Oprah Winfrey has amassed a formidable assortment of Montecito actual property over the past 20 years.
However the media mogul’s newest headline within the luxurious neighborhood will not be a couple of home, however a wall — one which neighbors concern would possibly reroute flooding onto their properties throughout the subsequent rainstorm.
After months of heavy rainfall and flooding throughout the neighborhood, a boulder wall was put in alongside San Ysidro Creek, which runs alongside Winfrey’s property, to guard the property from flooding and creek erosion, in accordance with Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk.
It’s an inexpensive precaution; Montecito has lengthy been susceptible to climate disasters, together with a 2018 mudslide filmed by Winfrey that killed 23 individuals, quite a few whom had been swept into San Ysidro Creek. Earlier this yr, the world was evacuated when a storm swept via the neighborhood.
However residents concern that the wall may redirect the creek, pushing floodwater onto different properties throughout intense rainfall.
“You’ll be able to’t alter creek canals and never count on there to be outcomes,” Sharon Byrne, government director of the Montecito Assn., stated in an interview with Noozhawk. “Don’t change the creeks. They’ll shift and transfer on their very own.”
The wall was reportedly put in by Jimenez Nursery, which obtained a allow to construct it on Feb. 1, just a few weeks after the world was evacuated. The allow sought to reconstruct the creek financial institution after the flood and substitute boulders that had both eroded or washed away.
This month, a gaggle of officers and inspectors met on the wall to research the mission after a criticism was filed with the county. John Zorovich, a deputy director for the Santa Barbara County Planning & Growth Division, advised SF Gate that an investigation was ongoing.
The wall was constructed on Winfrey’s Santa Rosa Lane property, which she purchased at public sale for $28.85 million in 2015. On the time of the sale, the 23-acre property generally known as Seamair Farm held a ranch-style dwelling constructed by prolific architect Cliff Could in addition to equestrian services akin to a secure, barn, using rings and a horse coach’s home.
The property was an growth of “the Promised Land,” Winfrey’s well-known predominant residence that she picked up for round $50 million in 2001. The 42-acre unfold facilities on a 23,000-square-foot Georgian-style mega-mansion overlooking the ocean.
