Editing Montecito, California (section)

==Government==
[[File:Flickr - brewbooks - Cacti and euphorbia garden, Lotusland (5).jpg|thumb|right|[[Lotusland]] is a [[botanical garden]] and historic estate open to the public.]]
As an unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County, Montecito has no city council or municipal government.<ref name="Meagher">{{cite news |last1=Meagher |first1=Chris |title=Montecity? The Pros and Cons of Incorporation |url=https://www.independent.com/2008/07/03/montecity/ |access-date=14 August 2020 |work=Santa Barbara Independent |date=3 July 2008}}</ref> Municipal services are provided by Santa Barbara County;<ref name="Meagher" /> as with the county's other unincorporated areas, Montecito's [[law enforcement agency]] is the [[Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office]].<ref>McCormack, Don (1999). ''McCormack's Guides Santa Barbara and Ventura 2000''. Mccormacks Guides. p. 59. {{ISBN|9781929365098}}.</ref>

Montecito is part of the Santa Barbara County Supervisor District 1,<ref name=NYT2023Profile/> which elects one supervisor to the five-member Board of Supervisors.<ref name="Meagher" /> Unlike other unincorporated areas in the county, Montecito has two government agencies which together act as its planning commission: the Montecito Board of Architectural Review and the Montecito Planning Commission.<ref name="Meagher" />  Proposals to incorporate as a municipality have been a perennially recurring feature of local politics, but has never come to fruition.<ref name="Meagher" />

Montecito does not include some important commercial areas such as Coast Village Road as they are within the city of Santa Barbara.