Rick Caruso vs. Santa Barbara - On Accepting Real Estate Developers

Published December 11, 2024.

By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

The Santa Barbara County Supervisors rejected a total of 5 appeals against the proposed expansion of the Rosewood Miramar Resort, a new record in Santa Barbara County history, by a vote of 5-0 on Tuesday, December 10, after several hours of hearings, public comment, and presentations. Billionaire Los Angeles real estate developer Rick Caruso took the lead for his eponymous firm in making the closing case, joking that he might use all of his time before yielding to Senior Director, Development, Katie Mangin, his son Justin Caruso, a Manager with the firm, and Senior Vice President for Planning and Development, Chris Robertson. Weeks before on November 1, the former mayoral candidate in Los Angeles had declined to speak in winning approval 4-0 from the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission after Robertson dispatched the Montecito Planning Commission. “Success is built on the well-being of their people,” Caruso said about good leaders before flattering the Supervisors, declaring that Santa Barbara was “best in class.” A challenge in the California Coastal Commission likely awaits the project next.

County Planning Staff had recommended approval for the project while noting 9 areas in which “Issues” had been raised: Construction Impacts, CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), Traffic and Parking, GHG Emissions (Green House Gasses), Evacuation, Lack of a Fair and Impartial Hearing, Coastal Access, Flood Zone Concerns, and Inconsistent Planning. None really mattered—the allure of tax dollars along with progress toward affordable housing goals in the form of employee-only housing—the deal was done. All Supervisors disclosed in their ex parte conversations having met with Rick Caruso to discuss the project, some more than others, and it was clear that challenges against the project, which is in two parts, were going to fail. For his part, Caruso, who might be the most successful developer in all of Los Angeles County, had recently led the vaunted University of Southern California Real Estate Team to victory over the University of California, Los Angeles. This was not a man who fails, even if sometimes forced to compromise on some of the details.

Link: https://zacharyellison.substack.com/p/part-138-rick-caruso-vs-santa-barbara