Edhat Staff
City Council meeting on September 17 (Photo: City of Santa Barbara)
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara City Council voted in favor of repurposing the Cota Street Commuter Parking Lot for the new Santa Barbara Police Station site on Tuesday evening.
In 2017, with the passage of Measure C, Santa Barbara residents chose to create a new police station to address what the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) states are inadequacies at the current location and a need for special equipment necessities and everyday patrol.
Last week the City released five potential locations for the new station: Sears, Earl Warren Showgrounds, Louise Lowry Rec Center, the existing location, and the Cota Street parking lot. These sites were narrowed down from 19 total which included: Alameda Park, Armory, Carrillo Commuter Parking Lot, City Parking Lot 11 (Haley), City Parking Lot 3 (Figueroa), City Parks & Rec Facilities Property, Federal Property at Las Positas/State St, Macy’s Downtown, Newspress Building, Santa Barara Golf Club, SB School District Admin Offices, US Post Office, and Verizon Building.
All sites were reviewed based on the criteria of location, size, flood zones, re-use structures, city-ownership, and charter limitation/annexation.
The vote was 4-2 in favor of the Cota Street Commuter parking lot with councilmembers Jason Dominguez and Kristen Sneddon dissenting. Councilmember Randy Rowse abstained from the vote stating a conflict of interest due to his restaurant, Paradise Cafe, being near the site.
During the meeting the Louise Lowry Davis Center was discussed as needing a zoning change from park land and a public vote. Earl Warren Showground and the Sears building were deemed too far away from the “main call area” which would delaying police response time in emergencies, as well as both properties being privately owned and too expensive.
The Cota Street Commuter Parking Lot currently charges $70 per month for commuter Monday through Friday parking. The lot has 221 spaces and if all those spaces were full of permit purchasing commuters, an unverified estimate would equate to $15,470/month and $185,640 annually for the city.
Additionally, the parking lot is used for the downtown Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. Farmers and supporters of the weekly market have gathered thousands of signatures to support keeping the farmer’s market at its current location.
Supporters of the Farmer’s Market held a rally outside City Hall on Tuesday ahead of the City Council meeting wearing shirts that read “Peas Lettuce Romaine.” The first farmers’ market in Santa Barbara was held at the Santa Barbara Mission in 1979 and in 1983 Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market Association was established as Non-Profit Mutual Benefit Corporation. The market’s Executive Director, Sam Edelman, stated they’ve been in operation at Cota Street for over 35 years and average 3,000 to 5,000 visitors.
Many Farmer’s Market supporters who oppose the Cota location spoke during the meeting expressing concern for farmers loss of income as well as the lot location being too small and a hasty decision. Local resident Lanny Ebenstein stated there isn’t a general consensus in the community to make this decision today. “If the council moves prematurely with the Cota lot, it’s going to delay everything,” he said urging the Councilmembers to discuss and review other options.
Ben Sprague, the CEO of Earl Warren Showgrounds, stated the board was not notified the showgrounds were being considered as a possible location. He then reminded the Council that in 2017 the board denied the possibility of California Highway Patrol building new headquarters at their location.
Supporters of the Cota location spoke of the safety risks to police officers the longer this decision is drug out. Representatives of the Police Association League (PAL) expressed how vital this station will be to help local children. Kevin McGibben, CEO of LogicMonitor based in downtown Santa Barbara, expressed support for the new station stating how important quick response time is to crime and how it will affect the safety of his employees.
Farmer’s Market Executive Director Sam Edelman stated it’s been evident the Cota lot was a target from the beginning and that De La Guerra Plaza was where the city wanted to place the farmers. After his public comment Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez asked how many of his farmers are residents of the City of Santa Barbara. Edelman stated, “I don’t know those demographics… maybe a dozen or so.”
Gutierrez followed by stating, “That bothers me a little bit because I’ve asked you a couple of times already for that number. What I’m worried about is that your farmers, they’re not residents of the city, they’re not the ones calling 9-1-1 here, they’re calling somewhere else, so there this disconnect because there’s 90,000 people that live here that rely on this police force. So, I don’t think it’s appropriate for outside business owners to dictate how a city will support their police.”
Owner of Dune Coffee Roasters/French Press, Julia Mayer, stated the reason she signed a 20-year lease for her business at the corner of Cota and Anacapa Streets was because of the symbiotic relationships with the farmers. “I’m committed to the health of downtown Santa Barbara and I want my taxes to be paid downtown,” she said. While stating it’s risky to move something with such roots, she ended her public comment by pointing at Gutierrez saying “and I’m a westside resident and business owner.”
