••• “Rick Caruso is taking the Miramar name beyond Montecito, unveiling the first images of his glamorous new Miramar Lake Club, near Thousand Oaks.” It even looks the same as the one here. —Montecito Journal
••• More on the closure of the overlook at the western end of Cliff Drive, which is apparently known as Makeout Point, including this: “The south ocean-side pullout, however, is tentatively scheduled to reopen in mid-August” and “the city’s working plan is to eventually replace [the barricades] with gates that would allow the overlook to operate how it was meant to: enjoyed during the day and quiet at night.” —Independent
••• “The rent stabilization ordinance—the most polarizing issue to hit Santa Barbara City Hall in decades—inched forward Tuesday night over the course of a four-hour-plus-meeting, but the controversial measure hasn’t quite crossed the finish line.” —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• The argument for building housing on the city-owned Santa Barbara Golf Club (a.k.a. the Municipal Golf Course, or the Muni) on Las Positas Road. —Independent
••• “The Long and Winding Road to Open Hollister Ranch’s Remote Beaches to the Public […] Currently in Consideration Are Six Access Options that Would Bring as Few as 240 or as Many as 579 People to the Ranch’s Six Beaches Daily.” —Independent
••• The U.S. House of Representatives “voted narrowly [last] Wednesday to approve this year’s $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act into which an amendment was tucked giving the Department of War absolute approval authority over Sable Offshore’s bitterly contested oil pipeline rights in Santa Barbara and Kern counties. […] The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Department of War to condemn any state property that Sable needs to transport its oil from three offshore oil platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara” and “declares that Sable’s unfettered production and transportation rights a matter of national security.” The Senate has yet to vote on it. —Independent
••• An update on Lotusland’s long-range plan to reconfigure its front gate and build “a staff office building, horticulture complex, restrooms, a greenhouse, orchard pavilion and [six] workforce housing units.” —Noozhawk
••• The tree of the month is the tipu tree: “its aesthetic qualities have also been well appreciated—bright flowers and long weeping boughs—which add an exotic and tropical appearance to our landscapes.” —Edhat (photo by David Gress, courtesy Santa Barbara Beautiful)
················
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.
I’ve long thought the golf course is ripe for redevelopment. Though I do agree with the slippery slope concerns. That said, I am shocked to see the author says only 1,100-1,800 units? I would think there could be many more built on 42 acres? I asked Claude to calculate with 6 stories, parking, and floor plans from 1-3 bedrooms and it came up with 2,600 for whatever that’s worth. If this would ever be done, it needs to be maximum bang for buck and I don’t think 1,000 units justifies that. I suspect this will not be a popular idea but it’s always made a lot of sense to me so I’m glad to see it being talked about.
Thank goodness its not here, Ricks taking the hideous architecture on tour, it should fit in nicely in TO, they’ll just have to paint it brown. You would think his team could prepare renderings that aren’t AI generated cartoons.
There is merit to the golf course proposal, but I would think that SB should take a swing at redeveloping some of Earl Warren as a full or partial alternative. Perhaps it could be packaged with a rebuild of some of the dilapidated buildings at Earl Warren.
There needs to be some balance of equities here. If there is a community interest in public recreation, taking away to golf course while leaving Earl Warren empty most of the time and with vast, underutilized parking lots, etc. seems like a bad tradeoff for the community. If housing is built on the golf course, the community is left with less recreational facilities and an underutilized Earl Warren Showground.