••• Thanks to BW for pointing out that the 265-acre lot known as 0 More Mesa, on the market for $50 million since August 2019, has gone into escrow. Saudi Arabian developer Khalid S. Al Shobily bought it in 2012 for $25 million, and there are a lot of restrictions on what can be done with the property, as the listing attempted to explain at one point: “It is made up of legally subdivided 6 lots yet physically it is one single lot. Although the requirement in that location is 30% of the size of this land can be a buildable area being 80 acres yet the county compelled by the environmentalists to allow only 15% being 40 acres.” Still, I could see someone building a personal compound there—and as a bonus, you get a nude beach.
••• I finally heard back from the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department about the holdup at Plaza de Vera Cruz, the strip of park running between E. Cota and E. Haley: “The delay for the completion of the work at Plaza Vera Cruz has been largely due to staffing resources. We still have some planter bed remediation and some gopher control work that we are working on and we will likely have that wrapped up by the first week of April. Our Recreation Division is currently working on programing youth camp activities for the site and the fencing will remain in place for Covid safety protocols and security through its duration.”
••• From the county Public Health Department: “Beginning March 15, the mobile Covid-19 testing unit is moving to Santa Barbara. The mobile unit will be located in the waterfront parking lot [near the Cabrillo Pavilion] at 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara. Covid-19 testing will be available from 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Monday–Friday for a minimum of two weeks and available to all community members.” There’s no mention of the cost.
••• The Zillow listing for the fascinating house at 117 Crestview Lane—it’s the one with the crenellated tower—says the property has been on the market for a few days, with no mention whatsoever that it actually came on in July 2019. The accurate price history from Realtor.com is pictured below. Always do your due diligence, folks.
••• Having skipped permission, the Montecito Club is seeking forgiveness. On the agenda of the March 22 meeting of the city’s Architectural Board of Review: “Proposal to permit as-built family recreational site improvements to the event lawn of the Montecito Country Club. The project includes permitting a children’s sliding hill, three athletic hard courts, sand volleyball court, turf soccer field, batting cage, an unroofed trellis, 1,300 linear feet of dry stacked boulder retaining walls, and related directional signage, hardscape, landscape, and grading. The project must be found by the Community Development Director to be in Substantial Conformance with the original project approved under PLN2005-00831, and feedback from the Planning Commission on the requested changes is required.” It’s kind of amusing that the club isn’t technically in Montecito.
••• Got old tools you don’t know what to do with?
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