Local activist and Los Olivos resident, Anna Marie Gott, urged the council to look for new options and to take Cota Street and the Louise Lowry location off the list. She stated there’s a desperate need for a new police station but the Cota location is very constrained and doesn’t allow for growth. She argued that due diligence was not done as it was clear that Sears location owners wanted to build housing and Earl Warren Showgrounds had no idea.
All Santa Barbara City Councilmembers agreed the current police station is inadequate and unsafe, offering support for a new station.
Councilmember Eric Friedman stated both police officers and farmers have the two toughest jobs in America today and feel there are critical issues as the current station is not seismically sound and lacks proper facilities for female officers. He supported the measure to move forward.
Councilmember Jason Dominguez proposed to eliminate the Cota location for 10-12 weeks and to look for another viable option then to come back and compare. He agreed that Cota was the obvious front runner and everyone provided evidence to make that location stick but it ultimately offers no room for growth.
Councilmember Sneddon agreed saying she changed her mind and cannot support the Cota lot at this point and wants to see it and the Louise Lowry location removed from the list.
Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez spoke passionately for the police department and challenged those opposed to the Cota location to go for a police ride-along. He then pointed out Mayer and offered for her to come door-to-door with him and chat with residents on the Westside since that’s who he’s speaking for.
This recommendation will now go to the Santa Barbara City Environmental Review Board. The entire meeting can be viewed here.
I don’t know why City staff would worry about proper zoning, they have cheated the system other times to get what is desired. Proper procedures have meant nothing to a City with a “staff infection”.
Alameda Park!!!!???????. No freaking way.
Lanny Ebenstein is not a “local resident”. He lives and votes in the county, not the city. That is a material misrepresentation, or inference that he should even be weighing on this city decision. Local gafly, yes. But local resident, as in city resident, no. City made the right choice. Paying to purchase a new location so the Farmers Market can have a four hour use of a city lot made no sense from the very beginning. Time for the Farmers Market to drop their entitlement attitude and start working on making their new location successful. Its future success remains in its product; not its location. But this attitude thing is a real turnoff. Show that you really want to partner with us, not just pout if you don’t get your way. Life is like that. Put your big boy green jeans on and get on board. We will work with you to make your new location a success. Start meeting the community and its elected officials decision process half way.
How about the totally-worthless-to-the-community cesspool that is Plaza De Vera Cruz park instead?! Get rid of the vagrants once and for all.
I thought the problem was that the current station is too small, not that it is old and needs work. Also, sometimes the cost to renovate an old, unsafe building is greater than demolishing and starting fresh. This issue has been discussed for decades. Let’s just build the damn thing and move on. I have faith that the Farmers’ Market people will adapt and do well in DLG plaza and adjoining street. It will be inconvenient, but they’ll figure it out. The police have been inconvenienced for a long time, and they have to be there all day every day.
Retrofit standards for a public safety building are much more stringent than for theaters and buildings that are not critical in the event of an emergency. The cost to design an interim facility meeting their requirements would also be very expensive. Are the non-Cota people offering their wallets to pay for the extra costs? Haven’t seen any posts to that effect.
Close off upper State Street to draw Sat. business…lower State Street gets the same attention on Tuesday evenings….spread the love and reinvigorate State Street.
PITMIX – great question! You should ask ZEROHAWK, since he/she is the resident “engineer” and champion of the Cota Farmer’s Market or Bust group.
But the dead mall as you call it was good for the police department?
Sears site is better used as a government consolidation center, with a smaller remaining downtown site to service the downtown district. One could certainly consolidate all the backoffice functions of many different city offices there, as well as have plenty of room for police, emergency responders, community meeting hall, city vehicle maintenance, parking, and a volunteer-supported walking trail and garden. Sell or repurpose other scattered downtown facilities once moved to Sears site. Think longer-term, SB.
I’m curious as to how all the lost permitted parking will be addressed. I haven’t seen/heard any mention of that anywhere.
All day every day for years this city cries about parking and traffic. Then decide to use a parking lot for a new building. Without a blink. Acting as if a station there will not cause a traffic nightmare. Also, farmers don’t live in the city because ag-1 land is not in the city. It has to be in the county. You know, where there’s space for farmland.
Would it make any sense if the Farmers Market moved to Figueroa St. where the current police dept. is? They have a big parking lot. I have not seen this possibility mentioned and do not know if it is feasible.
Good idea! The Tuesday farmer’s market on State seems to go on with no problems and brings lots of foot traffic to the area. Many evenings we go there, shop and stay to grab something to eat for dinner.
