What started as a closure for a few weeks to contain the spread of COVID-19 has turned into four years for the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara.

The closure resulted in about 650 employees losing their jobs and community speculation about the future of the hotel, which beforehand had been one of the largest payers of hotel tax to Santa Barbara County.

The resort’s owner, Ty Warner, used the closure as an opportunity to renovate the property, as his company also did to the adjacent Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club.

While The Biltmore is supposed to open this fall, according to the resort’s website, it recently applied for permits for renovations, which include turning guest rooms into retail space, changing landscaping to bring more light into the cottage bungalows, and a new guard shack.

Other permit applications have been to redo blocks of guest rooms, the on-site restaurants, and back of house facilities such as the laundry area.

Last week, representatives and planners for The Biltmore brought forward the proposals for conceptual review at the Montecito Board of Architectural Review. Members asked for more detailed plans and justification for some aspects of the proposal.

Guest rooms in nine buildings would be renovated, including exterior door and window changes, and interior changes would result in reducing the number of guestrooms to 192, according to the proposal.

There would be new landscaping and fencing for the cottage bungalows, so more light gets into the rooms, according to the plans.

“We worked very hard on keeping them like they are but actually enhancing them and getting privacy that was created by the landscaping before,” said Mark Lloyd, a private land use agent for The Biltmore. 

The lush and heavy landscaping would be on the public side of the fence, and the private side would have more of a small garden, according to Lloyd. 

Montecito BAR member David Mendro said he wasn’t convinced that the green cedar fence would be appropriate for the project. 

“For me to support that, I really need something to hang my hat on,” Mendro said. “It just seems very inappropriate to the project to me. When you come back, please justify those.”

Board chair John Watson said the board was given an “insufficient amount of material” to make a clear assessment about the applicant’s plans, specifically around the size of the patios on the property.

“The concern that I have is that we are going to start getting a project that’s not luxuriously landscaped, into one that’s more architecturally visible and looks like it is in early development,” Watson said.

Watson asked that The Biltmore’s next submission have before and after drawings to show the landscaping and fencing plans.

There would be changes to a maintenance building, replacements for pergola and loggia structures between two of the buildings, and turning a guest reception room into a guest theater room. The hotel also wants to demolish the existing guard station and build a new one closer to the Hill Road entrance. 

In addition, The Biltmore wants to remodel retail shops and convert some guest rooms and the La Marina reception room into a guest marketplace, according to the proposal presented to the MBAR.

The board did not take action at Thursday’s meeting since the project was presented for conceptual review. The proposal is scheduled to be back before the board on April 22 for a preliminary review and approval. The board also plans to do a site visit at The Biltmore before the hearing.

Biltmore officials have said the hotel plans to reopen in the fall.

Representatives did not respond to multiple Noozhawk requests for comment for this story.

When the hotel closed in March 2020, it technically furloughed all of its workers. That means that employees weren’t laid off and were not paid severance. Many employees took legal action against the resort, and that action is still pending.

Warner’s Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club also closed in early 2020 and reopened in January after some renovations of its own. The private club’s membership fees increased substantially to $2,500 a month, and The Biltmore’s hotel guests will no longer get access to the facilities.