Hundreds of Gaviota Coast Watchdogs Oppose Newest Naples Project

Santa Barbara County Zoning Administrator Hearing Pushed Due to Flood of Public Comments

By Callie Fausey Tue May 21, 2024 | 04:33pm

Opposition should be expected when trying to build anything on the beloved Gaviota Coast — the last undeveloped piece of coastal California and a beautiful, biologically significant region.

But the applicants for a new single-family residence at Naples, just west of Goleta on the Gaviota Coast, were overwhelmed by the hundreds of public comments submitted to the Santa Barbara County Zoning Administrator about their proposed project this week.

The watchdogs of the coast — the Gaviota Coast Conservancy (GCC), Santa Barbara Surfrider, and Environmental Defense Center (EDC) — rallied the troops against the Napoli Street development, consisting of a 6,500-square-foot estate with a 2,000-square-foot barn, guest house, driveway, and a new on-site water treatment system and wastewater facility.

This proposal is just one piece of the convoluted puzzle that is Santa Barbara Ranch — the 71 lots, or “homesites,” at Naples that were approved for development in 2008 but have not cleared the complicated hurdles standing in the way of realization.

The proposed residential development at Naples. | Credit: County of Santa Barbara Planning and Development

As summarized by the GCC, “Developers have eyed this picturesque area for development since 1888, but to date none have succeeded.”

Although the newest proposal — called the “Seaside Residence & Habitat Restoration” project — was scheduled to be heard by the Zoning Administrator on Monday, May 20, the applicant, DMF Fund, LLC, asked to continue it until July 15 in order to review the heap of public comments, the majority of which request that the project be denied.

These comments follow a decades-long trend of community members fighting to preserve the coast from fenced-off luxury estates, despite the new project’s promise of restoration.

It would include restoring 0.49 acres of native grassland and 0.14 acres of wetland habitat to resolve illegal disking — a type of plow used to cut the soil’s surface — that a neighbor conducted on the DMF LLC lot without their approval in 2019, as well as an additional 0.10 acres of native grassland habitat and 0.02 acres of wetland habitat.

According to the Planning and Development (PAD) staff report, the project also includes a voluntary lot merger to reduce the development potential of the four parcels it sits on, an offer-to-dedicate easement for public access and the future development of the California Coastal Trail, and deed-restricted areas for land conservation and low-intensity agriculture use.

However, environmental groups are concerned that the estate would be the first domino to fall in the development of all 71 homesites stuck in limbo at Naples.

The EDC called Naples “the crown jewel of the Gaviota Coast,” adding that the proposed development site lies in the boundaries of the conservation-focused Gaviota Coast Plan and is “home to as many as 15 rare wildlife species, including white-tailed kites,” a small raptor that is protected by the state.

The proposed restoration areas for the Naples project, prepared by Stantec Consulting Services. | Credit: County of Santa Barbara Planning and Development

The environmental watchdogs argue that restoration must happen first, and separately, before residential development is considered. They say an independent environmental review should also be conducted — the county is currently relying on an Addendum to the 2008 Santa Barbara Ranch Environmental Impact Report (EIR) — and the project is inconsistent with the Gaviota Coast Plan’s policies to protect environmentally sensitive areas and public access.

In addition, they claim the project’s water supply is contaminated and would worsen groundwater quality, and hazards from past oil extraction activities are not identified or accounted for.

However, the County PAD staff recommended the approval of the project, finding that the “development will not result in new significant effects as compared to the 71 homes” analyzed in the original Santa Barbara Ranch EIR, and any impacts will be equal to or lesser than those identified in the EIR. They also found the project to be consistent with the Coastal Zoning Ordinance, Coastal Land Use Plan, and Gaviota Coast Plan.

According to the project’s restoration plan, “The development proposal footprint was designed to avoid impacts on native grassland and wetland resources and associated buffers that were documented on the property and detailed in the 2016 Biological Resources Assessment for the Santa Barbara Ranch Project.”

To be approved, however, the project would need to overcome the anti-development precedent set by steadfast environmentalists over a period of more than 30 years. Should it eventually win approval from the county, it would make local history as the first project to actually break ground on the bluffs at Naples.