The Big Yellow House is Back

MY TURN

by Isaac M. Pachulski

The Miramar Hostage Situation

O

ver the last decade or so, I’ve watched various proposals and the “progress” of the Miramar Hotel project with great personal interest, because I’m co-owner of a house that borders the hotel property. One of the things that attracted us to the house when we bought it was the idea that a luxury hotel would soon be replacing the ruins of the old Miramar. We could never have imagined, then, that 15 years later the site would still be vacant despite plan approvals dating back to 2009. While we liked some of the proposed plans more than others, we supported them all, in concept (and never tried to stand in the way), until Rick Caruso voluntarily returned to the county planning process just last year to revise an already approved plan. The new plan he unveiled contained dramatically reduced onsite parking, among other changes. When we took a look at that plan, we realized that it would convert our quiet Montecito lane into a major thoroughfare for the hotel and that it would dump the burden of hotel and beach club parking squarely onto our community. We were concerned that these disruptive changes would destroy the character of our neighborhood. We raised those concerns first to the Caruso project staff, and then in a letter to the Montecito Planning Commission prior to its December meeting. This is why last week’s Montecito Journal’s editorial has me puzzled. In it, assistant editor Bob Hazard refers to Miramar developer Caruso praying “that the Montecito Planning Commission votes ‘No’ on the Miramar, giving him the ‘green light’ to go directly to the board of supervisors to override further delay of a project that has already been held hostage for nearly a decade.” Held hostage? Are you kidding? Caruso has had a green-lit project in his hands with building permits since 2009 and hasn’t built so much as a beach umbrella. If anyone were holding the Miramar hostage it would have to be Mr. Caruso himself. Let’s take a quick look at the history of the project under Caruso: In 2007, he buys the property from Ty Warner. By the end of 2008, county supervisors have approved his plans. An appeal by neighbors ties it up for another few months, but by April 2009 Caruso is free of any issues relating to the plan approval process and has permits in hand. He is “totally committed,” to use his own words, to begin construction by late 2009. But construction did not begin. In March 2010, Caruso comes back to the board of supervisors, asking for a permit extension on the project because he says he’s having trouble financing the hotel. The supervisors vote unanimously to extend his permits by another year to buy him time. Some hostage taking! A year later, in March 2011, the Miramar project is back before the supervisors, this time with Caruso’s right-hand man on the project, Matt Middlebrook, asking that the county both extend the project permits by three years and also that they accept a scaled-down version of the project with fewer rooms and less onsite parking in order to reduce construction costs. Middlebrook says, “We’re confident this is the plan that can get it done.” The supervisors vote unanimously, again, to both extend the building permits through March 2015 and to give Caruso the project modifications that he says he needs to make the project fly. Again, what kind of hostage-taking is this? A full year later, there’s still no ground broken on the Miramar Hotel but Caruso is back before the county supervisors, asking for an $18-million bed-tax break that he says is necessary to get the project built. The supervisors vote to give it to him, with the caveat that he must pay prevailing wages for construction workers. Caruso walks away from the offer. A month later, Caruso goes to the County Tax Assessor’s office asking that the Miramar property be reassessed from his purchase price of $50 million down to a mere $5.5 million, which probably is not much more than what single-family homes in that neighborhood can sell for. Caruso argues that the reduced assessment is needed to keep the project financially viable. The county doesn’t grant his full request, but it reduces the assessed value of the property to $30.7 million, thereby saving hundreds of thousands in property taxes per year. Construction on the hotel still does not begin. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point. This is a case of “Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice, shame on me.” We’ve been fooled so many times by Rick Caruso’s promises to finish what he started that the shame is really on us if we buy into his story that he’s the victim of the Montecito community or our agencies. The fact is that he’s back asking for changes to the project that will make it more profitable for him, while unloading the parking problems and traffic impacts of the hotel onto the surrounding neighborhood for generations. We, as the owners of neighboring property that will feel these impacts, have every right to raise our concerns and be heard as part of the public process. Nobody is holding Mr. Caruso hostage. He has permission to build the 2011 •MJ plan that was approved by the supervisors and that he’s been sitting on. 15 – 22 January 2015

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