Developer and real estate mogul Rick Caruso made a surprise appearance Tuesday night to stump for his Rosewood Miramar Beach project that has many neighbors up in arms.

Caruso wants to build apartments for employees and separate apartments for guests who want to stay at the resort for more than 30 days, as well as an array of high-end boutique shops.

“Workforce housing is critically important,” Caruso told Noozhawk. “There’s a housing shortage in California, and that’s what we want to build here. If we can’t do it, we can’t do it, but I think it would be a shame if we couldn’t.”

Caruso and his team, including son Justin and associates Bryce Ross and Katie Mangin, attended Tuesday’s Montecito Association meeting to present the latest plans for his Miramar project.

Association representatives asked questions but did not deliberate about the proposal.

The project includes 24 below-market-rate units, an increase from 16 when the developers took the proposal to the Montecito Association’s land use committee earlier this year. The team also wants to build luxury apartments for wealthy residents who want to stay longer than 30 days.

The original plan was to build 15 of those units, but the team said during the hearing that they would reduce that number to 10. The height of some buildings have been reduced.

They did not submit any formal plans, but they breezed through a slideshow with some new renderings that showed employee units consolidated into one building, valet parking with 50 spaces, and the boutique, high-end shops facing the interior instead of the street.

Montecito Hall next to the Montecito Library was packed with people spilling out into the hallway on both sides of the building.

The Montecito Association allowed five members of the public to speak, and they expressed dissatisfaction with the project.

Many of the neighbors said they are concerned that the luxury shops will attract out-of-town tourists to the area, worsening traffic in Montecito. They support affordable housing for employees but oppose the market-rate apartments for high-end customers.

Cliff Gherson told the Montecito Association board to stick to its mission and “protect the community.”

“We would like to maintain the character of our neighborhood,” Gherson said.

At one point, he looked across the room at Caruso and noted the charity work he does.

“I have been doing some research on you, and you have been very generous with your family foundation, you do right with a lot of schools, with kids who don’t have health care,” Gherson said, “and I am asking you, personally, to do right by this community.”

Page Robinson lives on Eucalyptus Lane and said she lives across the street from one of the proposed 27-foot-high buildings.

The house she lives in was designed by her mother, Barbara Robinson, in 1949. She remembers as a child visiting her mother and grandmother in Montecito.

She said her great-grandparents arrived at the turn of the 20th century.

“Bryce (Ross) likes to say we plan to be here for 100 years. Well, for those of us who already have, I cannot quite articulate what a heartbreak this is,” Robinson said.

She added that she doesn’t believe that Caruso’s intentions are based on employee housing but instead are motivated by money.

“It’s about the erosion of what makes Montecito, Montecito,” Robinson said.

Caruso said whatever gets built will be beautiful.

“I respect it, I understand it,” Caruso said. “If someone came into my neighborhood and was disrespectful, and didn’t have a history of building really nice projects that brought joy into the community, what I would say is look at our track record. “

Caruso, who accumulated his wealth through owning and developing shopping malls, and who unsuccessfully ran for Los Angeles mayor in 2022, purchased the Miramar for about $50 million in 2007.

It’s a far cry from yesteryear.

In the early 1990s, poolside rooms sold for $70 a night, lanai rooms for $80 a night and oceanfront rooms for $135 a night. The original hotel was built in 1889 and was demolished in 2000.

Neighbors contend that hotel representatives are dangling the housing as a carrot, but that the big boutique shops and market-rate housing to cater to high-end clients are really what they desire.

Caruso said the development will not negatively impact the community.

“They are going to feel like it seamlessly blends into the community,” Caruso said.