Five members of a private Montecito club have appealed the decision to open one of the restaurants to the public, but apparently have reached a resolution with owner Ty Warner’s management company over the proposed changes.
The Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club, at 1281 Channel Drive, got Montecito Planning Commission approval in April to change its operations.
The two biggest changes are opening the second-floor Tydes restaurant to the public and restricting the pools and other facilities to club members and their guests.
Warner owns the club and the Four Seasons Resort-The Biltmore Santa Barbara across the street. He took over club management from the Four Seasons in 2021.
On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing for the five appeals filed by Suzanne Duca, Douglas Large, Lucinda Lester Owen, Kim Seefeld and Mark Trilling.
According to county staff, the appeals challenged the approval process at the Montecito Planning Commission and said the permit changes “violate the private club status of the Coral Casino without adequate protection for members in the future.”
County planning staff concluded the appeal issues were “without merit” and recommended that the Board of Supervisors deny the appeals and uphold the conditional use permit approval.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the County Administration Building Board Hearing Room, at 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara, and the appeal hearing is the last item on the agenda.
Bill Medel, a representative for Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts, told the commission that the changes will make the club more private, not less, since Biltmore hotel guests will no longer be allowed in the pools and other areas (except the now-public restaurant).
He also said the proposal to make the restaurant public is because members were not supporting it enough.
According to county staff, Ty Warner representatives and the appellants have been meeting to reach a resolution, and came up with some edits to the project description to address members’ concerns:
- Restrict club privileges for the general manager
- Specify that the poolside restaurant and bar are limited to members and their guests
- Limit the public’s access to the restaurant to a specific door and “specify doors that shall remain locked to prevent public access to the remainder of the club.”
Processing the appeals cost about $11,000 for county taxpayers (40 hours of staff time), according to the Planning & Development Department.
The Coral Casino and Biltmore hotel closed in March 2020 and have not reopened. There has been construction for months at both properties, including a new rooftop lounge at the club.
The Coral Casino will “ideally” open this summer, Medel told the Montecito Planning Commission two months ago. They were skeptical.
“It’s been years, and there’s a tremendous amount of impatience,” Commissioner Bob Kupiec remarked during the April meeting.