housing needs for
the County to the year 2015.
Recommendation 7:
The Board of Supervisors and the Probation Department should assure that
the planned addition of 90 beds at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall is fulfilled
in order to accommodate the County’s needs for juvenile institutional housing
to the year 2015.
Santa
Barbara Juvenile Hall
The
Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall, a 50 year old building, is the
Probation Department’s secure juvenile detention facility for the South County.
No new beds have been added since 1968.
The
building is well scrubbed and maintained despite the dated construction
technology and materials. Management and staff have shown their willingness and
ability to maintain the facility and to continue to enhance its serviceability.
However, new plumbing in some locations would be a major improvement.
The
Grand Jury assessed the current facility with reference to the anticipated
general population growth of Santa Barbara County, and the management and
condition of this 50-year old facility. The Jury concluded that the
serviceability of the existing facility could be enhanced by addressing a
number of items including the following:
·
There is
only a single entrance for all visitors, staff, and for juvenile intake and
release; this situation jeopardizes security.
·
All meal
service is contracted from outside the facility even though an almost complete
industrial kitchen is unused at the facility except for office and packaged
goods storage.
·
Water and
sewer line service reach the facility from the north side of Highway 101,
making any incremental capacity modification a large and expensive undertaking
·
The
emergency generator should be assessed in terms of the integrity of its fuel
supply in an earthquake or major fire, as well as its capacity in view of
future electricity needs.
Finding
8: The building needs to be updated in a
variety of ways that probably would cost less than replacement of the entire
facility.
Recommendation
8a: Assess the fuel supply to the emergency
generator.
Recommendation
8b: Assess the emergency generator’s capacity to
supply adequate emergency power.
Recommendation
8c: The electronic security system should be
upgraded.
Recommendation
8d: Toilets and wash basins should be installed
in nine rooms in Unit 2 and seven rooms in Unit 3.
Recommendation
8e: In concert with the bathroom construction,
the water supply and sewer lines to the mains on the north side of Highway 101
should be replaced with new lines to the mains on nearby Hollister Avenue.
Recommendation
8f: Construct an additional classroom now to
enable this facility to handle current needs and prepare for anticipated
growth.
Finding
9: The same entrance from the parking lot into
the facility is used by visitors and personnel, as well as for the intake and
release of juveniles.
Recommendation
9: A separate, secure entrance solely for the
intake and release of juveniles should be constructed.
Finding
10: All food preparation for juveniles is
contracted for and prepared off-site.
Finding
11: A full industrial kitchen (except for a
dishwashing machine) is unused at the facility, except to store packaged
foodstuffs for off-hour snacks for the detainees.
Recommendation
10: A dishwashing machine should be acquired to
enable the existing kitchen facilities to be utilized for vocational training
of the juveniles.
Recommendation
11: Part of this 1600-square foot space should
be reorganized so that it can serve some daily space needs—for example, for
juvenile programs and staff meetings—while being available for vocational
training.
Finding 12:
The industrial kitchen is a resource that could serve for emergency meal
preparation for staff and residents in this facility, in the nearby La Morada
Sheriff’s facility, and in the Santa Barbara Main Jail. Emergency food supplies
are available at the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County, a short distance from
the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall.
Recommendation
12: An analysis should be made to determine the
feasibility of setting up this kitchen for use in emergencies and as a
vocational venue.
Los
Prietos Boys' Camp and the Tri-Counties Boot Camp
Summary: Issues relating to the Los Prietos Boys’ Camp
and the Tri-Counties Boot Camp
·
Sheriff’s Department
personnel believe that programs at these Camps are a significant factor in the
reduction of adult crime in Santa Barbara County.
·
The Forest Service’s revision
of the proposed development adjacent to the Camps would serve almost 70% more
people than the maximum originally planned, and may not be necessary, in view
of current demand.
·
The increase proposed by the
Forest Service does not appear in environmental permit approvals, nor was any
air quality assessment found in the records.
