"Silence, you imbecile! Now go fetch me my whole hog sandwich and don't forget the diet pepsi!!
Posted on 03/04/2003 6:57:52 AM PST by Inspectorette
Oprah free to expand after "oversight"
County's OK of plan doesn't hush fed-up neighbors
3/4/03
By JENNIFER GOLLAN
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Despite complaints from Oprah Winfrey's neighbors, Santa Barbara County zoning officials approved a comprehensive development plan for Ms. Winfrey's $50 million Montecito estate, but conceded it should have happened before construction was started.
The talk-show host and magazine owner bought the 40-acre "Tara II" in 2001 and soon after began to renovate her Georgian-style mansion, as well as expand her rose garden and convert a garage into a media room.
Although she acquired individual permits for the work, the county did not receive an overall plan for the existing 62,000 square feet of buildings on the estate. Since June 1998, the county has required such "as-built development plans" for projects that exceed 20,000 square feet, before new construction begins.
The plan approved Monday includes all the construction that Ms. Winfrey has already completed, as well as an environmental review.
"We find ourselves in a very complicated situation," said Steve De Camp, county zoning administrator for the Planning and Development Department. "Normally, when we deal with an as-built (development plan), we don't have hammers going on in the background."
Although conceding the oversight, Mr. De Camp defended the county's actions. "There is nothing that occurred on that property that wouldn't have been approved incrementally."
But he added, "I will ask the staff to review our records to see what happened, to see if there was an earlier point where we could have looked at the permits."
The county's piecemeal oversight of Ms. Winfrey's estate is similar to the project-by-project approval of the amusement park at Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch in Los Olivos. The extent of the singer's Disney-like property was featured in a television documentary last month that prompted questions about how the amusement park was approved.
In 2002, the Planning and Development Department found that several acres on the southeastern corner of Ms. Winfrey's estate had been graded without a permit. She then applied, and received approval, from the county.
The estate, built in 1934, comprises a 19,826-square-foot mansion, 3,014-square-foot guest house, a barn, tennis court, pool, an orchard, several ponds and a lake, at 390 Santa Rosa Lane at East Valley Road. Ms. Winfrey, worth an estimated $1 billion according to Forbes magazine's 2003 list of the world's richest people, has a staff of 11 -- seven landscapers, two housekeepers and two security guards.
Ms. Winfrey's neighbors say they are fed up with the commotion from the construction work. On Monday morning, a crane, two tractor-trailers and a back hoe were parked at the rear entrance.
The upkeep for the estate's gardens alone requires substantial equipment, said Lansing Duncan, who attended Monday's hearing as a representative for neighbors Laurie and Leslie Cummins.
But while Ms. Winfrey stays out of the fray using the front entrance off East Valley Road, neighbors say they are left contending with a slew of problems, including noise, increased traffic and environmental effects, around the rear entrance on Santa Rosa Lane.
"The continued use of the Santa Rosa Lane 'service entrance' as a long-term construction entry with loading and unloading, vehicle and material storage area, and deliveries, is a nuisance and a hazard inappropriate to this residential neighborhood," said Mr. Duncan, a landscape designer and former planning commissioner.
As part of Monday's plan approval, the county will require that all construction materials and equipment be hidden from view from the street.
Other neighbors expressed concerns that if the Planning and Development Department's failure to require an as-built development plan were any indication, they would perhaps be left out of future decisions when it comes to the neighborhood.
"If there is a proposal, we don't want it to be blanketed," said David Shaw, Ms. Winfrey's neighbor to the west. "This is a very professional outfit. I would just hate to think they aren't getting the proper permits."
Mr. De Camp addressed this concern: "We recognized that projects occurred and are occurring out there and established a baseline for future projects. It is important to maintain careful records so we don't find ourselves reviewing as-built development projects where significant construction has already occurred."
Ms. Winfrey's attorney, Mark S. Manion of Price, Postel and Parma, defended his client's development at the hearing.
"There has been no property in Montecito that has undergone more review," Mr. Manion said. "This doesn't give us wholesale access for future projects. It is so limited."
But as Dianne Meester, director of the Planning and Development Department pointed out, "It should have had a development plan once the rule was instituted in 1998."
The previous owners applied for multiple permits after the new rule went into effect.
Bob Greene, who represents Ms. Winfrey's estate, declined comment, as did a spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey.
Oversight not withstanding, seen a pic of her lately?
...she's been *expanding* all along.
Only one guest house? The piker!
Not to be too priggish, here; but don't you mean, "couldn't care less"?
I mean if she could care less, she would. Right? {g}
Here's how it works using my POV as an example:
*I* couldn't care less what Oprah does or doesn't do, in Malibu.
...see? :o)
Preaches like an impoverished socialist- lives like a potentate.
"Silence, you imbecile! Now go fetch me my whole hog sandwich and don't forget the diet pepsi!!
If by too many you mean a few boxcars full?
Well, yea. ;^)
It's safe to assume she fired her Chef who'd been preparing her all that yummy diet food.
Still?
...I should say you're being rather charitable to the old girl. {g}
HA!!
Really had me going there for a minute; whatwith, the *likeness* being such a close match & all?
Yea, ya sure did.
...'til I noticed *it* was calling for, "diet Pepsi."
One must uphold one's public image of sticking to one's dietary habits
I agree, however, in this case there is an adverse impact on her neighbors. Who knows - it may be sour grapes. Perhaps some of them have attempted to do the same thing and were not allowed to.
Gone With The Wndbag
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.