A vacant seat on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission will be filled by Steve Amerikaner, a well-known local attorney, after the recent retirement of one of the commissioners.

The Board of Supervisors approved First District Supervisor Roy Lee’s nomination of Amerikaner on Tuesday and also appointed Dante Di Loreto to the Montecito Planning Commission.

Amerikaner previously worked as Santa Barbara city attorney and was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.

Before his retirement in 2021, Amerikaner specialized in land use, zoning, and environmental law.

He will be taking the spot of Michael C. Cooney, who recently retired after 22 years on the commission.

Amerikaner was previously serving on the Montecito Planning Commission as its chair but stepped down to join the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, which reviews projects in countywide unincorporated communities. Di Loreto will be replacing him on the Montecito panel.

Di Loreto is a film and television producer on projects including “Glee” and “American Horror Story,” according to the commission application. He grew up in Santa Barbara and graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1984.

— Noozhawk staff writer Daniel Green can be reached at dgreen@noozhawk.com.