Proposed Hotel Project to Revise Plan

This project can be denied just because he wants a variance. He wants at least 19 hotel rooms that belong on Upper State St. to be transferred to his Montecito St. property. Design honestly within what is allowed without variances and with neighborhood compatibility and you will likely get your plans permitted without problems.

If a property is zoned for hotel or multiple units, then it is a legal and investment expectation to be able to build per the zoning of the property. The City changes the rules after the fact. Not right, not legal, they just lost a 7 figure lawsuit over this. Whether you like it or not the Gov’t has zoning ordinances in place and for them to change their mind after someone’s buy a property is not just. If you bought a car and later found out it didn’t have an engine wouldn’t you be upset? What if you test drove the car, bought it and found out the dealer took the engine out before you left the lot? That’s shady, well the City is being shady. And affordable housing, why should someone get new construction in prime areas for 25 cents on the dollar? Let them move into the old apartment or home that will be empty when someone who can afford to pay market rate moves up. Coastal Communities have always been expensive! Wake up! Move to Bakersfield! Or Nevada or AZ! Since when do people have a constitutional right to live wherever and have someone else pay the bill? Don’t get mad at the real estate market for going up in cost, just like cars and college are more expensive. Get mad at your employer for not paying you enough to afford to live here. Better yet, quit and move somewhere you can afford, teach the boss and real estate a lesson. When the employer can’t attract employees they’ll offer higher wages. When the demand for real estate goes down so will the cost. But to cut off a property at the knees or give people free stuff that others worked hard to build and afford makes no sense unless you are a socialist. Do you believe in giving people things they did not pay for? You know when you feel a brisk change in the weather and the sky gets darker right before a storm? Can you say the Socialist are coming!?!? Is it One if by sea and Two if by land? I've got two lanterns lit in my front window! Shitty wages and the Gov’t is giving away housing. Putin move over the CA is joining you!

The article says that the City Council asked the developer to revise his plans. I don't think they "asked" him; they denied his project as proposed and "demanded" he revise his plans to their liking or he gets no project on his property. I wonder whatever happened to the concept of property rights?

The city tried to do "mini houses" at Castillo and Carrillo. DOA. Now they're trying to force property owners on what to build. This approach is a magnet for lawsuits. If the city needs low income housing, (which it does) then it needs to get into the business of buying property and building what it needs. If this doesn't work, give incentives to property owners that make economic sense for them.

Do you think the tourists will pay extra for the freeway view and exhaust? That stack and pack parking sounds exciting. Especially during a PSPS.

I only wish the developer would revise his plan for a hotel and instead propose building several dozen Section 8 apartments and a halfway house, with a portion of the property left vacant for vagrants to pitch their tents. That would be a beautiful project.

I have to wonder if St George has had this plan all along , and actually wanted to create more if the student housing he’s known for. Now he practically has a mandate from the City to go do that very thing.

Perfect location for stack and pack housing. City council, stand your ground on this one.

Whether it's safe or not, or how much housing SB may or may not have is irrelevant. It is zoned for it and should be allowed. In reading the Indy article they want him to replace the lost rental units here or elsewhere, of course they don't give him credit for the hundreds of units he's already built or rehabbed in Santa Barbara. A future denial will probably lead to another government takings lawsuit and payout but Santa Barbara.

The housing is already there, and the tenants who live there like it there. A three-story hotel on that block seems a little out of character. It's mixed-use, but there is a lot of housing there, and nothing that tall. This town needs more workforce housing, more affordable housing, more housing financially accessible to middle income families. That's just a plain fact.

Didn’t the City just lose a Multi Million dollar lawsuit when they denied a property owner their rights to develop a property per the zoning? Camino de la Luz. Thank you Planning Commission! And who pays for their “mistake”? Should have let the State Coastal Commission fight that battle, but nope, our Planning Commission knows all! The proposed hotel is on land zoned for hotels and within the legal uses. That property owner has financial rights and expectations just as the Camino de la Luz property. Ready to lose another multi million dollar law suit? The City throws money away and doesn’t protect property & homeowner rights! And why should “affordable housing” be placed in expensive areas that people cannot afford? When people can afford to move up into new construction they will. This is the middle class working hard and moving up. Then those that need “affordable housing” can move into the old housing. But NO, the City feels everyone regardless of income level has a right to brand new construction in prime expensive areas of town. Why do people have a right to new construction in a neighborhood they can’t afford? Will they be given a Mercedes at a deep discount too? Oh right, the entire City Council are renters, they are not committed to their neighborhoods, they can just pick up and move or be kicked out at anytime. I’m sure they have good intentions of being rooted in a neighborhood, but they don’t have roots like a property owner. Look at Oscar Gutierrez, he moved just so he could run for Murillos open Council seat. That’s not committed to his neighborhood. He left his neighborhood where he grew up, just to run for a City Council. It also explains why the City Council doesn’t care about property owners rights or property values. They only care about tenants, because they are all tenants. Talk about biased and unbalanced representation!

I say we dare the City Planning Commission to spend a weekend midnight strolling that area, and then tell us how safe it is for housing.