·
By executing a flexible
version of the originally permitted plans, the Forest Service would be able to
preserve the five existing and critically needed County staff houses.
·
If the Forest Service were to
agree to allow the existing County-owned houses to remain, the County would
save $164,000 per year needed to provide equivalent services to compensate for
their loss.
Los
Prietos and Tri-Counties Boot Camp Programs
Probation
rehabilitation programs for sentenced juvenile boys under the supervision of
the Santa Barbara County Probation Department are provided by two facilities:
the Los Prietos Boys’ Camp (ages 13 to 18) and the Tri Counties Boot Camp
(ages 13 to 17).
The
Los Prietos Boys’ Camp offers a varied and challenging program for mid- to
high-risk juvenile offenders. It offers two program alternatives: (1) an
accelerated regimen of from 90 to 120 days, or (2) a six-month institutional
program. Both programs include six months of after-care community probation.
Minors assessed as "at high-risk of felony commission" continue to be
tracked by the Probation Department for two years after completion of the after care
phase; that is, until most are no longer minors.
The
Tri-Counties Boot Camp provides an early intervention program for low-level,
non violent juvenile offenders.
The program includes an institutional phase of from 90 to 120 days and
an after care phase of up to six months.
The
programming at the two facilities is highly structured. As with the other
juvenile probation services in Santa Barbara County, the programming is
achieved by substantial coordination with other County departments, community
agencies, and volunteers. Probation Camp rehabilitation is designed to
challenge juveniles to succeed rather than daring them to fail. By
participating in a therapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, the
juveniles build self esteem rather than becoming dominated, as often happens
in other boot camp programs.
In
addition to mandated education provided by the County Education Office,
vocational studies and certificate training programs are offered for
food-service careers, computer repair skills, and construction maintenance. The
goal is to re-integrate an otherwise at-risk population of male juvenile
offenders into their respective communities as responsible, productive, and
substance-free individuals. Rather than reducing a juvenile’s options, often an
outcome of penal experience, Santa Barbara County’s juvenile detention
programming seems to increase the juveniles' opportunities for success.
Personnel
in the Probation and Sheriff’s Departments believe that these Camp programs are
significant factors in the reduction of adult crime in Santa Barbara County.
These
two facilities are co located 20 miles north of the city of Santa
Barbara, in the Santa Ynez River area of the Los Padres National Forest, on
Federally owned land managed by the United States Forest Service, a subsidiary
of the United States Department of Agriculture. Camp capacities total 96: 56 at
Los Prietos Boys' Camp and 40 at the Tri-Counties Boot Camp. Both facilities
operate at near capacity—the average daily attendance in year 2000 totaled 91
juveniles, about 95% of capacity, as in most years.
Los
Prietos Boys' Camp was established in 1945 to serve the youth of Santa Barbara
County. In 1997, the Forest Service modified the 1973 Special Use Permit with
the County to allow establishment of the Tri-Counties Boot Camp as a joint
project among Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties. The
respective Boards of Supervisors from these counties granted operational
approval and authority by Board Resolution in compliance with standards in
Title 15 and 25 of the California Code of Regulations (California State Board
of Corrections).
Although the two Camps are not
fully fenced, in the past year there have been only nine escapes. Seven of
these boys were immediately apprehended in the vicinity of the Camp. Table
1, which shows the diminishing trend of escapes from the Camps, indicates
the increasing success of the programming.
Table
1. Camp Escapes and Apprehensions, 1997-2000
|
Both
facilities are supervised for 24 hours a day, seven days per week, by a staff
of 52. In addition to supervising the juveniles and coordinating the efforts of
visiting County and community service providers, Probation Institutions
Officers are also charged with providing backup to the staffs at the Santa
Barbara and Santa Maria Juvenile Halls. For example, during the Grand Jury
investigation, the Camps’ staff responded to the need to evacuate the residents
of the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall when fire in a Goleta sewer blanketed part
of that community with dense smoke.
