David Yager served as the county’s 1st District Supervisor during the 1970-1980s, a time of major transition in Santa Barbara. The area had grown from a small vacation destination to a magnet for tech industries. Commensurate with the new industry was the growth of the faculty and student body at UCSB. The lemon and walnut groves that once covered Goleta valley were replaced by housing tracts. The entire county’s vast agricultural land was under pressure for urban development.
David, who was born and grew up in Santa Barbara, came home after a tour of duty as a naval officer and with a law degree from Harvard. He set up his law practice, married, and within a few years became a father of three boys. In 1975 David decided to run for 1st District County Supervisor; his platform was controlled housing and business growth linked to availability of services and resources. That platform was a bit of a stretch for David, who was a pro-business Republican, but he believed measured growth would save Santa Barbara from becoming another sprawling Los Angeles. His election resulted in him often being the swing vote on development proposals, the “decider” on a philosophically divided Board of Supervisors.
His swing vote was never more important than when considering Exxon’s 1986 appeal from the Planning Commission’s requirement that the company operate under the county’s air quality rules. Exxon planned to expand production from its lease in federal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel to 400 million barrels of oil. It wanted to abandon a ship anchored near the platform, which it had been using for the separation of the oil, gas, and water. Instead, it proposed an enlargement of the small oil facility in Las Flores Canyon to accommodate the increased production…