The Bacara Resort & Spa has spent more than $100,000 to keep its Beach House from falling into the Pacific Ocean, and the luxury hotel likely will pay quite a bit more before the problem is fixed.
City staff presented the Goleta City Council this week with an update on operations to bolster the Beach House, which is at Haskell’s Beach and sits atop a low bluff that suffered significant damage during a Jan. 8 storm.
High tides pushed water up to the structure, which was threatened enough to seek an emergency coastal-development permit.
Much of the council’s discussion centered around what the Bacara Resort should pay for the fix, since the Beach House is on its private property.
The building serves as a seasonal snack bar, and is where beach-goers — hotel guests as well as locals — can use restrooms and rent beach chairs, umbrellas, kayaks and canoes.
Bacara Resort & Spa general manager Shashi Poudyal thanked city officials for helping obtain an emergency permit from the California Coastal Commission.
“We don’t make any money” off the Beach House, Poudyal said.
“It’s really for the public. All we’re asking, really, is if there’s going to be more money required … we just want to know how the money is going to be spent. We could have simply let the Beach House go.”
Because the structure itself was not damaged, just the earth beneath it, Poudyal said insurance will not cover any costs.
Don Donaldson of Stantec said the Bacara already has spent more than $100,000 on the temporary fix and given the city a $30,000 deposit for emergency-permit processing.
On the day of the event, Bacara obtained authorization from Goleta’s advance planning manager to begin conducting emergency response operations.
The resort has closed the trail between its Villa #2 and Villa #4, since that area sustained erosion and needs repair. A public access trail was temporarily impaired for the same reason.
Bacara also hopes to cover up exposed abandoned oil infrastructure, pipes and other facilities that were unearthed by the high tides.
City staff are monitoring day-to-day activities associated with the beach slope and stabilization efforts, since the emergency response actions will have to be considered by the Goleta Planning Commission at a public hearing before a development plan is granted.
A Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission also is required.
Bacara asked for an itemized list of expenses for business purposes, which staff said was under way.
“We just want to work together, the city and us, because we want to do the right thing,” Poudyal said.
The council suggested bringing the process of authorizing emergency permits and impromptu work back to council in the future, since there was confusion on when and how much the city can charge private parties deposits for work.
Councilman Roger Aceves said he was grateful the Bacara responded so quickly to last month’s problems.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.