The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday denied a Riviera homeowner’s request to block construction of a new home at 1233 Mission Ridge Road.
The council gave great weight to the effort made by property owners Thomas and Barbara Sanborn to change their design based on neighbors’ concerns about the impact to their ocean views and to make the new structures more accessible to emergency personnel.
“We tried to balance the interests of all of our neighbors, and it’s relief to see that the council saw it that way,” Thomas Sanborn said.
Judy and David Denenholz, who filed the complaint, own a home uphill from the Sanborn property, but don’t use it as their primary residence, according to their attorney, Marc Chytilo.
Among the issues that Chytilo argued was that the design exceeded city height standards, the access street is already too narrow for emergencies and the consistency of a “compound” in the Riviera neighborhood.
Ultimately, though, the discussion boiled down to whether homeowners’ views are legally protected under the California Environmental Quality Act or local ordinances, and the council with the City Attorney’s Office recommendation determined they are not.
Councilwoman Michael Self said property owners have certain rights.
“If this appeal was upheld, it would mean you couldn’t build anything for any reason, and that doesn’t sounds very fair,” she said.
There was also a stark disagreement between the city’s fire expert, Jim Austin, a supervisor for the Fire Prevention Bureau, and Don Oaks, a retired fire marshal from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, over the accessibility of the home via narrow Green Ridge Lane.
Austin argued that the homeowners actually made their property safer by moving the existing guesthouse close to the street, where it can be easily accessed by fire hoses.
Oaks, however, noted the dangers to life and property by new development in a fire hazard area such as the Riviera. He said he was also concerned about the risk posed to firefighters trying to respond in a tight area such as Green Ridge.
“This is almost a poster child for why people die in fires,” Oaks said.
Councilman Dale Francisco recognized the potential but did not agree with penalizing the Sanborns for building on one of many nonconforming streets in the city.
“There’s no question that there are fire safety problems with the Riviera; that’s just the reality of the place,” Francisco said.
The Sanborns’ architects from DesignARC gave a lengthy presentation to the City Council about how they had worked for more than 18 months to cut out about 1,000 square feet off the main house’s second floor and shift construction out of neighbors’ views.
Designs from before and after receiving input from neighbors and various public boards showed drastic changes in the final plan.
— Noozhawk intern Daniel Langhorne can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
Comments
