SANTA BARBARA COUNCIL & ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS: OCT 17

By an edhat reader

Week of October 10 – October 15, 2022: council and advisory committee meetings of Santa Barbara City

A long-time Edhat subscriber, hoping for more public participation in our local government, thought it would be helpful and interesting for the community to have a weekly listing of selected meetings, those of city-wide interest. We agreed. Please tell us what you think. There have been requests for coverage of other jurisdictions; volunteers to do that, please contact info@edhat.com. If we’ve mis-posted an address or there’s a meeting that we failed to list, please note the correction in the Comments section below. Thanks!

Santa Barbara has a City Calendar of meetings; for October: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/. (NB: City Calendar is a guide to many public meetings, not always accurate.) City TV covers many of the meetings and has reruns and updates with newly-scheduled meetings. However, Consent Calendar meetings are not televised. Our new city website design is a mixed blessing, prettier-looking but with some information harder to find if it exists at all.

Common acronyms, abbreviations: hybrid or Hyflex, meeting access is both in person and via Zoom or other webinar; PDA, Project Design Approval; FA, Final Approval; CAR, Council Agenda Report. Meeting locations: City Council chambers upstairs at City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street; David Gebhard Room (DGR), 630 Garden Street; or where noted. Noted also for some Council and Advisory Committee meetings are non-public addresses; these are addresses for those public servants who choose to attend the meetings at home or elsewhere.

MONDAY, 10/17

Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., DGR, in person: Consent Agenda: Two new residences, Jeff Shelton, architect: 1239 E. Cota St., FA, and 1241 E. Cota St, FA; 520 La Marina Drive, FA; 140 Camino Alto Rd, Review after FA. Architectural drawings, link.

Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., DGR, in person, Consent Agenda: 500 James Fowler Rd, PDA; 1021 San Andres Street, PDA & FA;  Architectural drawings: link.

Architectural Board of Review, 3 P.M., DGR, hyflex, access instructions on the Agenda; Discussion item 1. Solar/Electric Vehicle Legislative update; Discussion item 2, Objective design and development standards, a brief presentation and status update; 3. 831 Cliff Drive, PDA & FA, Architectural drawings: link.

State Street Advisory Committee, 4:00 p.m., DGR cancelled. Prior meeting videos, link.

TUESDAY, 10/18

Planning Commission, site visits, 8 A.M., for the Thursday, 10/20, meeting; open to the public, but no public participation; sites: 1336 Shoreline Drive; 402 S. Hope Avenue.

Sign Committee, 9 A.M, DGR, in person, Agenda: 206 Castillo St, Concept Review, ” Applicant is requesting an exception for internally illuminated signage in the El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District.”

City Council Finance Committee, 12:30 P.M., Hyflex, access info in the Agenda: Housing Authority Review, “a presentation from staff on the Housing Authority’s … programs and services, including sources of funding, expenditure analysis, and other operational topics.”

City Council, regular meeting, Hyflex, 2 P.M., city council chambers, access info at the Agenda;  with several important Consent items, including items 4, 5 with budget/reserves impacts; item 11: update on the Access Advisory Committee.

WEDNESDAY, 10/19

Staff Hearing Officer, 9 A.M., in person, DGR; Agenda: Announcement: 1215 del Mar, garage into a JADU (Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit); Projects: 3102 State Street; 2409 Medcliff Road, ADU; staff reports and public comment (as of Sunday evening, one letter re 1215 del Mar.)

Creeks Advisory Committee (P&R), special meeting, 5:30 P.M., Conference Room, 620 Laguna St., in person, Agenda: capital improvement program fiscal years 2024-2029. staff report.

Airport Commission, 6 P.M., 601 Firestone Road, in person: Agenda.

THURSDAY, 10/20

Downtown Parking Committee, 7:30 A.M., DGR, in person; agenda includes “an update on the on interim operations in the State Street Promenade, including Council-adopted design standards, enforcement issues, and operational priorities.” Staff Report on commuter parking, but no staff report on State Street.

Planning Commission, 1 PM, Hyflex, Council Chamber, Agenda: 402 S. Hope Ave; 1336 Shoreline Drive, demolish a one-story and rebuild to a two-story plus ADU. Item 4: Discussion of Planning Commission guidelines.

Arts Advisory Committee, 3:30 P.M., Faulkner Gallery, Central Library: No meeting listed as of Sunday for the scheduled 3rd Thursday time slot in its new library home.

Harbor Commission, 6:30 P.M., Council Chamber, Hyflex, access info at Agenda. Item, 2, a report on electric vehicle charging station; item 3, review of 5-year capital plan; item 6, beached vessels discussion. Staff reports, link.

FRIDAY, 10/21

Meeting-free.

Of general interest:

City Advisory Commissions are listed with their duties and powers described in the Charter of the City of Santa Barbara, See: Article Vlll, Appointive Boards and Commissions, pg; 25 et seg. Other commissions may be formed by the City Council for certain issues of public concern.  Santa Barbara Municipal Code. The fall recruitment deadline was last Monday; 3 interview days next month.

AIA-Santa Barbara, August 2020,  State Street Promenade and housing community survey results, more than 4,800 responses, linked here. Civic groups concerned about city government: Allied Neighborhoods Association, Citizens Planning Association, League of Women Voters -Santa Barbara, and various hyperlocal neighborhood associations. YouTube of last Friday’s, 10/14 joint meeting, Planning Commission and HLC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqGskMkKBs, starting at about 16 minutes; also rerun on City TV.

City of Santa Barbara emphasizes transparency: https://santabarbaraca.gov/government-transparency. Not listed under city transparency is a link to the Ralph M. Brown Act (“Brown Act“), “In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.”