The Realtors showed up in Santa Barbara’s City Council chambers this Tuesday armed with double the petition signatures needed to qualify a ballot measure for this fall’s election that would eliminate the controversial Zoning Inspection Report (ZIR), which even its supporters admit is seriously flawed. On the other side sat City Attorney Ariel Calonne — nursing an ailing Achilles tendon — who insisted the Realtors’ measure could not withstand legal challenge. The city’s General Plan, he stated, specifically requires ZIRs whenever residential properties are sold. He described the initiative as a legal “nullity.” But with Mayor Cathy Murillo the only councilmember actually supporting the ZIRs, the apparent stand-off proved more smoke than actual fire.
The council was in the mood for a compromise that would leave the program standing, but in name only. That would satisfy the legal concerns that Calonne had warned about while making the Realtors’ threat of a special ballot election — which would have cost City Hall $200,000 — go away. Four years ago the Grand Jury issued a scathing report against ZIRs, and Realtors have long been outraged over them. Councilmembers Randy Rowse and Meagan Harmon, it turned out, had recently burnt up their cell phones trying to craft a compromise the Realtors could live with. They succeeded. The deal sailed through on a 5-2 vote, with Murillo and Sneddon opposing.
The Realtors have agreed to keep their initiative off the November ballot — which will save the city $200,000 in election costs. In exchange, the council agreed to suspend the ZIR program immediately, meaning no more on-site inspections. (As a practical matter, those inspections had already ceased in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the Association of Realtors and backed by the Pacific Legal Foundation. Though that lawsuit ultimately failed, it inspired significant changes; inspections took place strictly on a “drive-by” basis.) Under the new deal, the only information provided to prospective buyers will be what’s in the street file and can already be read by anyone with access to the city’s online property registry.