They say you can’t fight city hall.
Apparently, he can’t even fight Rick Caruso.
Caruso, owner of Montecito’s luxury hotel Rosewood Miramar Beach, announced Tuesday that the resort (1555 S. Jameson) will have 26 affordable homes, eight market-rate units and about 17,500 square feet of luxury boutiques. Approval was received to build a retail store. lane.
“For more than two years, we have worked with the community to create a special plan for Miramar that will deliver unprecedented benefits to Montecito and our dedicated employees,” Caruso said. “We are grateful for the trust the community has placed in our team, and we look forward to continuing that close partnership to deliver a plan that all of Montecito can be proud of.”
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the project 5-0 and voted to deny three separate appeals filed by neighbors, the union and Heal the Ocean. Appellants raised a number of concerns about the project, including traffic, air pollution, flooding, parking and evacuation, and the lack of a thorough environmental review.
However, the results were as expected.
Opposition to the project had been strong for more than a year, but Caruso and his public relations team steadily quelled the critics. A month ago, All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, one of the project’s main opponents, reached an agreement with Caruso.
Caruso and his team focused much of the public discussion on housing rather than boutique shops. The 26 homes are billed as the first “affordable housing” units in the unincorporated area.
County Supervisor Laura Capps said the project called for only 26 affordable units, but the state requires construction of thousands of units in Goleta, Santa Barbara and other areas. He pointed out that there was.
“I am committed to securing more workforce housing so people can live where they work,” Capps said. “That’s the Santa Barbara I grew up in in the ’70s and ’80s. It barely exists now.”
She urged critics to put the number of units being built in context.
“This is a very small step — 26 of the thousands that are happening elsewhere — but it has my enthusiastic support,” Capps said.
Opponents said there has never been a problem with affordable housing for workers. But one opponent, Peter Gerson, said the house was a ploy by Caruso to build luxury boutiques for the ultra-wealthy.
At Tuesday’s meeting, he called the project a “high-end mall and mixed-use project.”
“We feel the health and safety of our neighbors will be threatened by the effects of increased traffic, congestion, and excess parking around residential neighborhoods,” Gersen said.
He said the project violates and “tramples on” the Montecito Community Plan.
“We don’t need more retail and dining, especially in residential areas,” Gersen said.
He said there are nine existing retail stores and Caruso hopes to add 12 more with this project.
Caruso, who made his fortune owning and developing shopping malls and ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022, bought Miramar in 2007 for about $50 million.
Supervisor Joan Hartman said she was impressed with the design of the workforce housing and said it was “not inferior in quality.”
“I think a lot of us would love to live there,” Hartman said.
Manager Das Williams supported Caruso from the beginning. He urged opponents not to lose sight of the benefits of affordable housing, saying it allows people to live where they work, reduces traffic congestion during peak hours and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Ta.
He said more new hotels should have workforce housing, and the Miramar project shows other hotels can follow the same pattern.
‘Am I crazy about that commercial?’ No,” Williams said.
He said many of his conversations with the Caruso team focused on reducing commercial space, and they listened.
“Do I know enough about their finances to understand how far they were able to push it? Not really,” Williams said. “I also think people have a right to make money. Businesses have a right to make money.”
In a statement after the meeting, Caruso said: “We are thrilled that the Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved Miramar’s plan, upholding the County Planning Commission’s unanimous approval last month. A thoughtful plan that will allow us to better serve our communities, customers, and employees.”
