AnonymousBy an edhat reader
Do Edhatters know what the new County rules are for adding additional units to a residential property? I own a small rental house in Noleta (unincorporated suburbs near Goleta).
It’s on a big lot (1/3 acre) and the house itself is due for major repairs, so this seems like a good time to add another unit if I can afford it.
I’d love to hear if you’ve had experience with this recently, and if you have suggestions for professionals with advice and planning help.
We’re thinking of using modern pre-cut or pre-fabricated structures. Or maybe not. There’s also a possibility of a new state-enabled lot split. Just now getting started on this. The County Planning site has some useful documents. I still have many questions.
Channelfog and RHS, the progressive and Green solution to housing is in fact high density urban development. That’s why our progressive democratic state leadership passed the ADU law, the lot split law, and why they are pursuing more new laws to facilitate high density housing development. The idea is people can ride bikes, use public transport, and generally live their lives on a smaller scale with a smaller environmental footprint. If you support building mid-20th century style single family homes on large lots, you might be a republican. If you support local control over state intervention, you might be a republican. If you support restrictions on immigration to reduce our population and drive up wages, you might be a republican.
Trolling again.
Fears confirmed. The owner is planning to build the least costly, ugliest, most uninteresting structure now that the rules are gone. And posts the plan publicly without chagrin. Greed and disregard for your community are now even more acceptable. We need to eliminate the legislative mandate that ties the hands of local planning (SB 9 and 10). There will be a referendum or initiative circulating soon to get a public vote on this. Be supportive of that. See https://ourneighborhoodvoices.com/
RHS, I’m shocked by your comment. You seem to favor strict rules to preserve single family residential zoning, and you seem to wish to maintain a high standard for architectural style and the character of neighborhoods. Not only do you wish to preserve elite neighborhoods that are only accessible to the wealthy (talk about inequality), you are also advocating for tying the hands of the Democrat supermajority in charge of our state that in order to ensure local control. Are you a republican or something?!?!
PITMIX After you sell and move, don’t vote to make your new place just like the one that was ruined!!!
Channelfog, there is plenty of water in Santa Barbara and the surrounding area to support a tremendous amount of new housing development. Choosing not to update our infrastructure while the population increases is not a valid excuse to block the construction of new housing units. In addition, every irrigated agricultural property you see is using enough water to support a massive housing development. If we chose to, we could easily supply enough water for more housing, but this isn’t really about that. It’s about fighting change and innovation, and it’s about trying to preserve the existing character of neighborhoods. The irony in wealthy “democrats” and “liberals” trying to prevent the riff-raff from moving into their exclusive neighborhoods of $1,000,000+ properties is just too rich for words.
Chip, I think people who follow my comments on Edhat know that I am far from a Republican. I am not a Democrat either, however. My politics are Green and progressive. I have worked all my career on behalf of the poor, by the way. I believe that we need to protect and extend a civil society with quality of life for all. This includes clean water and air. Less congestion and static. Single family residential zones are not per se exclusive. They have been the ambition of the working class and middle class from at least WWII on. Alternatives such as are now being pushed to cram more people into closer quarters remind me of the creation of the tenement houses in NYC or seem exemplified by the proposed bee hive like dorm at UCSB. The people advocating these “solutions” seem willing to ignore humanities necessary and genetic contact with nature. I have long believed that the only solution to our current destructive behavior is a policy of fewer people, less consumerism, fairer work and pay, and a commitment to the long term protection of the eco-system that create us in the first place. Short term expedient compromises will only make things worse.