Edhat Staff
By an edhat reader
Week of March 13-17, 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. Thanks!
Santa Barbara has a City Calendar of meetings; for March: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/. (NB: City Calendar is a guide to many public meetings.) City TV covers many of the meetings and has reruns. 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 Public Meeting 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 3/13
Single Family Design Board 11a.m., in person, DGH: Consent Agenda:
A. 1620 EUCALYPTUS HILL RD, PDA & FA, New Item, with Neighborhood Preservation Findings and Hillside Design District & Sloped Lot Findings required.
B. 648 SURF VIEW Dr., New Item with Neighborhood Preservation Findings and Hillside Design District & Sloped Lot Findings required.
Special vacancy notice:, 2 vacancies on this 5-member board; for info: link.
Architectural Board of Review, 1 p.m., in person, Consent Agenda, Cancelled.
City Council, Special meeting, site visit: 1:30; p.m., no live video or video recording; Agenda: 621 W. Micheltorena St., the property is subject to an appeal set for 3/14 at 4 p.m.
Single Family Design Board, 3 p.m., DGR hyflex, Agenda meeting cancelled; noticed items, 1244 Shoreline and 355 Calle Cita postponed to the next full board meeting of the SFDB on March 27.
Neighborhood Advisory Council, 6 p.m., Westside Neighborhood Center, in person, Agenda, meeting cancelled.
TUESDAY, 2/14
City Council, Finance Committee, 12:30 p.m., hyflex, DGR, Agenda: Annual comprehensive financial report for the year ending June 30, 2022.
City Council, regular meeting, 2:00 p.m., Council Chambers, Hyflex, 2 P.M., access info at the Agenda; includes the Consent Calendar. See the 520-page Council Packet, with details of the Consent Calendar; Consent item #3 is the increase in the Las Positas and Modoc Roads’ Multi-Use “Path” to more than $13 million; Consent item #5 is the 24-page revised, updating version of Council Procedures, decided at their non-televised Retreat of 2/10, 9 a.m., at the Palm Park Beach House.
Item 13: 5-year capital improvement program;
Item 14, Appeal of Planning Commission’s Approval of a Parking Modification at 621 W. Micheltorena Street.
Item 15, Award of a new solid waste agreement with Marborg.
[UPDATE:]: Because of forecasted storm conditions, the City Council meeting scheduled for March 14, 2023, will be moved to a virtual format. Instructions for participation can be found on the agenda. The complete agenda and instructions for public participation can be found here: Santa Barbara City Council Regular Meeting Agenda (santabarbaraca.gov). Watch live at 2 p.m. on Channel 18, on YouTube, or on the City Council page of the City’s website.
WEDNESDAY, 2/15
Historic Landmarks Commission, 11 a.m., in person DGR, Consent Calendar Agenda:
- A. 2151 MISSION RIDGE RD: Cont. Item: Review after Final Approval; Proposal to construct a new 15′ X 33′-2″ swimming pool with safety cover and detached 8′ X 8′ spa, requiring 149 cubic yards of cut.) A Review After Final approval is requested for relocation of the proposed pool. … Project must demonstrate substantial conformance to the plans that received Final Approval on March 30, 2022, which is when the project was last reviewed.
- B. 1731 SANTA BARBARA ST. cont. item, PDA & FA: see agenda for details, including front line hedges to be maintained at 8′. Streets). …Project Compatibility Findings are required. Project last reviewed on December 21, 2022. Historic Significance Report* Memo to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards* Approved on December 21, 2022 *Available for view online at SantaBarbaraCA.gov/HLC NEW ITEM: PROJECT DESIGN APPROVAL AND FINAL APPROVAL
- C. 515 STATE ST New item, PDA & FA; Owner: Ray Mahboob Applicant: Henry Lenny (Listed on the Historic Resources Inventory and a contributing historic resource in the El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District, designed in 1927 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, by William Poole. Proposal for the installation of three light posts with lanterns, and new landscaping, in an existing parking lot.) Project Compatibility Findings are required.
- D. 2310 STATE ST., cont. item, FA (Designated Structure of Merit, constructed in 1922 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Proposal to construct a new 367-square-foot Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) above an existing 390-square-foot two-car garage, and to construct a new 12-square-foot utility room attached to the western side of the garage. The project is associated with an existing single-story 1,497-square-foot single-unit residence. Project must demonstrate substantial conformance to the plans that received Project Design Approval on February 15, 2023, which is when the project was last reviewed.
Architectural Drawings, staff reports, link.
Creeks Advisory Committee 12:30 p.m., in person only; BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING 12:30 pm Mission Creek Conference Room, 801 Garden Street, Suite 200; Discuss proposed Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget.
Historic Landmarks Commission, 1:30 p.m., regular meeting, hyflex, DGR, Agenda:
- 1. 431 E. Valerio St., Structure of Merit Designation, Request to adopt resolution 2023-03 designating the Queen Anne Free Classic style structure designed in c. 1905 a historic Structure of Merit. Historic Significance Report.
- 2. Advisory Group Public Service and Decorum Training: Staff: Sarah Gorman, City Clerk Services Manager (Human Resources and City Clerk’s Staff will present an Advisory Group Public Service & Decorum Training.); no Staff Report as of Sunday, 3/13, as to what is “Decorum Training”.
- 3. 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. The ERETO will remain in effect until December 31, 2023.)
- 4. New item: 1919 STATE STREET: PDA: (Located within El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District, Part I, and includes buildings associated with 1913, 1919, and 1921 State Street. Proposal for an 829-square-foot addition to the structure at 1919 State Street, a 29-square-foot addition to the structure at 1921 State Street, and window and door alterations to all three buildings.) Project Compatibility Findings are required.
- 5. New Item: 1801 E. CABRILLO BLVD, Concept Review, Proposal for exterior alterations to the existing buildings….
Architectural Drawings, staff reports, link, includes Public Comment letter re 1801 E, Cabrillo Blvd, re Marge Dunlap fountain and the value of the existing trees at Los Aves.
Creeks Advisory Committee (full name: Creeks Restoration and Water Quality Improvement Citizens Advisory Committee, aka CRAWAICAC?). This is under the aegis of the City of Santa Barbara Sustainability and Resilience Department or “Team“.) Regular meeting, 5:30 p.m., City Council Chambers, Agenda – meeting cancelled.
Airport Commission, 6:00 p.m., in person: Airport Administration Conference Room, 601 Firestone Rd., SB, listed as televised by CityTV/channel 18; Agenda. Staff Reports.
THURSDAY, 3/16
Water Commission, 9:00 a.m, hyflex, DGR, Agenda: meeting cancelled:
Planning Commission regular meeting, 1 p.m, hyflex; Council Chambers; agenda: 1018 GARDEN St., “The project consists of a proposal to convert a 13-unit hotel to 13 commercial condominium hotel units. No changes to existing floor area or parking are proposed. …”; followed by training in CEQA exemptions, ‘Staff training on categorical exemptions under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Santa Barbara Municipal Code Chapter 22.100.’
Harbor Commission, 6:30 p.m., hyflex, City Council Chambers, Agenda: unspecified
“workgroup reports”, most subcommittees having been converted to ad hoc workgroups; item 3, City Sustainability and Resilience Department presentation, how the Waterfront Department collaborates with this new Department; item 5: cruise ship report, “spring season underway”; reports from the Facilities management and the Harbor Operations – dredging operations report.
FRIDAY, 3/17
CLOSED – City Administrative Offices
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.”
