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City gives Caltrans go ahead
Chow down
Linden/Casitas Interchange project to commence in 2016 By Lea Boyd
Students kicked off the autumn holiday season at Carpinteria Family School’s Harvest Festival on Nov. 13. Clover Martinez rolls out cookie dough as part of the harvest-themed feast prepared by teachers, students and parents at the eventful celebration. Students also made vegetable soup, corn bread and butter from cream, along with participating in art and music components at the schoolwide event.
The four-year project will be implemented in phases to minimize its impact on local traffic.
The Carpinteria City Council approved a project that will more dramatically change local traffic flow than anything since the construction of Highway 101 over 60 years ago. The Linden/Casitas Interchange Project, a $63 million edit to Carpinteria roadways over a decade in the planning pipeline, received 3-1 council approval for city permits on Nov. 23. Councilman Al Clark unexpectedly voted against the plan in symbolic protest of what he called deficiencies in the Caltrans environmental review process that led to the Rincon and Santa Claus Lane bike paths being excluded from the main project. Caltrans has jeopardized those bicycle and pedestrian improvement components by treating them as separate projects, Clark said. He announced that he could safely send the message of disapproval knowing that the remainder of the council votes (three because Wade Nomura recused himself) would be made in favor of the project. Major aspects of the massive project will be the widening of both the Linden Avenue and Casitas Pass Road highway overpasses from 35 feet to 65 and 89 feet respectively and the extension of Via Real over Carpinteria Creek to Casitas Pass Road and from Vallecito to Linden Avenue. A roundabout will be built near the intersection of Ogan Road and Linden Avenue, and the northbound on and offramps at Casitas Pass Road will move to the east of Casitas Pass Road. The four-year project will be implemented in phases to minimize its impact on local traffic. A timeline for those phases is still being ironed out, but the initial work, expected to commence in the fall of 2016, will likely be grading the Whitney property to make way for the extension of Via Real and the Casitas Pass Road on and off ramps. Caltrans must provide the city with $538,947 to build community gardens at three sites as a mitigating measure to offset the five acres of agriculture converted in the project. A community garden is planned for the city’s 5th Street property adjacent to the Amtrak Station, another will be placed on a four-acre portion of the Whitney property that will be deeded from Caltrans to the city, and a third garden is planned for Carpinteria Children’s Project at Main.
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RIKI MATSuMuRA
Carpinteria man found deceased after standoff
Kristopher Kump, 31 of Carpinteria, was found dead in his Ocean View Avenue home following a standoff on Nov. 19. According to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office, which had evacuated homes near the incident, Kump had been barricaded in the home wearing body armor and in possession of a bandoleer loaded with shotgun rounds. A handgun was also found near his body, in addition to numerous other weapons including a military style rifle with a grenade launcher attachment, approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition and smoke grenades. Based on evidence found at the scene, it appears that Kump ignited a fire and then shot
himself in the head. The incident began at 6:45 a.m. when sheriff’s deputies first investigated a report of a break-in in Goleta at Kump’s former place of work. The back door to the business had been broken into and a work truck was missing. About an hour later, at 7:45 a.m., the business owner discovered the truck outside of Kump’s residence. He encountered Kump, who displayed a firearm. Sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene. They attempted to contact
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