Article taken from the Santa
Barbara News Press
Published with permission
Walk on Bacara beach leads
to tiff, reveals Goleta rift
Dispute comes as
hotel seeks permission for 62 new suites
By
THOMAS SCHULTZ
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
09/08/05
 |
|
 |
|
A new dispute over public access to Haskell's Beach at Bacara Resort & Spa pits an upset Goleta councilman against managers who say the upscale, 360-room hotel did nothing wrong during preparations for an Aug. 19 wedding party.
The disagreement threatens to blow open a rift between Goleta officials. On Wednesday, Mayor Jean Blois said Councilman Jack Hawxhurst should be censured for "overt behavior" during an Aug. 19 visit he made to Bacara, one that drew the attention of law enforcement officials and, in recent days, attorneys.
The city and seaside resort have a history of strained relations. Incoming City Manager Daniel Singer, who starts work Monday, recently said improving the relationship ranks among his top priorities.
As Mr. Hawxhurst tells it, he visited Bacara on Aug. 19 for a beach walk.
"I found quite a production going on there," he said Wednesday, describing trucks, inch-thick electrical cables, stage show rigging systems, serving tables, speakers, spotlights, generators and other equipment or near emergency and public access areas.
"If you want to go to the beach and what you find going on there is a 400-person special event, a rock concert or something, you are denied from doing the thing you expected to do," Mr. Hawxhurst said. "That is basically what is going on. The issue is, when does this begin to deter the public?"
Mr. Hawxhurst called the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, which sent a deputy. An incident report was unavailable Wednesday, but the wedding did proceed.
As Bacara attorney Richard Monk tells it, the hotel did nothing wrong.
In an Aug. 30 letter to Mr. Hawxhurst, Mr. Monk states that "you, in an abusive manner and without identifying yourself, demanded that the lighting contractors remove the set-up."
"Bacara and its employees were acting properly when they were confronted by you," the letter states. "It is indeed unfortunate that your misunderstanding of the public access versus private property areas of the (Bacara) project has been elevated to an unnecessary public debate."
Mr. Monk reiterated on Wednesday that the lines dividing public access from private property at Bacara are "crystal clear."
Mr. Hawxhurst said he is preparing a letter of his own, seeking clarification on the matter from the city of Goleta and the state Coastal Commission.
He denied being abusive.
"Obviously that is a construct," Mr. Hawxhurst said. "Attorneys, they create a picture by weaving words. It doesn't mean it has anything based in fact.
"There's not yet a fight, but I'm really hoping to resolve this in a quasi-final fashion sometime over the next few months."
Land-use consultant John Davies, a Bacara spokesman, suggested that Mr. Hawxhurst seek answers through proper channels without taking matters into his own hands. "It's fine for him to question something and go find out the facts. You just don't do it in that manner."
Any investigation into the matter is likely to focus on what parts of the Bacara property are for public access and which areas are deemed private. While Mr. Hawxhurst, for example, suggests that the Coastal Commission intended that a grassy picnic area at the heart of the dispute be public, Mr. Monk says the lawn located near Bacara's snack bar is private.
According to Mr. Monk, public access is limited to easements, which include a lateral easement across the sandy beach, others for equestrian trails, the public walkway to the beach and the public parking lot.
Conflict between Bacara and elements of the Goleta community have simmered for years. Some residents deeply resent that the 73-acre hotel was built on a popular coastal wildland.
Disputes between Goleta and Bacara intensified in late 2003, when upset residents called for overnight public parking at the resort. Their cause was eventually backed and enforced by the Coastal Commission.
The new rift comes as Bacara seeks permission to build more than than five dozen suites in a proposal submitted to Goleta early this year. Although city officials have called the project an expansion, resort managers describe it as an expected second phase -- a distinction that could significantly affect how the plan for 62 two- and three-bedroom units is perceived by slow-growth council members.
Alone amid that slow-growth majority is Ms. Blois, who backs developers more often than her council counterparts. Given her minority position on the council, she acknowledged that any effort to censure Mr. Hawxhurst probably would not pass.
On Wednesday, nevertheless, she expressed dismay with Mr. Hawxhurst's behavior.
"I'm not happy with it," she said. "Whether you are an activist or not, when you become a council member and you are sworn in to represent the whole community, you have to quit being an activist with a capital 'A.' I guess that's my hang-up. This is private property."
e-mail: tschultz@newspress.com