All
Camp buildings and facilities are owned by Santa Barbara County. Because of the
presence of significant numbers of Chumash Indian archeological sites, which
need to be respected, any construction in the Los Padres National Forest is
severely restricted, making approval for any additional construction of the
Camps’ facilities uncertain.
Five
of the Institutions Officers and their families live in the five County-owned
housing units on Forest Service land adjacent to the Camps. Their presence on
site saves the Probation Department an estimated $104,000 per year for back-up
staffing (one full-time and one stand-by staff on-site during graveyard shift).
Without this housing, space within the existing Camp buildings would need to be
rededicated as sleeping facilities for the back-up staff.
The
area of the Camps is remote from the Santa Barbara, Solvang, Buellton, and
Santa Maria urban communities; overnight accommodations are sometimes needed
for temporary staff responding to emergencies such as forest fires,
earthquakes, communication/electric outages, and floods. The houses for the
five Institutions Officers can provide such accommodations. The round-the-clock
presence of the resident Probation Department Institutions Officers living in
the Los Padres National Forest also can provide readily available assistance to
supplement the Forest Service. The proximity of Probation staff homes to the
Camps saves money for the County and its taxpayers.
The formal
relationship between these Camps and the Forest Service began in 1950 and
remains mutually beneficial. Forest Service staffing has been reduced
nationwide over the years. The Los Prietos and Tri-Counties juveniles have
taken up some of the slack locally by assuming a growing portion of the
maintenance work in the Santa Ynez River area of the Los Padres National
Forest.
The
second 30-year term of the Camps’ Special Use Permit with the Forest Service
was signed in 1994, with an expansion of use granted in 1997 for establishment
of the Tri-Counties Boot Camp. A National Environment Protection
Agency/California Environmental Quality Agency (NEPA/CEQA) report was done for
the Camps’ expanded use, which noted, among other environmental impacts,
problems with the Camps’ water usage.
As
part of that Special Use Permit, and based on a 1973 development plan, the
County relocated all structures from the land adjacent to the Santa Ynez River
to a 22-acre site on an escarpment 200 feet to the south. In signing this
agreement, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors accepted the
responsibility for removing the five staff housing units and restoring their
sites to “near natural condition.” The Supervisors did not agree to close the
two water wells serving the Camps.
Finding 13:
The November 1996 NEPA/CEQA report noted a loss of water from the supply
loop serving the five housing units at the Los Prietos Boys' Camp site.
Finding 14:
In the report it was noted that, of the 11,000 gallons average pumped
per day for use by the camps and the houses, the five Probation staff houses
were metered at 7,000 gallons per day, suggesting a serious leak in the system.
Recommendation
13: The Camps should continue programs to
economize on their use of water, a precious resource in this fire-prone area.
Water leaks should be promptly identified and repaired.
Recommendation 14: The Camps should immediately carry out their
proposed plan to re-sleeve the existing water lines.
By car, the
Santa Ynez River area of the Los Padres National Forest is a recreation area
accessible only over Paradise Road, with its only ingress and egress on San
Marcos Pass. Paradise Road, a narrow, winding mountain road, is regularly used
by hikers, bicyclists, equestrians, picnickers, swimmers, and fishermen, as
well as the Camps’ staff and visitors.
Work crews
from the Camps frequently clear rocks from this area’s only access road to make
it passable. In addition, the juveniles groom an estimated average of 20 miles
of dirt trails in the Los Padres National Forest each year. In year 2000, these
crews also cleared all the grass and brush for six feet on each side of
Paradise Road for approximately eight miles, from Highway 154 to its first
crossing of the Santa Ynez River. This project was undertaken by the Camps to
help prevent forest fires in the Los Padres National Forest at the Santa Ynez
River because the County and the Forest Service could not fund this work.
COMMENDATION
The Grand Jury commends the Forest Service for its flexibility
demonstrated in the past and the cooperative attitude that continues to be
important in the success of these vital County youth facilities.
