Montecito (Spanish for “Little mountain”) is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, Montecito sits between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and had a population of 8,638 in 2020. Montecito is best known as a “celebrity enclave”, owing to its concentration of prominent residents.
EARTHCOMB has removed over 11 tons of litter and hazardous material from Montecito, along the bluffs and across Union Pacific Railway and CalTrans properties. We work closely with Union Pacific, Montecito Sheriffs and Fire Dept, The Montecito Association, Hands Across Montecito, City Net, Marborg and CalTrans to gain legal and safe access to abandoned encampments for their removal.
The site of present-day Montecito, along with the entire south coast of Santa Barbara County, was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chumash Indians. The Spanish arrived in the 18th century but left the region largely unsettled while they built the Presidio and Mission Santa Barbara farther west.
In the middle of the 19th century, the area was known as a haven for bandits and highway robbers, who hid in the oak groves and canyons, preying on traffic on the coastal route between the towns that developed around the missions. By the end of the 1860s, the bandit gangs were gone, and Italian settlers arrived. Finding an area reminiscent of Italy, they built farms and gardens similar to those they had left behind.
Around the end of the 19th century, wealthy tourists from the eastern and midwestern United States began to buy land in the area. It was near enough to Santa Barbara for essential services while still being secluded. Desirable weather and several nearby hot springs offered the promise of comfortable, healthy living, in addition to the availability of affordable land.
Montecito was evacuated five times in four months between December 2017 and March 2018 because of weather-related events, which included the Thomas Fire, the 2018 Southern California mudflows, and flooding related to the Pineapple Express. The mudflows resulted in 20 reported deaths; 28 others were injured, and at least four people were reported missing. FEMA gave the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District $13.5 million dollars in 2020. The funds will be used to buy land in Montecito to construct an $18 million dollar project that will help control debris flows from San Ysidro Creek with a larger debris basin.
