Threatened on one side by a precedent-setting lawsuit and
pressure from the Montecito Association on the other, Santa Barbara
County supervisors voted 3-2 to reject an appeal by a property
owner who sought to subdivide his land for development. Jack
Maxwell hoped to buck the one-home-per-two-acres rule for his area
by referring to deeds and maps that predated the 1992 Montecito
Association’s zoning map, whose authority he challenged. Maxwell
also wanted to shirk requirements that he retain certain garden
features designated by the association as possessing historical
value, including a bench and a pergola. Supervisors voted to back
the Association in deference to a parade of Montecitans who urged
the supervisors to defend their right to set community land-use
standards.
