Tony Vincent wants to provide a legacy for his family. He’s already built a house on the land he bought in the Los Olivos area. It took eight months. When he started the house, he also began a winery and tasting room. Two years have passed, and Vincent is still trying to wade his way through the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development bureaucratic mire.
“There is so much analysis, they are into paralysis,” he said of the trials he’s faced while navigating the county’s land use ordinances and permitting process.
Vincent has already acquiesced to several demands from the community and the Planning Commission. The permit for the winery would normally allow Vincent to hold 12 to 14 special events per year for more than 150 people each, but at the request of the Planning Commission, he downgraded that number to eight events.
He changed his original roof plans, too. Vincent thought it would be nice to have elegant Spanish tile top his winery, but he switched to a metal “barn” look the Planning Commission wanted. He said he’s even willing to fund improvements to Highway 154 that aren’t on his side of the highway, despite the fact that two traffic studies have shown there’s no need for such a move.
With all the hearings, studies, and changes, Vincent has already spent in excess of $50,000 on a project that has yet to break ground.
According to County Planner John Karamitsos, Vincent has accumulated 246.7 planner hours for the project. Each of those planner hours—the amount of time a county employee spends on a project—comes with a $184.53 price tag. That means Vincent has racked up $45,523.55 worth of county work. On top of that, there’s the cost of a land-use permit, which can total more than $10,000.
While Vincent is a developer from West Hollywood, he doesn’t attribute the hold-up to his being from out of the area.
“I have never encountered so much bureaucracy, bouncing the ball back and forth,” said Vincent, who has bought properties in places he was told would be difficult to develop. “I don’t understand why they don’t cooperate within the ordinances.”
But land developers aren’t the only ones feeling the squeeze. Local business owners and landowners are struggling as well, even if they already have existing buildings. County permitting fees have driven businesses in Old Town Orcutt to put up banners in lieu of brick-and-mortar signs. Other people, not wanting to deal with an extensive process so they can hold a single-day event, have decided to ignore the permitting process altogether.
Over the last several months, the county has been dealing with backlash from people holding non-permitted events—such as weddings, for a profit—on private property. Some outspoken residents have claimed that their neighbors are taking advantage of a loophole in the county ordinance by leasing their property to others for temporary use. The frequency of the events spurred the neighbors to bring the situation to the county’s attention.
County Planner Kim Probert said the county runs on a complaint basis. Officials don’t send agents looking for these kinds of permit violations and have yet to implement a process aimed at streamlining single-day event permitting. If local leaders do put such a rule into place, it could change the way people do business and hold events in Santa Barbara County. However, some people feel it could be just another net to bring in money.
Kevin Gotchal, pastor of South Valley Community Church in Orcutt, said he has to pay a fee every year for the fire department to send someone out to inspect his church. Last year, the fee was $145.
“[Whether] they are sitting at the firehouse doing nothing or they’re coming down and inspecting, [it] doesn’t cost the county any more than the vehicle ride in the fire truck from point A to point B,” Gotchal said, pointing out that the fire fighters would be paid for just sitting at the firehouse.
And the fire inspection isn’t the only ordinance Gotchal isn’t happy with.
“You are supposed to get a permit if you want to change your water heater out,” he said. “On and on it goes to the point where government is nothing more than Big Brother looking over your shoulder every time you look around.”
He went on to lament how an organization can’t hold a simple barbecue fundraiser anymore without conforming to a long list of ordinances: an 820-page tome regulating any possible use of land owned by residents in the county.
“’Tis easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. That’s pretty much how I look at it. What I don’t know, I’m not responsible for,” Gotchal said.
The county development code states that it is “adopted to protect and to promote the public health, safety, comfort, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare of residents, and businesses in the county.”
There are many opinions out there about the process. Large developers and small nonprofits alike must soldier through the bureaucracy. Some, like Gotchal, are upset with the restrictions the county puts on landowners; others, like Vincent, are frustrated with the number of hoops they must jump through; and some have been driven so far as to ignore the ordinances all together.
As things stand, people with land they want to use are left with several nebulous, gray areas to choose from, including paying thousands of dollars for permission to build or to hold events, or just doing it and hoping they won’t get caught.
Contact contributor Michael McCone through Executive Editor Ryan Miller at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2011.