Edhat Reader
By Abby Treloggen
ONE image identifies Santa Barbara world-wide. It isn’t Montecito, The Biltmore, The Clark Estate, Hope Ranch, any museum, any celebrity or even State Street.
It is OLD MISSION SANTA BARBARA founded in 1786.
Nothing we have done since has matched its beauty or signature and City of Santa Barbara has used it as its brand since its completion. It’s incredulous to even consider this behemoth prison-like structure at 505 E. Los Olivos Street to be right beside the mission and mar the visual. It is even self-destructive.
The 400 plus cars that will be added to an already traffic-challenged two lane road will take driving from already challenging to dangerous. The Natural History Museum, The Santa Barbara Botanical Garden and all the homes from the new build to Foothill and beyond would be dangerously affected. This high fire danger area needs the best possible ingress and egress of emergency vehicles.
We are so disturbed by what is happening to our city that If we hadn’t been in the upper east going on 40 years and invested so much heart into our home I would be looking for the exit.
It’s stressful for everyone to have to deal with this insensitive, dangerously blind push toward density. We even just received a letter offering us a lot split to add another million dollars to our value. Forget your back yard – BUILD ADUs!!!!! UGH.
Are we trying to overwhelm the city infrastructure….increase water usage…. encourage all insurance companies to leave California?
It’s a small town for a reason. Check the topography.
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Giant 250-Unit, Eight Story Housing Development Proposed Near Mission Santa Barbara
I don’t believe the Builders Remedy will allow just anything anywhere. Hope not, anyway. The Fire Department will have big concerns about this idea, and they have input into the planning process. Also Creeks Department–Mission Creek directly behind the existing buildings there, down a very steep slope, Museum of Natural History at the bottom of the slope. The traffic impact where APS, Los Olivos, and Mission Canyon Road all come together on a curve, and then the very close intersection with Mountain Drive–the traffic would be an absolute disaster. I’m sure HLC will have something to say about this. There are plants on that property that should be protected as historically significant–a Dracaena draco that may be the largest one in town, probably over 100 years old, among others. Can’t let this proceed, it’s an abomination. But I think the city planning process can’t be entirely ignored.
https://voiceofoc.org/2023/02/sacramento-tells-huntington-beach-to-back-off-housing-fight-against-builders-remedy/
This issue is not just in Santa Barbara, “The American Riviera”, this is happening to jurisdictions all over the ENTIRE State of California. Solvang has been fighting the State’s “Builders Remedy” project that will build a 3 story, 104 unit monster on the “gateway corner” of Alamo Pintado and Mission- There is NOTHING the City can do to block this, despite the insane traffic consequences of an already overloaded intersection, waste water and water concerns and environmental issues… The same happened in Huntington Beach and they tried to sue the State- The State Attorney theatened the City of HB with lengthy lawsuits that only the State could win… These are building MANDATES from YOUR elected Officals in Sacramento…Go Newsom.
The builders are all Trump-voting Republicons.
Maybe so, but they’d never have a chance if it weren’t for Newsom’s building mandate. I can’t imagine you don’t realize this.
How do you know that? Have you seen their ballots?
Developers are largely republican based on the tax cuts they receive and the low wages they pay their workers, who ironically have a lot of illegal immigrants working for them. The builders only switch political parties when they want to get into state politics, a la Caruso.
Maybe instead of focusing on DorR?, you could focus on the merits of the policy itself.
@ dalgorf… This is from the HB article… “The new council’s Republican majority all spoke in favor of the pushback against builder’s remedy.”
CLUE IN OLD MAN.
COAST – because they hate affordable housing or anything that helps the non-rich.
CLUE IN YOURSELF.
That doesn’t contradict what I wrote.
The Housing Accountability Act, of which the Builder’s Remedy is a portion, was passed in 1982.
Of course there’s been additions to it. Housing has been pushed in Sacramento in recent years; YIMBYism took off.
But to blame only Newsom is ridiculous.
Who else is besides Newsom is using it to build the hell out of CA?
The majority of California legislators.
Yes, couldn’t agree more – all democrats supporting Newsom. You called it right.
Totally agree with you Abby. Let’s hope sane heads prevail. We’re up against the unrealistic storm of “affordable housing for everyone”.
I generally believe in private property rights but this idea is extremely BAD!