Naples Naiveté

I had to chuckle when I read Ethan Stewart’s article “New Owners at Naples?” Development on the Gaviota Coast is no laughing matter. The fact that CrossHarbor’s developer asked that “his team be treated a little more fairly” after just one encounter with our County Board of Supervisors struck me as funny. Have they not done their homework? Does CrossHarbor not know that this development proposal at Naples has been one of the most complicated land-use projects in our history? Board of Supervisors aside, do they not know how fiercely opposed our community is to development at Naples? Perhaps they do not know how keenly aware we are of the facts that, in just over two generations, approximately 250 of the 300 miles of southern California’s once unspoiled coastline have been lost to development forever; that the Gaviota Coast has over 1400 plant and animal species, 24 of which are threatened or endangered; that the region produces one-third of Santa Barbara County’s tree fruit crops. I could go on but you get the picture. We will not sit by and watch this community treasure converted to profit for an investment firm without putting on our strategic “boxing gloves.” CrossHarbor is in for a wild ride. Our community would like to be treated fairly as well.