The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is scheduled to hear an environmental group’s appeal of the Montecito Planning Commission‘s October approval of a developer’s proposal to rebuild the long-abandoned Miramar Hotel.
On Monday, lawyers representing the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County said they were disappointed that county staff is recommending that the supervisors deny the appeal.
“It seems to me for whatever reason they are trying to rush this thing through to the Board of Supervisors for the new year,” said Marco Gonzalez, an attorney for Coast Law Group of Encinitas. “Trying to do it too fast is going to cause them more problems.”
On Oct. 8, Los Angeles-area developer Rick Caruso received permission from the commission to raze the old Miramar — a rotting cluster of dilapidated cottages that have sat empty for nearly a decade — and replace it with a five-star resort of the same name on South Jameson Lane along Highway 101.
The planning commission’s decision came after what Caruso said was the longest deliberation over a single project in his career — at least 40 hours of discussion during the course of four meetings.
The association’s complaints are wide-ranging, but seem to boil down to one major factor: The Montecito Planning Commission didn’t require Caruso to complete an environmental impact report before proceeding with the project.
The CPA’s list of concerns include flood impacts, water use, sewer capacity, construction noise, floor-area-ratio calculations, historic preservation, compliance with the Montecito Community Plan, architecture, greenhouse gas emissions, compliance with the Coast Act, traffic and storm-water runoff.
On Monday, CPA attorneys said the staff hasn’t seriously addressed any of their concerns since the appeal was filed in October.
“I am a little bit surprised the issues weren’t addressed more fully,” said Ross Campbell, another attorney for Coast Law Group.
Caruso Affiliates spokesman Matt Middlebrook derided opponents’ claim that the county is embarking on a rush job.
“Anyone who calls this a rush job has not been paying attention to the process,” he said. “We had four planning commission meetings that totaled more than 40 hours worth of hearings. We received favorable comments from the Montecito Board of Architectural Review a year ago now.”
He added that, in an effort to minimize the construction noise, Caruso Affiliates has decided that if the project goes forward, instead of pile-driving the hotel’s foundational steel columns into the ground, construction crews will use a technology that essentially drills them into the earth.
“That will eliminate a significant amount of noise,” he said.
Middlebrook said Caruso hopes to begin razing the old buildings in early 2009, and to open the new Miramar in 2011.
Formed in 1960, the CPA is a nonprofit organization that, according to its Web site, advocates for responsible land-use planning and environmental protection in Santa Barbara County.
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