Citing many complaints about illegal camping at Montecito’s Butterfly Beach below the 900 block of Channel Drive, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies and the county’s public works department are cracking down on the beach’s overnight occupants.
As stated in a Sheriff’s Office press release, Sheriff’s and county personnel handed out and posted notices Friday along the beach to warn people that spending the night and constructing temporary housing there violates a county ordinance. They were told to remove their personal property from the beach by Monday, when all remaining items will be taken to the county’s Flood Control Maintenance Shop and stored for three months before being thrown away.
According to the Sheriff’s Office press release, many reports of illegal fires, human waste, and trash at Butterfly Beach prompted the enforcement.