S.B. Planning Commissioner Appointed to Water Quality Control Board

Governor Jerry Brown appointed Santa Barbara Planning Commissioner Michael Jordan to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, thus filling one of three vacancies that have deprived that board of the quorum necessary to conduct business for the past year.

Jordan said he hopes to help the board find the proper balance between pure environmentalism and pure business, particularly as it deals with such mega-issues as regulating the water running off agricultural fields.

Jordan served on the city’s Creeks Advisory Committee before serving on the Planning Commission and has been involved in city affairs as an advocate for the downtown tourist, lodging, and restaurant industries. “You don’t want to pay $10 for a head of lettuce because of draconian environmental regulations,” he said, “but you don’t want to compromise on the safety of our water quality either.”