SANTA BARBARA COUNCIL & ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS: June 5-9

By an edhat reader

Week of June 5-9, 2023: Council and 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 June. (NB: City Calendar is a guide and is not comprehensive.) City TV covers many of the public meetings and has reruns. However, it cannot presently be completely relied upon and if there is a particular city public agency of interest, it would be best to check that commission’s or council’s website. Consent Calendar meetings are not televised; nor are those in City Council Room 15; nor are others, such as the library board meeting at the Faulkner Gallery.

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. Agenda item descriptions are generally direct quotes from the agendas. 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.

This week:

The high points are city budget overviews, Monday’s with the inviting “Explore Our Budget: The City of Santa Barbara’s Digital Budget Book provides our community with an easy to use, interactive and engaging version of our annual publication. Use this site to browse all the departments, agencies and projects that support our City.” And on Wednesday, the Council will hear and consider the recommendations of its Finance Committee for the FY 2024.

Included in Santa Barbara’s Digital Budget Book are Enterprise Funds and General Funds. The work-in-progress “Book” is an eye-opener, for the departmental details shown and the ease of access!

There is no indication that either the Monday or Wednesday meeting will be televised; they are not listed on City TV as of Sunday; for possible access, check the webpage of council meetings where there is a listing under videos: https://santabarbaraca.gov/government/mayor-city-council/city-council-meetings

MONDAY, 6/5

Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., in person at the DGR or by writing, info at the agenda: Consent Agenda:

1. 1830 Overlook Lane, New Item, PDA & FA: Proposal to replace comp. shingles with tile, except under solar panels. Neighborhood Preservation Findings and Hillside Design District & Sloped Lot Findings are required.
2. 3957 Stacy Lane, New Item: PDA & FA, NEW ITEM Proposal to replace aluminum windows and doors with black vinyl windows and doors. Preservation Findings are required.

    Past agendas, architectural drawings: link.

Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., in person at the DGR, Consent Calendar:

1. 2541 Modoc Rd., PD & FA, Proposal for replacement of windows, etc. (Project requires     compliance with the Project Compatibility Guidelines. Architectural drawings: link.

City Council, 1 P.M. 3208 Laurel Canyon Rd, Santa Barbara 9310, site visit; no live TV or video recording available. The hearing will be on Tuesday, 6/6, council agenda # 25, the last item on the agenda.

City Council, 2:30 P.M., in person, Special Council Meeting, Agenda: Fiscal Year 2024 Recommended Operating and Capital Budget: Council to hear a presentation from staff re the General Fund and Provide direction to staff re: alternative recommendations….  Agenda Packet: “The public can access the City Administrator’s Recommended Budget for FY2024 and FY2025 on the online budget tool at https://santabarbaraca.gov/finance/budget-reports or clicking here.”

Single Family Design Board, 3:00 P.M., in person at the DGR or by writing, info at the agenda: Agenda:

1. 1932 Cleveland Ave., New Item, Concept Review, Proposal to construct a 443 square foot addition and a new 327 square foot basement to an existing 890 square foot, single-unit residence located in the Hillside Design District and Mission Area Design District. Project includes a new 260 square foot deck, new concrete walkway at entry, new front porch railing, new landscaping, and new trash enclosure on top of the existing garage….The 572 square foot existing detached garage will remain and is not a part of the SFDB purview. …Project requests a Fence/Hedge Height and Open Yard Zoning Modification from the Staff Hearing Officer.) No final appealable decision will take place at this hearing.

Neighborhood Preservation Findings and Hillside Design District and Sloped Lot Findings will be required when the project is reviewed for PDA

1. 802 E. Calle Laureles, New Item, Concept Review:  Owners: Protima Wagh & Perrick Vulliez Applicant/Architect: Yuru Feng, The Cearnal Collective (Proposal to construct a 1,200 square foot, single-story, second residential unit and detached two-car carport. The proposed residential unit exceeds allowances for an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) and must be proposed as an Additional Residential Unit which requires review and approval of a Performance Standard Permit by the Staff Hearing Officer. The existing residence and garage are not under the SFDB purview.) No final appealable decision will take place at this hearing. Neighborhood Preservation Findings, Hillside Design District & Sloped Lot Findings, and Grading findings will be required when the project is reviewed for Project Design Approval.

