Judge Rules Against Wealthy Landowner

Patrick Nesbitt, wealthy entrepreneur, landowner, and polo enthusiast who argued the Montecito Water District specifically targeted his nearly 20-acre property when it changed the designation from agricultural to residential use and thus increased rates on his estate, lost in court on 6/29. Judge Thomas Anderle found the principal use of the property is not agriculture, and that the ordinance was not unfair or ambiguous. Nesbitt claims that in addition to using it as a polo field, he harvests sod and raises horses on the property, all activities which should be included under an ag classification.