Pools and Paths at the Land Use Meeting
The Montecito Association (MA) Land Use Committee (LUC) February meeting was held Tuesday, February 4, at the Montecito Library community room and on Zoom. The meeting was called to order by its Chair, Dorinne Lee Johnson. Attendees were the LUC members, Montecito residents, MA ED Houghton Hyatt, and Chip Wullbrandt of Price, Postel & Parma attorney representing Ty Warner’s Four Seasons Biltmore; SBC Public WorksDirector Chris Sneddon; Mostafa Estaji of SBC Public Works; Abe Powell of Bucket Brigade, Amy Alzina, Superintendent/Principal Cold Spring School; Aida Thau representing 1st District SBC Supervisor Roy Lee; Ryan Power, Montecito YMCA ED.
First up was Wullbrandt with the status of the Biltmore project. He thanked the LUC and Montecito Association, Thau, Sneddon, and his contractors. Wullbrandt adding,“We have started to dig the main larger swimming pool and have put in the proper drainpipes to secure it from the rains. Next week we can start the children’s pool, then the island and the pool shell. The rest of the project is going well. Ty has offered to pay for the repairs to the stairways that lead to Butterfly Beach from Channel Drive. We would like to get that done before summer and then work on the Hill Street project. The Coral Casino opened a temporary kitchen for members while Thomas Keller’s restaurant is being worked on. I am privileged to work for Ty, he saw the Miramar’s swim platforms, and he wanted to have swim platforms across from the Biltmore this summer. They will look like a giant monarch butterflies which is now an endangered species. We were required by SB County (SBC) to preserve the two cottages that were moved from the parking lot across the road, to do a historic report, a second historic report, and a peer review of both of the reports. SBC requires us to preserve the cottages and recommended to keep them as close to the site as possible. Ty owns the Breakers area and will put the two cottages there – each are 2,500 square feet to equal one 5,000 square foot house. MBAR wants us to move the driveway and paths around a bit. My personal goal to the contractors is the swimming pool be done by end of May. The challenge is the 130 employees, to get the opening date, and get everyone trained.”
Second was Sneddon who presented uninterrupted on the Montecito Paths Project. He had a slide show on the history of the paths and right-of-way. Sneddon, “There are guiding laws on transportation that we use at the SBC Public Works (PW) – ADA compliant, engineering design standards, the Montecito Community Plan (MCP), policies, etc.” He further discussed the pathway history. In 1992 Montecito Community Plan was created and in 1995 it was updated to include creating walking paths in Montecito, except no concrete paths or commercial paths. In 2005-07, the MA, Montecito Schools and stakeholders created a walk to school report and program. In 2010, MA adopted a pathways policy to accommodate safe pedestrian access. In 2011, PW made the bridge at Montecito YMCA, and the first paths on San Ysidro Road and N. Jameson to Montecito Union School. Detainments on the paths were PW’s focus on the two Montecito roundabouts, and the 2018 debris flow. In 2019 PW contracted with the Bucket Brigade – who has built two miles of paths – to do the remaining paths due to the SYR path having been very expensive. There are two main Road Right-of-Ways: Fee Owned Road Right-of-Way, where the property is owned by SBC and they pay the costs. The second is the Easement Right of Way, where the private property owner owns that area and has to pay for directives from PW. Anything in the Road Right-of-Way has to have a permit to be there. Encroachment Permits are revocable. Montecito is unique in that there are no concrete paths and there are many informal trails. If it’s a path that PW is building, it needs to be ADA compliant. The informal trails in Montecito are historic and don’t have the same requirements; it’s just about maintaining what’s there.
Sneddon concluded with clarifying why PW hired the BB saying, “Public Works working with the Bucket Brigade falls under the SBC Community Partnership roadway enhancement permits. It’s a streamline permit and you can get to work quickly. For the Montecito Neighborhood Trail, BB worked with the stakeholders on priorities. That includes lots of different trails, but PW is working on what’s in the road right-of-way. The BB is bringing a lot of resources to the table, money and people, outreach, making the projects faster. SBC PW builds concrete paths and does the grading for the paths.”
