The Santa Barbara Planning Department is finalizing its review of the Bellosguardo Foundation’s application to open the Huguette Clark estate to public tours and special events.
Foundation Executive Director Jeremy Lindaman said the organization submitted additional documents last month to the city, which deemed the application incomplete in March.
The estate at 1407 E. Cabrillo Blvd. was built by the Clark family in the 1930s and owned by the heiress until her death in 2011 at age 104.
She bequeathed the property to a nonprofit foundation to foster the arts, along with a valuable doll collection and millions of dollars in cash.
The Bellosguardo Foundation has allowed some private events on the property — including weddings — while permits for public access are pending with the city.
The property does not have a city conditional use permit for commercial use, but city departments have approved event-related permits for the estate, including tents and generators, Noozhawk reported in October.
In its city permit application, the Bellosguardo Foundation proposes holding public tours on the Cabrillo Boulevard property with on-site parking and occasional special events, which may use valet service or an off-site shuttle service for transportation.
Reservations will be required for the tours, which are proposed to view the first floor of the Clark mansion. At most, the estate would host seven tours per day for self-parking guests, according to the proposal.
The foundation proposes hosting up to five special events with fewer than 200 guests, two special events with 200 to 500 guests monthly and five large events a year with up to 1,500 guests.
“The foundation has been approached by several local nonprofits with proposals to hold performances (dance, theater, etc.) on the property. These events would have guests counts in the range of 500 to 1,500,” according to the proposed operation plan.
Public tours would not be hosted at the same time as special events, according to the foundation’s proposal.
Project planner Kathleen Kennedy said the city is finalizing its review of the application for a conditional use permit and coastal development permit.
“After being deemed complete, the next step will be a Planning Commission hearing, most likely in 2022,” she told Noozhawk in an email this week.
The plans also will be evaluated by the Historic Landmarks Commission since the estate is a city landmark.
HLC members already have reviewed and generally supported plans to install wheelchair access ramps and portable restroom trailers on the property.
State Attorney General’s Office Gives Foundation More Time to Submit Financial Audits
The Clark property was transferred to the Bellosguardo Foundation in 2018, and the organization has received millions of dollars in cash through probate proceedings.
The California Office of the Attorney General listed the nonprofit organization as delinquent for failing to submit audits of its finances in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 years and ordered it to submit the documents by Nov. 29.
The Bellosguardo Foundation has not submitted the audits, and the OAG Press Office told Noozhawk this week that the audit deadline was extended to Jan. 15.
Annual audits are required for organizations that report $2 million or more in annual revenue, according to the Attorney General’s Office, and in these years, the Bellosguardo Foundation reported $85 million in gross annual revenue in the fiscal year ending 2018 (the year the property transferred), $3.5 million in 2019 and $3.5 million in 2020.
The Bellosguardo Foundation’s accounting firm argued in a September letter that the organization doesn’t meet the audit reporting threshold since most of its revenue from those years came from Clark estate probate proceedings, but the OAG rejected its audit waiver requests.
The accounting firm is working on the audit for the 2019-20 year, according to Lindaman.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.