By Sam Womack/Staff Writer

 

 

An 80-room hotel, resort and restaurant with an additional 81 unattached studios proposed for the La Purisima Golf Course was denied Tuesday by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, citing various reasons including protection agricultural resources, setting a precedent for future projects and the lack of a substantial public benefit. Above, Josh Wood, practices Feb.11 at the driving range.//Staff file

An 80-room hotel, resort and restaurant with an additional 81 unattached studios proposed for the La Purisima Golf Course was effectively killed in a 3-2 vote Tuesday by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
 

Asserting that the project was precedent-setting and an abuse of agricultural land, supervisors Doreen Farr, Janet Wolf and Salud Carbajal stopped the plan in its beginning stages.
 

The board vote essentially told developer Ken Hunter that it would be a waste of time and money to go through an environmental review and study process, because there was no chance of it ever getting approved, according to county CEO Mike Brown.
 

“I'm very disappointed,” said Hunter, a Santa Ynez Valley resident and owner of the golf course. “They passed up a golden opportunity.”
 

Hunter, who has been working on the project with the county Planning and Development Department for two years, was before the board Tuesday requesting approval for initiation of the General Plan amendment process.
 

The 300-acre golf course on Highway 246 near Lompoc is zoned for agriculture. To approve the project, the supervisors would have had to amend the General Plan to approve the urban development in a rural area.
 

Hunter countered criticisms of his 60,000-square-foot hotel, saying that the golf course was experiencing financial challenges and a wine-country resort is exactly what the North County wine industry needs.

Many in the public agreed, including Dennis Anderson, president and CEO of the Lompoc Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau.

“Vintners and the community are hungry for world-class accommodations,” Anderson told the board.

Supervisor Joni Gray, whose district includes the project area, made an unsuccessful motion to allow the project to succeed.

“It's very important to the Lompoc (community) that they have a crack at this,” Gray said, “so that something real can come back to the board rather than a great deal of speculation and fear.”

County staff had offered a series of options that could allow for the construction of the resort on agricultural land, but the move held the potential of opening up other rural properties, including one on the Gaviota Coast, to commercial zoning.

“We're not asking for approval, just to initiate the (environmental) study,” Hunter said. “Don't send the message that the board is more bound to precedent than a project's benefits to the community.”

The three supervisors who voted down the project offered various reasons, including protection of agricultural resources, setting a precedent for future projects and the lack of a substantial public benefit.

The supervisors also received a recommendation to deny the hotel and resort from the Agricultural Advisory Committee, while the county Planning Commission was split 2-2 on the controversial project.