Hoop house ordinance comes before SB County Supervisors

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will consider an ordinance regulating the use of plastic tubular tent structures known as hoop houses on agricultural lands.

The use of hoop houses is increasingly popular in local agriculture due mainly to the protection they provide for a variety of crops, mostly berries, and now cannabis.

The county’s Hoop Structure Ordinance would regulate how many of the plastic tents can be used on a parcel of ag land, how big they can be, where they can be located along with permit and exemption requirements.

“From what we hear from our farmers is the future of agriculture depends on it”, said Santa Barbara County Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino on Monday afternoon, “if you look at the Santa Maria Valley, we’ve seen the proliferation of these hoop houses and it’s because agriculture has evolved, this is the new way to grow product. We use less pesticide, we use less water, it’s better to work in that environment.”

Others see the spread of white plastic hoop houses as an agricultural blight on Santa Barbara County’s rural landscape.

“I’m hearing that from a lot of folks as far as they’re worried about tourists coming here and all they see is a bunch of plastic everywhere, is that what people want to see”, Lavagnino added, “I’ve also met with homeowners that have said I look out my window and I see a bunch of plastic out there, well here’s the other side of that coin, if we don’t let agriculture continue to evolve, and move forward with hoop houses, and you find out the guy eventually is not going to be able to make any money through agriculture, what happens is you see these properties get developed, they get sold and developed.”

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors regular session begins Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Board Hearing Room at 511 Lakeside Parkway and Betteravia Road in Santa Maria.