After five years of drought, with Lake Cachuma at record low levels, the local water districts should invoke their emergency powers and immediately suspend all construction permits, including that of the luxury hotel complex in Montecito, until the drought is over. Why should the responsible citizens of Santa Barbara and Montecito limit their water usage only to have their water savings wasted by a luxury hotel and other new construction projects? It makes no sense and it is fundamentally unfair. Moreover, these construction projects only put the uniquely beautiful Santa Barbara-Montecito coastline on the irreversible path of becoming the next over-built, traffic-snarled, polluted L.A. These construction proponents should move back to L.A. and overbuild to their hearts’ content and please leave Santa Barbara and Montecito alone.
