Anonymous
By an edhat reader
Week of May 2-May 7: SB city council and advisory committee meetings
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, good idea? waste of time? want it to continue but covering more than Santa Barbara city? There were requests for coverage of Carpinteria and Goleta; volunteers to do that and/or County meetings, please contact info@edhat.com.
Santa Barbara has a City Calendar of meetings; for May: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/. (NB: City Calendar is a guide and not always accurate.) City TV covers many of the meetings and has reruns and updates with newly-scheduled meetings: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/cityadmin/programming.asp?Month=5&Year=2022#Top .
This month is budget time for the Council where each department presents its budget for Council approval and adoption. The nuts and bolts of city government will be Friday’s Special City Council meeting, focusing on budgets of the City Administrator, Mayor and Council, Human Resources and Finance departments. Next up on Monday, 5/9 is Parks & Rec. Planned close of budget discussions, Wednesday, June 8, 6-9 p.m.
Common acronyms, abbreviations: hybrid, meeting access is both in person and via Zoom or other web; PDA, Project Design Approval; FA, Final Approval. Meeting locations: City Council chambers upstairs at City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street; David Gebhard Room, 630 Garden Street, or where noted.
If we’ve mis-posted an address or there’s a meeting you’d like to have listed, please note in the Comments section below. Thanks!
MONDAY, 5/2
City Council, Special Meeting, 1:30 pm, Agenda: budget meeting, Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Operating And Capital Budget for the Library Department and the Airport Department. Packet, including Zoom access and the current list of budget hearings.
Architectural Board of Review, DGR Consent agenda, 1 pm, Public comment by email or in person, see the agenda for info; 116 E. Cota, Review after F.A., revised project description, building form remains consistent with the approved; Proposal for a new four-story mixed-use building on a 10,865 square foot vacant parcel adjacent to Plaza Vera Cruz, 28 studio units, 16 covered parking places….” 2 S. Quarantina, F.A.; 3888 State Street, Review after F. A.
Architectural Board of Review, DGR, 3 pm: Agenda: Public comment in person or by electronic participation: https://santabarbaraca-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Q9TpHFXvTMmdiosPROA2dg .
Concept review (cont) 414 W. Canon Perdido; concept review (new item) 3703 State Street (Chick-fil-A).
TUESDAY, 5/3
City Council Finance Committee, hybrid, DG Room, 12:00 p.m., Agenda, Review Of The Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Budget.
City Council, regular meeting, 2 p.m., hybrid; Agenda, item 8, report on sea level rise, the acceptance of a $2+ million grant from the CA Coastal Commission, Local Coastal Program – and the disbanding of the 9-member city’s Sea Level Rise Committee and concentrating it in the Council’s 3-member Sustainability Committee. Item 9, Report on BEACON, focus on beach erosion, funded out of the Waterfront Department’s budget.
WEDNESDAY, 5/4
Staff Hearing Officer, 9 am, DGR, hybrid, with access instructions in the Agenda: 116 Santa Cruz Blvd, ADU to an existing single family res.; 1721 Olive St.
THURSDAY, 5/5
Street Tree Advisory Committee, regular meeting, Parks Office, 402 E. Ortega St, 8:30 a.m., no video. Agenda, 1 street tree and 23 setback trees challenged. Also on the agenda, Street Tree Master Plan, no specifics.
Planning Commission, 1 p.m., cancelled. Noted that the Roster needs updating: both past commissioners Reed and Schwartz are still listed.
City Council, Special Meeting, 9 a.m., hybrid; Agenda: Subject: Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Operating And Capital Budget “Recommendation: That Council hear a presentation from the Fire, Information Technology, and Waterfront Departments regarding their Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Budget.”
FRIDAY, 5/6
City Council, Special Meeting, 9 a.m., hybrid; Agenda: “Recommendation: That Council hear a presentation from the City Administrator’s Office, Mayor & Council, Human Resources Department, and the Finance Department regarding their Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Budget.
SATURDAY, 5/7
57th Anniversary of the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, 10-5 a.m., Cabrillo Boulevard. Regularly, the show is on Sundays, 10-6; Saturdays only for holidays, special occasions.
BUDGET HEARINGS SCHEDULE, fiscal year 2023, link. These are work sessions and public hearings, with a chance for the public to speak. City Departments will be presenting their annual budgets to the City Council starting in early May with final consideration on June 21.
Of general interest:
City Advisory Commissions are listed with their duties and powers described in the Charter of the City of Santa Barbara, Article Vlll, Appointive Boards and Commissions. Others may be formed by the City Council for certain issues of public concern. Application deadline for current vacancies is May 9, 5 p.m. https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/brdcomm/app.asp.
AIA-Santa Barbara, August 2020, State Street Promenade and housing community survey results, more than 4,800 responses, linked here.
The April 22, 8:30 a.m., Faulkner Gallery, Public Library, joint HLC/de la Guerra Plaza Revitalization Design Advisory Committee meeting was recorded. It is av available on the HLC page: link. Keep checking! City TV’s programming, does have more showing scheduled at 10 pm, Tuesday, 5/3. Showing community interest in and concern for the historic center of Santa Barbara, posted are 26 public comment letters, linked here. There’s no mention at all that there even was a meeting on the dlGPRDAC‘s web page.
A useful City webpage is Government Transparency: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/transparency/default.asp.
Not listed 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.”
