Sandy Stahl checked out of the Rosewood Miramar Resort Hotel discussion early.
In a stunning turn of events Friday, Montecito Planning Commissioner Stahl abruptly recused herself mid-meeting, in what was supposed to be a big vote on the fate of the Miramar’s boutique shop and housing project.
Her departure at Friday’s meeting meant the board had no quorum, ending any possibility that the group could take a position on the matter.
The sudden recusal came after a Perry Mason-like moment from Chris Robertson, an attorney for Miramar owner Rick Caruso.
After nearly four hours of a hearing, Robertson told the audience at the planning commission room that Stahl had meetings with neighbors, called ex-parte, that she didn’t disclose at the beginning of the meeting.
“In my 20 years of working in land use, I have never seen something like this,” Robertson said.
The attorney said that earlier in the week, a Caruso planner received an 18-page, 6,000-word document from Stahl, with various questions on the project. Caruso’s team looked at the track history tool in the Microsoft Word document, which showed that the document was seemingly authored by an opponent of the project.
“As some of you know, it’s very easy to go into Word and see who authored the document,” Robertson said.
“It calls into serious question whether or not this commission has pre-judged this project,” Robertson said.
Stahl, who earlier in the meeting questioned county staff about traffic and evacuation plans and seemed to have strong doubts about supporting the Miramar project, offered no explanation for the document. After an hour-long lunch break, she announced her recusal from the meeting and vote.
“I was unclear about procedures and the specifics of ex-parte communications and on that basis I am going to recuse myself,” Stahl said, as she packed up her bag.
Caruso swiftly issued a comment to Noozhawk about the strange situation.
“Integrity is a core value for me and my company, and it should also be for those who hold positions of public trust,” Caruso said. “That includes members of the Montecito Planning Commission. After two decades in this community, it is deeply disappointing to see these events unfold. We have worked incredibly hard to meet the needs of the Montecito community and to do right by our employees. We have spent two years listening to neighbors, including the church, to make sure their views were incorporated into this plan. We believe that our company, our employees, the many supporters of this plan, and the broader community deserve much better.”
The moment was just the latest in the ongoing saga over the Miramar’s housing and retail project that has sparked opposition from some neighbors and the nearby All Saints-by-the-Sea church.
Caruso wants to build 26 affordable-housing units and eight market-rate units at the luxury hotel at 1555 S. Jameson Lane in Montecito. He also wants to add about 17,500 square feet of high-end boutique retail shops.
The county originally was going to skip project review at the Montecito Planning Commission, saying that affordable housing projects are entirely within the jurisdiction of the county planning commission. Members of the MPC felt they were being sidestepped in the process to decide the Miramar’s fate.
After negative public response, the county decided to hold a county planning commission meeting first, then an MPC meeting, followed by a final vote by the county planning commission meeting.
All of the hubbub over the MPC’s role, however, seems moot after the recusal. Stahl’s recusal followed Marshall Miller’s, the chair who stepped down at the beginning of the meeting at the advice of county attorneys. He is a parishioner of the All Saints church and his spouse is a junior warden there.
Before he left the meeting, Miller said the county staff’s original plan to exclude the MPC has been “corrosive to trust between county staff and the Montecito Planning Commission.”
With both Miller and Stahl gone, only members Ron Pulice and Donna Senauer were present at the meeting. Commissioner Bob Kupiec attended part of the meeting before the lunch break on Zoom.
The project is headed to the county planning commission for approval on Nov. 1. If approved, it will go before the Board of Supervisors by the end of the calendar year, where it is likely to get approved.
First District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams, who leaves his position in January, is a supporter of the project. Roy Lee, the supervisor-elected, has expressed concerns about the project.