At the ocean-front Bacara Resort, a temporary wall keeps the 1,500-square-foot beach house from falling into the waves. A lot has changed since the luxury resort was finished in 2000: The City of Goleta formed in 2002, and climate change became physically evident. But the memory of the bitter fight to stop the resort from being built has not been forgotten. It was a repeated theme at Goleta's Design Review Board meeting on Tuesday afternoon, at which Bacara presented plans to place a new "beach house" 180 feet to the northeast of the current one, beyond the 50-year wave run-up and sea-level-rise zones.
Back in the late 1990s, the resort's approval by the county was contingent on developers Alvin Dworman and Hyatt Hotels providing public access to Haskell's Beach and amenities like bathrooms, showers, and a snack bar. And it was approved over serious opposition from Chumash tribal members, surfers, beachgoers, amateur historians, and rank-and-file residents. Some feared the development opened the door to building up and down the Gaviota Coast; others preferred to keep the jungle-like surf spot isolated and the archaeological remains unmolested. Boardmember Karis Clinton recalled that those who endorsed the project came to regret it.
Now owned by the Ritz-Carlton chain, Bacara plans to put the new beach house along an emergency access road used by the fire department for water-rescue exercises and by the State Lands Commission for old oil structure removal from the beach. It would actually be two buildings: one a snack shop, the other to contain four separate toilet rooms. Their combined 607 square feet eliminate unneeded storage space and queuing areas. Boardmember Craig Shallanberger stated that Bacara's original developer had gone for the maximum square footage for the beach house.