Coastal ranch may be preserved

By MELINDA BURNS
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

A Santa Barbara investor known for supporting liberal causes is buying the El Capitan Ranch, one of the largest properties on the Gaviota Coast.

Chuck Blitz says that he and his partner, Roger Himovitz of Montecito, view their pending acquisition, which is in escrow, as a way to make money and do good at the same time. They are aware, Blitz said, that a local campaign is attempting to preserve the coastal land from Goleta to Point Conception as a national seashore; and that Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, has asked Congress to fund a study of the proposal.

"There's a lot of land to be protected on the coast," Blitz said. "Investors need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. We'd like to make money. We'd like to definitely do it in a way that leaves a legacy and, to the extent possible, is consistent with the vision that Lois and others have for the coast. The Gaviota Coast is a jewel that I hope we can find some strategy to protect."

The 2,900-acre ranch is located north of Highway 101 across from El Capitan State Beach and is being sold by Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. The listing price is $10.7 million. There is a privately owned campground on the southwest side of the property. Next to the ranch along the southeastern boundary is an avocado orchard with 20 homes -- one of the few small-lot subdivisions on the Gaviota Coast. Los Padres National Forest abuts the ranch on the northern boundary.

In 1970, one year after the disastrous oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel, El Capitan Ranch was the subject of a countywide referendum that effectively rejected housing development along that part of the coast. The voters overwhelmingly vetoed a county rezone that would have allowed Jules Berman, a real estate developer, to build 1,535 homes on the historic ranch.

Among those campaigning against the 1970 proposed rezone was the legendary Pearl Chase, the civic activist who directed the rebuilding of Santa Barbara after the 1925 earthquake. Another anti-development campaigner was Selma Rubin, a local environmentalist who was arrested after Berman accused her of electoral fraud. Rubin was later acquitted in court.

In 1976, the state considered buying the ranch from Berman to enlarge El Capitan State Beach park, but dropped the idea because the property was located inland from the shore, and its $2.5 million price tag was considered too high.

Blitz himself has a history in Santa Barbara of supporting liberal causes and political campaigns, both as a fund-raiser and a donor. During the mid-1980s, he used his own money to operate a homeless shelter at La Casa de la Raza. He met his investment partner, Himovitz, during the unsuccessful 1994 congressional campaign of the late Walter Capps, a Santa Barbara Democrat. The same year, Blitz threw his weight behind the successful campaign to prevent Michael Huffington, the former Republican congressman from Santa Barbara, from winning a seat in the Senate.

In 1997, Blitz, Himovitz and La Casa de Maria retreat center purchased the 138-acre Jesuit Novitiate property on Ladera Lane and East Valley Road in Montecito. La Casa de Maria retained 38 acres. The zoning for the remaining 100 acres allowed for 10 homes to be built. But Blitz and Himovitz secured county approval for a lot-line adjustment for a total of 14 homes in a project called Cima del Mundo. Then, they sold the 100 acres.

Blitz says he realizes that some environmentalists remain opposed to development of any kind on El Capitan Ranch. He declined to provide details about his plans for the property, saying only, "Everything is completely speculative, including whether we end up with it."

County planning and development officials said that Blitz had consulted them about whether it would be acceptable to develop large estates and set aside the balance of the ranch land in a preserve.

"No application has been filed with the county, but we have had informal conversations with Mr. Blitz about his concept to develop a small number of estates away from the highway and set aside the rest of the land in a preserve," said John Patton, director of Planning and Development. "A benefit of this approach is that a large chunk of the coast would be protected without the expenditure of public funds."

Patton also said that Blitz had talked about providing public access to the beach and constructing a public trail through the ranch to Los Padres National Forest.

Any development proposal for the ranch would have to be reviewed in public hearings held by the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, Patton said.

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