After reading the recent piece about the Hot Springs trail relating to our family's plan to construct a single-family home on the parcel we bought over 26 years ago, I was encouraged by a friend to share our perspective seeing how we are directly referenced and naturally affected by this story. I feel the article from June 28 does a great job touching on many of the moving parts and perspectives. I thought with all that's stirring up, our lived experience owning the land since 1998 and the epic journey of attempting to get a land use permit since ’04 might be relevant and important if there were to be any further developments and clarity added to this saga.
For added context about the applicants, we have been part of the local community since 1999 with my folks living here five to six months out of the year in an old Victorian house we restored together near the mission. Theirs is a real American immigrant story, and even though octogenarians, they are still working at the factory they founded and built from scratch a few years after they were married in ‘62. I designed this house as a tribute to them, after I moved here from Pasadena in ’08. I love participating in the arts in Santa Barbara. In the last decade, I have founded a tech platform and company in town that focuses on social and environmental data solutions.
What was originally estimated to be a two- to four-year wait to secure approval has now been 20 years and counting since we were issued the initial grading permit. We proved the viability of the property’s water sourcing and leach field, and successfully jumped through a seemingly infinite number of hoops while seeking a permit to build a single-family residence.