A plan to add a 65-room cottage hotel to Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos was discussed at the county’s Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission (HLAC) on 9/14. The project would add more than 60,000 square feet to the tavern. Though the restaurant, which is along Highway 154, does not have a historic designation, other buildings on the property do and county staff is looking into what HLAC’s legal jurisdiction over the project would be.
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First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal opened a new office in Carpinteria on 9/11. The office, located at the Main Family Resource Center, 5201 8th Street, will be open every Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no appointments necessary. Carbajal said he hopes to make government more accessible to his constituents.
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Santa Barbara County’s new elections division will be shifted to a 24,000-square-foot building on Calle Real. A remodel of that building will cost the county $2.3 million. Currently, the division is stretched out over multiple locations, including one at Figueroa and Anacapa streets that costs $200,000 a year to lease. Consolidating will allow space in the Naomi Schwartz building on Victoria Street to be freed up for other county departments to use.
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County officials are hopeful a temporary early retirement system would give the county an opportunity to pay $13.5 million into its retirement fund. Under the system, employees who would reach age 60 by 1/24 of next year can accept an early retirement package by 11/13. Staff estimate 279 employees are eligible and if all of the employees participated, the $13.5 million would represent half the cost of their annual salaries combined.
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The Montecito Country Club on 9/9 received the Santa Barbara Planning Commission’s approval to redesign its golf course and clubhouse. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus is overseeing the redesign of the golf course, which will include an expansion to 6,500 yards, new bunkers and greens, and a new drainage system that will route and treat 100 percent of storm-water runoff. The $40 million renovation should begin next year, during which the private club will be closed. A country club building will also be restored.