A last-minute compromise by Santa Barbara County officials this week thwarted what would have been the mass resignation of Montecito Planning Commission members over a sudden decision to remove the controversial Miramar expansion proposal from local control.
On Friday, County Planning Director Lisa Plowman sent a memo to County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato explaining she had decided the Miramar housing and retail project, which has generated considerable debate among neighbors who both oppose and support it, would bypass the Montecito commission and instead be vetted by the County Planning Commission. The change of venue had come at the request of Miramar resort owner Rick Caruso and his team.
Plowman and Caruso’s reasoning was based on their reading of the County Code, which states “countywide transportation, airports, waste disposal sites, detention facilities, hospitals, reservoirs, fire facilities, or affordable housing” fall within the jurisdiction of the County Planning Commission. The proposed Miramar expansion includes 26 units of affordable employee housing, in addition to new boutiques and luxury apartments.
Over the last year, the proposal has become a source of tension among the Montecito community that resulted in numerous meetings at the Montecito Board of Architectural Review, one of Montecito’s two governing bodies. The other is the Montecito Planning Commission, a semi-autonomous oversight committee tasked with protecting the town’s history and character.
When the Montecito commissioners heard they were being denied the opportunity to weigh in, they were indignant. By Tuesday evening, four of the five members were threatening to resign. What was the point of serving if their board wasn’t allowed to carry out its duties? Neighbors who oppose the plan were similarly frustrated. “How does an unelected bureaucrat get to make these decisions, and how did Caruso exert influence there?” asked one in an email.
By Wednesday morning, after numerous behind-the-scenes conversations, the county reversed course and agreed to let the Montecito commission hear the Miramar proposal. “We have been working diligently to identify a process where the Montecito Planning Commission can have the opportunity to provide its recommendations,” Plowman announced at the Wednesday meeting.
Montecito commissioner Ron Pulice, who’d attended the meeting to publicly protest the change of venue, thanked Plowman for “sending this back to us.” The Montecito Planning Commission cares deeply about the community plan it’s supposed to uphold, Pulice said, and all five members had spent hours poring over the Miramar proposal. He wondered how familiar the County commissioners, whose jurisdiction stretches from Santa Maria to Carpinteria, were with the intricacies of the relatively small, local project. “I don’t know if you’ve been looking at this at all, but we have,” he said.
Pulice also referenced the speed at which the decision to bypass his commission was made. “In future considerations, I don’t think we should go down this track of making quick decisions to move things along,” he said, alluding to the waning term of 1st District Supervisor Das Williams, who is a supporter of the Miramar project and wants to see it approved before he leaves office. “We have a lame-duck supervisor in our district,” Pulice said. “So sometimes things happen in the 11th hour, but sometimes that’s not a good choice.”
Caruso executive Bryce Ross later explained why efforts were made to take the matter directly to the county. The cancellation of recent Montecito commission meetings, coupled with doubts about reaching a quorum when the meetings did take place, led to uncertainty about the Miramar plan ever being heard. “The delay started to look indefinite,” Ross said in a statement. “This prompted a closer look at the County Code.”
Ross, who noted the County Counsel’s office agreed with their interpretation of the code, also pointed to the state law that fast-tracks the development of affordable housing. “Montecito is one of the areas of Santa Barbara County with the largest housing affordability gaps,” he said. “We are proud that more than 75 percent of the housing units in our plan will be affordable units for employees of The Miramar.”
As it stands now, the County Planning Commission will hear the project on October 9 before it goes to the Montecito Planning Commission on October 18. It will then go back to the County Planning Commission for a vote on November 1. “In total, the community will have three separate opportunities to participate in the public hearing process at the Planning Commission level,” Ross said.
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