CA Coastal Commission To Review Paradiso Appeal

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) will hear an appeal of the County Board of Supervisor’s approval of the Paradiso del Mare development project a half mile west of the Bacara Resort this Thursday, April 10. The project was approved by the Santa Barbara Planning Commission in November 2013. After an appeal by the Gaviota Coast Conservancy (GCC), Surfrider and other groups soon thereafter, the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to deny the appeal in early February.

On February 28, GCC, Surfrider, the Santa Barbara Chapter of Audubon and Peter Howorth filed an appeal with the Coastal Commission citing a failure of the project to conform with the standards in the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP). Acting as attorney for the groups, attorney Marc Chytilo argued the LCP requires protection of environmentally sensitive habitats such as the Naples Seal Rookery, White-tailed kite habitat and public access to the beach.

According to the Commission Staff Report, which can be accessed on the CCC website, notes that evaluation of such an appeal requires that it raise “a substantial issue” as to the consistency or inconsistency of the County’s LCP, extent and scope of the development proposal, significance of the coastal resources affected by the decision, its potential for serving as a precedent for future interpretation of the LCP or whether the appeal raises only local issues or those of regional or statewide significance. In a 58-page document that included several hundred pages of appendices, the Commission Staff concluded “no substantial issue is raised with respect to the consistency of the approved development with the policies of the County’s certified LCP.”