The Future of Healthy Food Is Here Now
A Praiseworthy Idea Should Come Closer to Students
The Santa Barbara School District has proposed developing a 12-acre property it owns in the Hidden Valley area close to Arroyo Burro Creek. The plan includes a working organic farm with buildings and facilities to teach up to 120 students at a time. Farm-to-table practices, agriculture and sustainability, and environmental literacy lessons are planned. Students would be bussed to and from the site daily. The property is currently grassland, chaparral and mature oak woodland.
Is this robust development proposed for a relatively pristine natural area in close proximity with the urban footprint the best use of this property? Is it possible to step back and consider other scenarios that could develop better outcomes for students, the school district and the community, not to mention the preservation of scarce urban wildness?
The district’s property is a “gem in the rough” in an urban environment. That is its value. Minimal effort could restore it to its previous natural splendor. Adjacent properties are moving in that direction. The Hidden Valley site could provide students a more realistic experience in a natural setting than a highly unnatural combination of buildings, asphalt, sidewalks, oak woodland, and agriculture.
