I wanted to let you know about my experience with the construction of the Bella Riviera condos. This is a project owned by Cottage Hospital. While I look forward to my new neighbors, several of us where negatively affected by cottage and Southern California Edison installing a new pole to service the Bella Riviera.
We took our case to Cottage and SCE and they claimed it would cost $40,000 to put the pole underground, so they would not do it. Yesterday, we spoke at a Planning Commission meeting and the commission found that the city could do nothing. In effect, there is a franchise agreement between the city of Santa Barbara and SCE which allows them to install whatever they wish to provide new service to residents, and it is not contingent on planning commission approval, and SCE does not need to concern itself with how it damages neighbors’ views.
I would request that you run a story on the construction of these condos. You will find that there have been several violations and the contractors have not been financially penalized. This is highly irregular, to not negatively incentivize the contractors to cease noise and truck-traffic violations.