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Current Gaviota Situation

by Ed Easton |
Jul 17, 2005

2005 may be the crucial year for the Gaviota Coast.

2005 may be when we lose the Gaviota Coast. Several new proposals for development will beginto be argued before decision-makers and the portents are grim. Development proposals can beexpected along with the ones already on the counter at the County Planning & Development Department.

The Planning Commission recently denied an appeal (3-2) of a Coastal Development Permit for a mega-mansion (10,300+ square feet) on the western side of Tajiguas Creek high above Hwy 101.The appeal was brought by the Gaviota Coast Conservancy (GCC) because of the project's incompatibility with neighborhood house size, unsuitability for this rural site and the impact on long-term agricultural land use.

The Conservancy will appeal to the County Board of Supervisors. This proposal by the MAZ Corporation, a Swiss family corporation, is the first of a pair of mansions scheduled for the hills on each side of the entrance to the canyon. The second mansion has been stayed by the developer pending the result of the GCC appeal. 

The Naples Proposal is currently in Environmental Review. These proposed 54 large homes spread on both sides of Hwy 101, one mile west of Goleta are the result of a Memorandum Of Understanding with the County to resolve a development rights dispute stemming from subdivision of this area in the 19 th century.  Ranges of house sizes go downward from a 13,000+ square foot monster on the western bluff overlooking the ocean and coast to the West. The Naples Coalition (which the Sierra Club belongs to) is proposing a more environmentally sensitive plan which will allow houses, but which will place them north of the freeway and out of sight. 

Within the Naples property, is the Morehart Property . An application has been filed by the Moreharts for lot line adjustments which will reconfigure 9 lots south of Hwy 101 and seeks to take advantage of the zoning changes which must be made to accommodate the Naplesdevelopment.  This will eventually produce 9 homes.

Closer to Goleta is the Wallover development proposed by the owner of the Bacara Resort. This proposal could place 20 or more homes on both sides of Tecolote canyon above the existing homes of the Embarcadero Del Mar development.  The details of this proposal are not yet final.

Just west, Eagle Canyon is proposed for lot line adjustments to merge seven lots into four lots with building sites between 2 and 2.5 acres. This proposal, along with Las Varas Ranch and the Morehart Property has been filed to meet a court established deadline to resolve a lawsuit with the County over development rights. 

Las Varas Ranch has applied for lot line adjustments which would produce houses south of 101.  Access to the beach by the public would be provided. 

The ARCO Property runs west from Eagle Creek, south of 101 to the Naples property. In 2002 the Coastal Commission denied a permit for two golf courses here, and the property has been in limbo as the owners sued the Coastal Commission.  Rumor says the lawsuit has been settled but no specifics have surfaced. 

Some applications are incomplete and in a few cases significant public benefits are being provided to mitigate the impacts of upscale developments.  Developing mansions on large tracts of agriculturally zoned land will change the economics for agriculture.   Few will be full time residences but rather second or third homes, used sporadically by the very rich. Their demand for urban services and amenities, outside the urban limit line,will have very predictable consequences to the area over the long term. The amount ofdevelopment, and the resulting increase in land values will end Gaviota as a well kept farming and ranching area. Just the number of current development proposals will make careful evaluation challenging. 

The Gaviota Coast is not just a pretty view from your car. The climatic and biologicalconditions accompanying the East-West trending Santa Ynez mountains are unique in the UnitedStates.  Additionally, the meeting of Central and Southern California in this location produces a diversity of land and marine species that cannot be found anywhere else.

These were some of thereasons the U.S. Park Service found in their study that the Gaviota Coast was both biologicallyand culturally suitable for inclusion into the national system, and warranted protection as a nationally secured area. 

The Community’s interests in Gaviota now rest with the County Supervisors. Some development can and will take place here. But it must be developed with a fine and careful eye that lets what is valuable be preserved with enough controls to keep it forever as the healthy, rural landscape it has been, ever since it was settled.