Anonymous
By an edhat reader
Week of January 16 – 20, 2023: Advisory Commission 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 January: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/. (NB: City Calendar is a guide to many public meetings.) Santa Barbara’s excellent City TV covers many of the meetings and has reruns. However, Consent Calendar meetings are not televised; others, regular committee meetings, also in the David Gebhard Room, 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, 1/16, MLK Day, no meetings.
TUESDAY, 1/17
Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., DGR, in person: Consent Calendar Agenda: cont: PDA & FA, A. 1260 Ferrelo Rd.; B. 3501 Sea Ledge Lane; C. 1177 Harbor Hills Dr.; D. New, PDA, Surf View Dr. Architectural drawings and Public Comment (Ferrelo Rd.), link.
Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., DGR, in person, Consent Calendar, Agenda:
A. FA, 111 N. La Cumbre Rd.;
B. FA 2700 blk de la Vina St., “(Proposal to replace the existing structurally deficient De La Vina Street Bridge over Mission Creek with a new bridge. The project includes the removal of the buildings located at 2726, 2733, and 2735 De La Vina Street, and the installation of new sidewalks, street lighting, fencing, channel walls, and revegetation of creek banks.) Final Approval is requested. Project requires compliance with the plans granted Project Design Approval on March 8, 2021.”
C. Review after FA: 1911 de la Vina;
D. Concept Review, 520 E. Haley St. E. new: PDA & FA, 3805 State St. Architectural drawings: link.
Single Family Design Board, 3 p.m., DGR, hyflex, revised Agenda: 1. cont: 3208 Laurel Canyon Rd., PDA; 2. cont: 101 Santa Cruz Blvd., PDA; 3. cont. 1269 Ferrelo Rd., PDA;
WEDNESDAY, 1/18
Historic Landmarks Commission, 11 A.M., in person, DGR, Consent Agenda: A. New, 1950 Las Tunas, PDA & FA; B. new, 1014 Santa Barbara St., PDA & FA; C. 40 E. Anapamu (Central Library) – Review after Final Approval, a change in approved lighting fixtures; D. 1250 Cliff Drive, Review after Final approval; E. 1720 Bath St., “The Fairbanks House”, a Structure of Merit, replacement of wood shakes with asphalt shingles, PDA & FA. Historic Structures Reports, architectural drawings and other staff reports, link.
Historic Landmarks Commission, 1:30 P.M., Hyflex, DGR, Agenda:
1. 400 W. Carrillo St., Concept Review. “Proposal to construct a new 63- unit residential building. The project includes at-grade surface parking and garage parking as well as additional amenity spaces such as a common room and courtyard outdoor space. The units are proposed to be 100% rent-controlled Moderate-Income (80-12% AMI) and Middle-Income Affordable (120-160% AMI). The project calls for the removal of 8 king palms, 1 jacaranda, and 15 tipu trees on the property….
2. new: 2310 State St, PDA, project compatibility findings required.
3. cont.:1242 Dover Lane, PDA;
4. 710 E. Cota St., archaeology report;
5. 712 E. Cota St., archeology report;
6. new, 1002 Anacapa St., Concept Review – this item is postponed for two weeks.
Architectural drawings, Historic Structures Reports, Public Comment, and Staff Reports: click here.
THURSDAY, 1/19
Water Commission, 9 a.m., DGR, hyflex; Agenda: Administrative items, two reports:
a. Sustainability and Resilience Incentives and Partnerships (40 minutes) Madeline Wood, Water Conservation Analyst Action: Report Click here for Staff Report
b. Flume Residential End Use of Water Study (20 minutes) Madeline Wood, Water Conservation Analyst, Peter Mayer, P.E., Principal, WaterDM, and Joe Fazio, General Manager, Flume Data Labs Action: Report: Click here for Staff Report
Planning Commission, 1 PM, Hyflex, Council Chamber, Agenda: Along with preliminary matters, new chair, vice-chair, etc., and administrative matters, there is one new item: “DRAFT FIVE-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FOR FISCAL YEARS 2024 TO 2028 … Review of projects added to the City’s Draft Five-Year Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2024 to 2028 for consistency with the General Plan per Government Code §65103(c) and §6540…”
Harbor Commission, 6:30 p.m., Council chambers, hyflex; Agenda:
- Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Coffee Shop Renovation Update Recommendation: That Harbor Commission receive an update from staff on the status of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum’s Coffee Shop renovation project.
- Fiscal Year 2023 Mid-Year Budget Report Recommendation: That Harbor Commission receive and review a status report on the Waterfront Department Fiscal Year 2023 Mid-Year Budget revenues and expenditures. staff report
- Emergency Construction Of Rock Revetment; staff report with aerial photo.
- Harbor Operations Report on recent storms, staff report.
FRIDAY, 1/20
No public meetings; administrative offices closed.
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 City Council meets at 2 p.m., Tuesdays, except for these holidays: January 3, January 17, February 21, March 28, April 4, May 30, June 20, July 4, July 11, August 8, August 15, September 5, November 14, November 21, November 28, December 19, and December 26, 2023. The regular Council meetings are sometimes preceded by their Finance and Ordinance committees whose agendas are part of the regular council meeting agenda; the Council also has a Legislative Committee and a Sustainability Committee, each of which meets irregularly.
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.
City of Santa Barbara says it 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.”
