With neighbors squabbling over a decorative ranch gate, Santa Barbara County planning commissioners weighed in on the spat after getting assurances a compromise couldn’t be reached between the landowners.

An entrance at 2710 Brinkerhoff Ave. in the Santa Ynez Valley stands 21 feet high, 3 feet taller than typically allowed, features bright blue tile on a horizontal cap and includes a decorative wall.

The ranch is owned by Russ Allen of 2905 Roundup Road LLC.

Calling the issue really tough, Fourth District planning commissioner Larry Ferini said it appeared to be a classic Santa Ynez Valley problem with a working ag operation located near residential properties.

“We’re kind of being put in the parental position here,” he said of the dispute.

“This has taken months, several public hearings, a lot of public resource time like it is today, and I have to wonder have you had conversations with the neighbors?” commission chairman John Parke asked.

The property, located a little more than a half-mile north of Roblar Avenue east of Highway 154, is in the Third District, which Parke represents.

“We’d love, all of us I think, to see it resolved by the parties,” First District commissioner Michael Cooney added.

Appellants Susan and Rick Weber said condensation gathers on the wavy, blue-glazed tile with the sun hitting it and glistening like diamonds, reflecting to their hilltop property across the road.

“The tile itself, if it were flat, would’t hold the condensation the way it does, but because it does this curvy thing, it holds the water,” Susan Weber said. “I mean, this sounds so dumb in light of what’s going on in the world, now that we’re talking about this.

“It holds the water,” she added. “The tile itself is problematic because it’s not designed to drain so between the blue of it, the glass top reflectivity of it and the design of it, it’s sort of a triple whammy ickiness.”

Roundup Ranch has another gate without the blue tile cap, and the Webers suggested that design should be replicated at the property’s main entrance.

Ranch representative Elsa Reader, a project manager with CSA Architects in Santa Barbara, said the blue tile serves as a brand for the business, helping indicate to trucks delivering hay and others where they need to go.

While the gate leads to a 55-acre property, the owner has about 500 acres in the area for cattle and dry farming operations.

“The height of the structure is designed for practical uses, including passage of hay trucks, cattle trailers, ranch equipment and fire apparatuses,” Reader said.

“The colors and materials used at the ranch entrance reflect the materials used throughout the entire several hundred-acre ranch.”

The gate includes glazed clay tile, not glass tiles, she added, noting that the treatment involved applying an acid wash to create a muted blue tile. 

However, the Webers said the tile didn’t appear any different after the treatment.

All of the structures at the ranch have the same rooftop blue tile, Reader said, emphasizing the ranch’s branding.

“It’s part of identifying the ranch,” she said.

Discussion also centered on the definition of earth tones, although commissioners seemed skeptical that the vibrant blue fell under the category.

“As you can see in this image, from the ground level the blue tile is seen against blue sky which should be considered as an earth tone,” Reader said, adding protection of private views don’t fall under county purview.

The Webers said they had invited the ranch’s owner to come up to their house, and have a glass of wine to resolve the dispute.

Commissioner Vincent Martinez asked if the owner would meet with the Webers to resolve the conflict, akin to mediation routinely used in legal disputes.

“With all due respect, our client has now spent thousands and thousands of dollars and years trying to get a simple gate on a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley approved,” Reader said, noting the Central Board of Architectural Review’s approval of the gate.

However, the neighbors appealed the Planning & Development Department director’s approval of a land use permit for the gate.

Commissioner Laura Bridley said a small sign at street level could provide branding — “not something that’s going to shine into the opposing neighbor.”

“I really can’t support this,” she said. “It also doesn’t help that it was all constructed and then taken so long to get through the process.”

In suggesting that both sides try to reach a settlement, Parke said the commission’s action would require removal of the entire structure, not just the tile.

“Don’t stumble into a situation where you have to take the whole thing down,” he advised.

Commissioners appeared to be ready to grant the appeal and deny the project, voting last week for staff to return with written findings of denial that will be adopted formally on Aug. 9.