Speak Up:
Do you have a planning/permitting story that needs telling?
We are interested in factual stories, good or bad, about your encounters with the planning process and the various committees, boards, and individuals that you have encountered. We are not interested in and will not publish name-calling, personal attacks, or political diatribes. Please send your story to:
Be sure to include your name, email, and telephone number in case we need to contact you to verify facts. We will post your story without identifying you if you wish. Your personal information will remain
VOM takes no position on the decisions made in the following cases. Our concern is with the length and fairness of the process.
Do you think a 30 year delay in Westmont College's development plan is fair?
Scroll down for latest news.
From the Montecito Journal online archive, 9/14/2006:
"The new new version of Westmont College's masterplan update that gives greater emphasis to the 111-acre campus's natural surroundings. Note the flat roofs, which will each have green plantings. 88 of the 111 acres will remain green space ...Despite praises, critics say changes are nothing more than "window dressing".
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From the Montecito Journal online archive 11/23/2006:
"...[After 12 hearings]...The Westmont College Master Plan update was finally approved 5-0 by the Montecito Planning Commission on November 9th. Before permission to go ahead was given, fully 116 separate conditions had been imposed on the private college..."
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From the Montecito Journal online archive12/7/2006:
"Westmont Approval Leads to Double Appeal
Project Opponents Indicate They Will Sue If They Have to"
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From The Santa Barbara Independent of 2/21/2007:
By J'Amy Brown
View original article online at: http://www.independent.com/online_onlys/montecito_montage/ent.com/online_onlys/2007/02/westmonts_wins_waters_raises_a_1.html
has been a hub of exhilaration this week.
In just seven days, the small Christian college announced a new president, won a
double-appeal at the Board of Supervisors, and hosted a well-rounded and
well-attended discussion about our flat, but never dull, world.
Traffic and parking were at the heart of Tuesday’s BOS appeal issues. The Board of Supervisors unanimously granted Westmont’s appeal, reversing a Montecito Planning Commission condition that set the number of average daily car trips to and from Westmont at 3,350. At a late November MPC hearing, Westmont volunteered to cap the traffic to 3,500 average daily trips but MPC, after listening to neighborhood frustration, thought the 3,500 trips might have too much impact. They reduced the allotment to 3,350. Westmont did not fancy their voluntary offer being chiseled away, so they sought BOS relief, and Tuesday they got everything they asked for.
The three-hour-plus BOS hearing was the last county stop on the seven-year Westmont campus-expansion-permit-march, but there is at least one lawsuit pending, and Montage hears there may be more court-required action in the pipeline. With legal issues still in the air, Westmont cannot begin construction on their dream campus, and the years of frustration and public debate have created plenty of rancors [sic] from all sides. ... [more online]
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Did you know that under the current system, the planners can tell you what trees you can and cannot plant on your own property? At whim?
It actually happened recently.
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Are you pleased that the Miramar Hotel has been an eyesore for so long instead of generating jobs and tax revenue?
Then:
Now: January 11, 2007