Johnson moderated a heated Q&A from the LUC Board and residents:
Q. What is the Design Review Process going forward?
Chris Sneddon (CS). Get a plan submitted, get it reviewed to meet the standards, and SBCPW goes out in the field during construction. Paths are not as rigorous as building a bridge.
Q. What is the mechanism for public input?
CS. Because of the MCP, there is a template for that. These paths are more built area by area. We already have the design template from the SYR path, and the design standards from the SBC. We [PW and the BB] work on it neighbor by neighbor to minimize impact. At San Leandro, lots of door knocking and a public meeting was held.
Q. What isthe process to determine where to build the paths?
CS. Technically we should be building them on every street. From the SBC perspective, our priority is safety, highest priority is safety for pedestrians, kids to school and senior centers, next is high volume roads and third is connectivity of roads that have pedestrian users or trail networks.
Q. Who has theresponsibility of trail maintenance?
CS. Generally the BB strategic plan process is maintenance. If something happens in the future, and it falls in the roadway, PW is responsible. Call us, we will figure out who is responsible and get it fixed.
Q. Where can people find info about the responsibilities of the property owner?
CS. It’s on our website. We do struggle getting the info out, but if there is residential turnover, they may not know. We walk people through the permit process.
Q. How are you getting around ADA compliance?
CS. The paths PW builds are ADA compliant. Hot Springs, Olive Mill, SYR – those are ADA compliant. There are informal trails that are not PW projects, like trails a property owner built, so they may not be ADA compliant. The minute PW spends money on it, it is necessarily ADA compliant.
Q. What about insurance in case anyone gets hurt, and water/drainage issues? The hedgerow is there for a reason, and there is no good reason to rip it out.
CS. There’s a couple issues. We start with a basic layout. Engineers review the complete package and during construction. Sycamore Canyon needs a closer look.
Putting paths in is not a flood control project, they are pedestrian projects. It’s vastly safer to walk on the paths and not the roadway. A path project does not fix flood control in Montecito, and we look at it to not make drainage worse in Montecito. I’m not going to talk about liability – anybody can sue anybody at any time. It comes down to how can you assign risk. We maintain the public road right-of-way. If someone puts something out there, they take on the risks of encroachment. We follow our design standards and practices for infrastructure, we minimize liability and risk. There is no such thing as ‘I have no liability.’ SBC is never going to sign an agreement that you are indemnified. [Wullbrandt agreed with Sneddon.] In an ideal world from the SBC perspective, everything would be done to standard and anything interfering, or an encroachment, would be taken away. We are complaint driven – reviewing and correcting those that do not meet our standards. What I will say is none of these paths the SBC is involved with are on someone’s property. If someone does put a path on their property, they need to have
that reviewed.
After Sneddon’s discussion, Powell addressed the LUC. “The important piece of history is that the MA adopted a policy that asks homeowners to clear five feet in front of their property to make room for people to walk, especially for children as part of a safe walk to school. It’s only fair to ask the question of the MA Board – are you asking people to do something with your policy that involves liability? Your pamphlet asks people to do this [he shows the MA board a pamphlet]. We, at the BB, out of the goodness of our hearts for the children and their parents, are trying to create safety for them. Please lead, follow or get out of the way for the safety of the kids.”
Next was Alzina. “There’s liability in everything. Let’s focus on what we can do, and that is to make what we currently have safe for our kids. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be perfect? No. But we have people willing to do the work. We at Cold Spring School want to work with you.” A Crane Country Day School parent said, “My kids go to school here and we value these trails so much for safety and thank the MA for having the trails. I was on the Crane School Board when we passed a resolution in favor of the trails five years ago.”
You might also be interested in...
