Ellwood residents who like the bluffs as they are, rejoice: The California Coastal Commission on Wednesday night approved the Ellwood-Devereux Land Swap and the proposed development of Comstock Homes.

What does that mean?

"Basically, the Ellwood Mesa is saved," Friends of the Ellwood Coast vice-president Kevin Barthel said.

The approval caps the years-long campaign to keep the 137 acres of blufftop land, which overlooks the ocean, from being developed with housing.

"The city of Goleta did such a fine job with Comstock on this project that we got Coastal Commission approval on the first try, which is an amazing feat," Barthel said. "We brought them a project they could not refuse."

Developer Bob Comstock said he felt "terrific. Euphoric. It was a real good collaboration with a lot of smart people who stuck together and got it done."

Comstock said the only discretionary approval left comes Jan. 19, from the Goleta Design Review Board (DRB). He said he expected approval without complications. On Jan. 5, the plan came before the DRB, which requested only minor adjustments, Comstock said.

He said the plan is to get all the maps and details in place by Jan. 31. "It’s just dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s with all the paperwork" at this point, he said. On that date, ownership of the blufftop parcel will transfer from Comstock to the Trust for Public Land, which will pass it on to the city of Goleta. The city will administer it as a park.

Comstock had praise for the city, as well. "They’ve done a great job working with us to better the plan," he said.

Former Coastal Commissioner and Santa Barbara Assemblyman Pedro Nava was delighted by the news.

"The first bottle of champagne is on me, and I couldn’t be happier," Nava said.

Nava had not heard of the transaction’s completion. He had spent the day touring sites affected by this week’s flooding and landslides, along with County Supervisor Salud Carbajal and representatives from the offices of Congresswoman Lois Capps and Senator Dianne Feinstein.

"The people who deserve credit are the community and the folks who pulled this together and made this happen," he said.

The two-year campaign to raise $20.4 million for the bluffs’ purchase reached its goal last week.

The preservation project has its roots in the summer of 2002, when then-state Senator Jack O’Connell hosted a meeting to explore the public’s interest in keeping the Ellwood parcel as open space rather than having it developed, said Carla Frisk of the Trust for Public Land. Frisk was O’Connell’s administrative assistant at the time.

Following the decision by local activists to do everything possible to protect the property from development, Friends of the Ellwood Coast was formed and the Trust for Public Land negotiated an agreement with developer Robert Comstock and the County of Santa Barbara that would protect the entire mesa in a swap if the requisite funds were raised.

In exchange for the blufftop land, in addition to the money, Comstock will get to build homes on a parcel farther inland. That land is currently a park owned by the city of Goleta. Comstock said ground should break on the Ali d’Oro project, as it is called, by mid-April.

The bluffs will remain joined with UCSB land and Santa Barbara County land, and the stretch of undeveloped coastline will stay unbroken.

Voice Community Editor Martha Lannan contributed to this report.