The Santa Barbara Architectural Board of Review gave final approval to a proposed apartment complex at 102 West De La Guerra Street during a January 20 meeting, despite objections from a single board member.
The proposed five-story building in the city’s central business district is expected to have 44 residential units and a four-story self-storage facility. The development sits adjacent to the El Pueblo Viejo landmark district and the historic 1927 Telephone Company Building.
The development utilizes state and local housing laws to maximize density and has received height concessions and open yard standard waivers under the state’s Density Bonus Law.
The project had returned to the board for a final review of its design, following the board’s earlier requests for technical refinements to enhance the building’s appearance. Board members reviewed the treatment of vents, rafters, windows, utility infrastructure, and potential privacy concerns for residents at the ground level.
Points of Contention
A major point of contention was the use of vinyl windows. While the board members preferred the use of composite or fiberglass for longevity and better quality, the developer insisted on vinyl for budgetary purposes.
A technical issue involved the placement of the electrical room and transformer. While the board requested rotating the electrical room’s entry by 90 degrees, the developer said this was not feasible due to radial clearance requirements and stair overlaps. Instead, the transformer fencing was upgraded with twisted bar iron and landscaping to reduce its visual impact.
Another point of debate was the building’s ground-level living experience. Since the building is located in a flood zone, the developers have proposed to raise the ground floor and add a landscape buffer to offer privacy for the street-facing units.
Dissenting Vote
Flagging concerns about the small, street-facing units on the ground floor, board member Trey Anderson said residents will have to keep rolling mesh blinds closed at all times for privacy. This would create a poor ground level facade, lacking visual appeal and public function, he said.
Anderson also criticized the amount of blank wall on the self-storage portion of the building, and claimed that the design was not contextually consistent with the urban space.
Despite the concerns, the board gave its approval to the project in a 4-1 vote and noted that the developer had addressed several technical issues that were flagged in earlier meetings.
Anderson cast the only dissenting vote, stating that the project lacked a beauty-forward approach expected in Santa Barbara and found the balance of the building’s massing problematic.
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Santa Barbara’s character and history are being destroyed, one development at a time. Enough!
These developers are right wingers like you … go have a word with them.
Those Crazy right wingers!! They only followed the states left wing requirements to build projects like this. Also the right wingers by owning construction companies create hundreds of great paying jobs by developing and construction. So twist it how you want, developers are just following the plan placed in front of them by the state.
Greed rules your life.
Also stupidity … he lacks the sense to read the comment at the top.
At least you aren’t denying that they are right wingers. Now, go talk to Zipinhead, you utter point-misser.