The
Proposed Forest Service Expansion
In
1996, the Forest Service consigned the management of the Santa Ynez River area
of the Los Padres National Forest to the Rocky Mountain Recreation Company, a
for-profit concessionaire. The Company, under a five-year contract, collects $5
day-use and $30 annual-access revenue (the “Adventure Pass”) from visitors to
this recreation area. The local Los Padres District of the Forest Service
derives its only non-Congressionally allocated funds for forest maintenance
from just ten percent of the sales of the Adventure Pass. In 1999, the Forest
Service received $17,149 from this contract.
There
are now five day-use areas on the river, including the popular Red Rock
swimming hole. In the lower Santa Ynez River area of the Los Padres National
Forest, the Forest Service provides 134 picnic tables, seating for 804
picnickers, and appropriate amounts of parking at the day-use sites along
Paradise Road.
The
Forest Service began its first formal Use Study (number of visitors) of the Los
Padres National Forest on October 1, 2000. Data from that study will only be
available after September 30, 2001, and there is no current study of use for
this area. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the current number of
picnic sites and tables is rarely inadequate to meet public demand.
The
Forest Service plans to develop an 11-acre parcel of land immediately adjacent
to the Los Prietos Boys' Camp and Tri-Counties Boot Camp into a medium-sized
day-use picnic area. Designated “First Crossing” because of its location near
the first crossing of Paradise Road over the Santa Ynez River, this new picnic
area will be administered by the Rocky Mountain Recreation Company. Currently
used as a staging area for river fishing and bicycle trips, the First Crossing
area will be enlarged and the parking spaces will be marked, formalized, and
increased to accommodate 160 cars, RVs, and vehicles with trailers.
The
First Crossing Project was subject to a same-agency (i.e., Forest Service
completed) Environmental Analysis (EA), and was permitted by the Army Corps of
Engineers in 1995. It was noted in the EA that there were seven public letters
of concern with the project, but that no mitigation would be necessary for the
concerns expressed.
That
1995 Environmental Assessment, which was signed in July 1998, detailed a plan
for eight to 12 picnic sites with seating for 16 to 24 people at each site;
that is, from 128 to 288 people. This medium-sized recreation plan also includes
permanent barbecues and restroom facilities. In this plan, asphalted surfaces
replace and amplify the patchwork of concrete and decomposed granite
foundations of the existing parking areas.
In
a Forest Service letter entitled “Decision Notice – Finding of No Significant
Impact – First Crossing Project,”
dated October 27, 1998 (five months after the signed development plan), the
number of picnic sites was listed as 15, a 25% increase over the maximum of 12
sites in the approved plan. This and associated changes increased the project
from a recreation area serving from 128 to 288 persons to one serving from 240
to 360 persons—an average of almost 70% more than originally planned.
These
additional uses do not appear to be noted within existing permits and
approvals.
Two of the
letters of concern noted in the 1995 Environmental Assessment were from the
Santa Barbara County Probation Department. These letters argued that, because
the picnic area would be within sight and sound of the two Camps, the proximity
of large groups of river revelers could create distractions to the
rehabilitative programming that is a primary function of the Camps. The letters
additionally noted that, since the Camps are not fully fenced, picnickers could
enter the Camps’ area unintentionally, out of curiosity, to seek information
and assistance, or to make prohibited contact with one or more inmates. This
could disrupt carefully structured camp activities.
The
Grand Jury questions the advisability of concentrating large numbers of visitors
at this specific site adjacent to the Camps.
Finding 15a: The Forest Service plans to begin
construction bidding of the expanded project at the First Crossing site on July
1, 2001.
Finding 15b: Court-mandated rehabilitation programs at
Los Prietos Boys' Camp and the Tri-Counties Boot Camp are at risk of being
compromised by the close presence of recreational revelry possibly within sight
and almost certainly within hearing range of the inmates.
Finding 15c:<