This whole debacle will go down as the second dumbest protest in our town’s modern history. The first belonging to the idiots who stopped the 101 widening 25 years ago because, well, they’re idiots… Personally I am glad that logic took over here. Build the station, move the market. One is mobile and temporary by design, the other is stationary (get the name) and essential. Most of the hippies who need their fresh kale will find the new FM location using their Prius’s GPS and iPhone. The rest? They’ll find a new thing to protest that will likely be equally as stupid and wasteful. Imagine if these people put as much time and effort into solving real issues? Like the impending civic bankruptcy from decades of gross mismanagement by the city staff and reps…
right! So many smaller cities and towns have vibrant closed off street malls- Boulder, CO, for one comes to mind. Make State Street vibrant with a Saturday Farmer’s Market, perhaps moving it closer to De La Guerra Plaza.
Wow, Gutierrez certainly had a bee in his bonnet. I watched the entire meeting and I cannot for the life of me understand his points and why he’s so upset about it. As an edhatter pointed out, farmers need agricultural land which is not within the city limits. So what does it matter if they live on a farm yet their business is in the city, does that make their voice that much less valuable? If they have a business emergency, they certainly call 911 in the city. It was a ridiculous point on his end and he’s making this an argument of people not supporting police which is untrue. Every single person said they support the police and want them to have a new station, but let’s pick a better space for everyone. Gutierrez’s aggression and frustration showed his immaturity.
GIFTED – if she signed a 20 year lease based solely on her “relationship” with the farmer’s market, then her business deserves to fail. What folly! She will now have 7 days a week of steady business as opposed to 1 day. If she’s not happy about that, she shouldn’t own a business.
Would be interesting to know how many people actually walk to the Cota farmer’s market. Those adjacent parking lots look pretty full on Saturday mornings. People just seem to have a hard time with change of any type.
Basement of police station is contaminated by lead so the tear down will involve hazardous substance removal. How much do you want to bet there are some asbestos in there too? No way the FM will want to be anywhere near that mess until the old building is gone and the site is remediated.
i spoke with him yesterday. he’s a fool. of the highest order.
this decision was hasty, wrong and will have serious problems coming. this just destroyed part of our downtown community and heritage. this will hurt businesses.
PD doesn’t need to be downtown. many larger cities have it away from the downtown area. They do just fine with their policing.
You try sitting up there and listening to endless public comments about something that really just comes down to location location location and a bit of money money money. I bet most of us would be very frustrated with that process and and lose it sometimes. Maybe he isn’t cut out to be a politician and is just finding out?
Why not have it on State Street on blocks up near Granada where there are more parking lots/garages? Why should lower State Street get all the biz? Plus it is closer to actual neighborhoods where people live downtown.
What they should do is invest in a satellite location uptown then revamp their downtown location. Having it right on Cota and Anacapa is ridiculous for so many reasons, least of which is the farmers market. Part of their argument is so they can ‘walk’ downtown. They can’t do that now? They have bikes! Just makes the wait longer for those on the north side of town. Enjoy!
at 11:52 – You missed the main point. The current location is UNSAFE and the police station needs to be re-located, not “revamped,” and moved to an entirely new location. What is so “ridiculous” about having the police station downtown at Cota?
Yeah, the argument that people don’t come because they have to go down/up or up/down to return to origin spot is silly because they have to anyway for their cars/bikes. When I go, I make many loops around to see who has the best whatever before I buy.
On Fiesta weekend, they could just move the market to the (Tuesday) lower State St location during the Children’s Parade. Plenty of people will be downtown then.
BS, it can be retrofitted just like any other building in town that has gone through earthquake renovation. what he was suggesting is that they build something uptown and keep a satellite office downtown…like just about every other city does. our PD uses mountain bikes. They don’t walk beats, Ventura and other cities do.
They are two blocks from downtown already, and near the courthouse as intended.
ZERO – are you an engineer? How do you know what the police station needs to become safe? Also, 11:52 specifically stated: “satellite location uptown,” not downtown as you claim. Again, you’re not making much sense.
Obviously, the puppet supporting the new station is clueless. ANY building can be retrofitted. Wasn’t the Granada retrofitted? Wasn’t the Hotel Californian literally cut in half and brought current? Any brick building in California? The Coliseum in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris now being rebuilt from the fire. Yes, anything can be revamped. Next.
at 12:32 – Haha, yeah, those supporting the new station are totally “clueless” – by that, you mean, EVERYONE. No one, aside from yourself, dispute that the current location is unsafe, unstable, and no longer acceptable for its use as a police station. Earthquakes are only ONE of many reasons it is unsafe. Quit hyper-focusing on non-issues and grow up a little. Calling people names is childish. NEXT.
Geez Louise. Just close State St on Saturday mornings like they do on Tuesday afternoons. It’s not rocket science……