Ring nets in Montecito creeks removed

MONTECITO, Calif. – All six of the specialized ring nets in several Montecito creeks used to catch debris during rainstorms have been removed. 

The non-profit, Project for Resilient Communities, installed the ring nets in San Ysidro, Buena Vista, and Cold Springs Canyons after the deadly mudslide in Montecito in 2018.

The Thomas Fire burned much of the vegetation above Montecito and the rainstorm on January 9, triggered a debris flow that destroyed hundreds of homes and killed twenty-three people.

The ring nets were removed Monday by a helicopter after the non-profit and the County of Santa Barbara could not come to an agreement on how to continue to fund the safety net project before its permits expire in December. 

The non-profit raised the $6 million needed to start the project and got emergency permits for the five-year project in December 2018 and the nets were installed in May of 2019. 

According to the non-profit's website, the basic debris flow protection system consists of a steel ring net engineered to resist the velocities and dynamic and static pressures unique to debris flows.

Pat McElroy, the Executive Director of The Project for Resilient Communities, said it costs about $60k to regularly monitor the nets each year and could cost up to $1.2 million to clear the nets after a rain event. 

Now that the safety nets are gone, people in Montecito must now rely on the county's various basins to catch any debris from the canyons. 

"The San Ysidro and Randall Road Basins will capture material along San Ysidro Creek, including the material that was moved above and below the channel where the net was and the Cold Springs Debris Basin will capture material along that creek," said Leal Wageneck, Public Information Officer for the County of Santa Barbara's Public Works Department. 

Wageneck said during last winter's historic rain events, "no sizable debris came down" Buena Vista Creek where the non-profit placed two nets. The County plans to begin construction of a basin in that area is scheduled to begin in the next two years. 

McElroy said the nets are currently in storage and he remains concerned about the upcoming El Niño.