TUESDAY, 6/6

City Council, 10:30 A.M., Special Council meeting, closed session for litigation, estimated time of 90 minutes, for quite a few cases, listing some familiar names, agenda packet.

City Council: Regular meeting, 2:00 p.m., Council Chambers, Hyflex, 2 P.M. Agenda  (Agenda packet, 552 pages): Consent Calendar, 19 items, noting Item 4, amending the oversized vehicle ordinance restrictions, no specification as to which or perhaps all words are being amended; item 23, Public Hearing on proposed increased solid waste rates; item 24, cont. interviews on Advisory Commission appointments; item 25, Public Hearing, Appeal of the SFDB’s 2/27/2023 approval of development at 3208 Laurel Canyon Road, link.

WEDNESDAY, 6/7

Historic Landmarks Commission, 11 A.M., in person, Consent Agenda:

1. 113 Harbor Way, #150, Naval Reserve Building, a City Landmark: New item, PDA & FA;  proposal for a new unmanned telecommunication wireless facility.
2. 130 Canyon Acres Dr # A, Cont. item, FA., a new garage and permeable paving. (PDA was received 4/26, 2023.)
3. 27 E. Cota St., New Item, PDA: alterations on the side of the building not considered historic. ]
4. 1635 State St., Cont. item, PDA & FA, “Proposal to convert 1,101 square feet of a 2,496 square foot commercial structure to a single-unit residence….” Last reviewed on 2/1/2023.
5. 2304 State St., New Item, PDA  & FA, A Structure of Merit adjacent to a 2310 State St., a historic Structure of Merit, proposal to construct in an inground spa and associated equipment.;

Historic Landmarks Commission, regular meeting, 1:30, DGR, in person, Agenda:

1. 1538 Alameda Padre Serra, Structure of Merit Designation, Request to adopt resolution 2023-07 designating the Secessionist style structure designed in 1912-15 a historic Structure of Merit.
2. 1426 Bath St., Structure of Merit Designation, request to adopt resolution 2023-08 designating the Queen Anne Free Classic style structure designed in 1892 a historic Structure of Merit.
3. 1733 Mountain Ave., Structure of Merit Designation, request to adopt resolution 2023-09 designating the English Vernacular style structure designed in 1930 a historic Structure of Merit.
4. Advisory Group Public Service & Decorum Training by Sarah Gorman, City Clerk Services Manager.

Architectural drawings and Staff Reports, including Historic Significance Reports for the June 7     meetings.

City Council, 6 P.M., Special Council meeting, apparently in person, no indication as of Sunday night on the meeting agenda of City TV or Zoom access, Council Agenda Report:

    A. Hear and consider the recommendations of the Finance Committee

    B. Approve certain adjustments to the Fiscal Year 2024 Recommended Budget identified by staff as detailed in the Schedule of Recommended Adjustments; and

    C. Provide final direction to staff based on the Finance Committee’s recommendations and Council’s review of the Fiscal Year 2024 Recommended Budget over the last several weeks which included seven budget hearings.

THURSDAY, 6/8

Downtown Parking Committee, regular meeting, 7:30 A.M., DGR, in person; agenda: meeting cancelled.

Planning Commission, 1 PM, Hyflex, Council Chamber, Agenda: Meeting cancelled.

FRIDAY, 6/9

CLOSED – City Administrative Offices

Of general interest:

Last week, we mentioned that for the recent meetings of the State  Street Advisory Committee, SSAC, there were not only no staff reports, but no recordings. There are now videos posted to YouTube:

May 22: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBkQrxLmnL8>

May 24: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_imzSqUPZX0>.

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. 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.”