Anonymous
By an edhat reader
Week of January 30 – February 3, 2023: 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. The meeting descriptions, including item times below are taken directly from the agenda listings; for full information, see the item and staff reports.
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.) City TV covers many of the government meetings and has reruns. However, Consent Calendar meetings are not televised. The Calendar, especially, is not so accurate for City meetings.
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; Parks Office, 402 E. Ortega St.; 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 JAN 30
Architectural Board of Review, 8:00 a.m., Special Meeting, Hyflex, DGR, Agenda:
- 1. (8:15AM) Final Approval: 329 ALAMEDA PADRE SERRA HBA (Proposal for two new residential duplexes. Project entails the demolition of an existing two-story single residential unit and the construction of two, three-story duplexes…; plans granted Project Design Approval on February 3, 2020.
- 2. (8:45AM) Cont.: PDA. 1810 SAN PASCUAL ST, two-story ADU, and a two-story three-bedroom residence. Existing one-story residence to remain.. Project was last reviewed on November 28, 2022.
- 3. (9:30AM) Cont., PDA. 425 SANTA BARBARA ST, Edward St. George Applicant: Jarrett Gorin, Vanguard Planning; The AUD project consists of constructing a four-story 19-unit residential apartment building, comprised of one (1) two-bedroom unit, eight (8) one-bedroom units and ten (10) studio units, on a vacant lot within the Priority Housing Overlay area of the City. …; an average unit size of 634 square feet (net)., the project proposes the following concessions from City development standards: 1) to allow a reduction in the minimum private outdoor living space dimensions for each unit and allow private open yards from different units to be connected, and 2) to allow the proposed building to exceed the 48′-0″ height limit for AUD projects in the M-C zone. The project proposes no on-site vehicle, except for bicycles, parking…. …. Project was last reviewed May 31, 2022.
- 4. (10:00AM) New item: Concept Review1315 HUTASH ST. Proposal for a 1205 square foot second floor addition to the primary unit. Proposal includes the remodel of the first floor.) No final appealable decision will be made at this hearing. Project requires compliance with the Project Compatibility Findings and the Urban Design Guidelines.
Architectural drawings for the Special Meeting and the Consent Agenda: link.
Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., DGR, in person: Consent Agenda: Cancelled.
Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., DGR, in person, Consent Calendar, Agenda: PDA and FA, 518 E. Haley St.
Single Family Design Board, 3:00 p.m., DGR, hyflex, regular meeting, Agenda: Cancelled.
City Council – 1:30 site visit, see Tuesday’s Regular meeting
Tuesday JAN 31
City Council, Special meeting,11 a.m., closed session to discuss litigation, City… vs. Dario Pini: Agenda.
City Council, regular meeting, 2:00 p.m., Council Chambers, Hyflex, 2 P.M., access info at the Agenda; Agenda packet, 189 pgs., including item 12 of the Consent Calendar, setting a date of March 14 (Maarch 13 for a site visit) for a hearing on the Planning Commission’s approval… of 621 W. Micheltorena St.;
Item 13: Zoning Ordinance amendments for ADUs.
Item 14. Appointment of one of the two applicants to the Planning commission; the Housing Authority and Historic Landmarks Commission, each had one applicant.
Item 15. Appeal of the Parks and Rec Commission’s denial of the removal of a Norfolk Island Pine…. This was preceded by a site visit on January 30 at 1:30 p.m. to 2131 Red Rose Way.
Community Development and Human Services Committee, 4 p.m., in person, DGR, Agenda, interviews.
Wednesday FEB 1
Historic Landmarks Commission 11:00 a.m., in person, Consent Calendar: DGR; Agenda:
- A. FA: 1426 ALTA VISTA RD Applicant: Roxana Bonderson, Power Planning Services, Inc. (The Dutch Colonial Revival style house, designed in 1919 by Wallace Neff, FAIA is listed on the City’s Historic Resources Inventory. The project proposes a 2-story addition to the existing residence …. Project plans received Project Design Approval on May 11, 2022..
- B. FA requested for 223 E CABRILLO BLVD Owner: City of Santa Barbara Applicant: Justin Van Mullem, Capital Projects Supervisor, Parks & Recreation (Chase Palm Park is a contributing element to the East Cabrillo Boulevard Parkway Historic District, designed in 1924 by the Olmstead brothers, is listed on the City’s Historic Resources Inventory, and is in the El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District. …. The project includes removal of nine Metrosideros Excelsa (New Zealand Christmas) trees.) The project was last reviewed on August 3, 2022.
- C. PDA and FA for 1950 LAS TUNAS RD (The primary residence is listed on the Historic Resources Inventory. Proposal to construct a new 10′ X 20′ swimming pool and water feature.) last reviewed on January 18, 2023.
Historic Significance Reports Available for view online at BarbaraCA.gov/HLC and also as staff reports.
Historic Landmarks Commission, regular meeting, 1:30 p.m., hyflex, DGR; Agenda:
- 1. (2:00 p.m.) STATE STREET DISCUSSION …Request from the Commission to discuss and draft possible recommendations to Council regarding the temporary conditions of State Street associated with the Economic Recovery Extension and Transition Ordinance (ERETO) approved by Council. The ERETO temporarily suspends Municipal Code regulations in order to allow outdoor dining and outdoor business uses in the public right of way or on private property. …
- 2. (2:45 p.m. Miscellaneous item) CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT 2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT
- 3. (2:55 p.m., Structure of Merit Designation) 1735 Bath St., Historic Significance Report link.
- 4. (3:15 p.m., new item, Concept Review) 1002 Anacapa St., …8,468 square foot interior and exterior renovation of an existing church/office building consisting of a 1,582 net square foot second story addition and a 3,579 net square foot roof deck, as well as a new corner entry tower, etc. …
- 5. (4:00 p.m., New item, Concept Review) 225 EQUESTRIAN AVE, Applicant: Jeff Shelton, Jeff Shelton, Architect: Part I. Proposal to demolish all existing onsite structures, and construct a new three-story mixed-use building comprised of a 4,688-squarefoot single-unit residence, a 656-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), a 500-square-foot commercial office, and 530-square-foot attached garage.) No final appealable action will take place at this hearing.
Architectural drawings for Consent and Regular HLC meetings, link.
Thursday FEB 2
Parks & Rec Street Tree Advisory Committee, regular meeting, 8:30 a.m., Parks office, 402 E. Ortega St., in person, Agenda. Staff reports.
Planning Commission, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, Agenda, regular meeting cancelled.
Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals, 2:30 p.m., in person, DGR – Agenda: Minutes of the January 13, 2023 meeting, conducted electronically – written public comment referred to but not posted; Appeal of 212 W. Figueroa, accessibility hardship appeal; staff reports.
Friday, FEB 3
City 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.”
