The start of work on a new housing development on the South Coast has prompted some demonstrators to block construction crews, leading to eight arrests.
The property is next to the San Marcos Preserve, which is in the foothills above Santa Barbara just east of Highway 154 on San Marcos Pass.
The Chadmar Group has permits to build eight luxury homes on the property. The developer worked out a deal years ago in which it donated 200 of the 300 acres of land for preservation as a nature preserve. As a part of the deal, it received permission to build the eight homes on a portion of the remaining 100 acres.
The non-profit group Channel Islands Restoration has been raising money to try to buy the remaining property from the developer, to preserve it. But, a group of people unrelated to the non-profit held the protest as part of an effort to stop the project.
