CountyofSantaBarbara
Planning Commission Hearing on November 8, 2023 & Board of Supervisors Hearing Set for December 5, 2023
Santa Barbara County’s Draft Housing Element Update 2023-2031 (Draft HEU) received formal notice of “substantial compliance” from the State Housing and Community Development Department (State HCD) on October 16, 2023. The substantial compliance notice, the State’s finding that the County has met all State requirements, comes after only two formal rounds of review.
Senior Program Manager with State HCD, Paul McDougall stated in his comment letter, “HCD appreciates your hard work and dedication provided in preparation of the County’s housing element. HCD particularly commends the thoughtful and collaborative approach of you and the housing element update team, including Elise Dale, Allen Bell, Alex Tuttle, Jessica Steele and Eva Marrero. HCD looks forward to receiving the County’s adopted housing element.”
“I am very proud of our staff. The State’s process and requirements for this Housing Element Update cycle were daunting. Our staff reviewed hundreds of pages of instruction, did early public outreach, and worked with local housing experts and the State to ensure our proposed policies and programs, and the sites we’ve identified for potential rezoning address the housing needs of all the residents and workers in Santa Barbara County,”said Director of Planning and Development Lisa Plowman.
Next steps in the process include public hearings before the Planning Commission on November 8, 2023 and an adoption hearing before the Board of Supervisors on December 5, 2023. The selection of specific sites to rezone is a later step. Hearings to choose rezone sites will take place early in 2024 after the release of a draft Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) analyzing potential impacts associated with the potential rezones. During the public comment period on the Draft PEIR, the Department will hold two public comment hearings; one in north county and one in south county.
“We are taking a unique approach to rezone sites; our team identified more sites than required so the Board of Supervisors would have a range of options to choose from, and our staff successfully satisfied the State that this approach was sound. We look forward to upcoming hearings on the Housing Element adoption as well as hearings next year on the rezones,” added Director Plowman.
The Draft HEU with all revisions tracked can be found at: https://www.countyofsb.org/3177/Housing-Element-Update
An interactive map showing all the potential housing sites can be found at: https://sbcopad.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9375e0705e864eada0ff535c23ba99ac.
The County submitted the draft housing element to the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (State HCD) for review on March 31, 2023. After receiving preliminary comments from the State on June 30, 2023, the County worked with the State to address their questions and comments over the summer. and submitted a formal revised draft on September 22, 2023.
The Housing Element Update is one of the mandated components of a General Plan. It directs local governments to plan for the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community. This is the 6th Housing Element cycle, covering 2023-2031.
For this cycle, State HCD requires that Santa Barbara County identify sites to accommodate 5,664 new housing units in unincorporated portions of Santa Barbara County between 2023 and 2031. This is an 8-fold increase from the last cycle. That housing needs allocation, the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), is further broken down to require 4,142 units in the South Coast region and 1,522 units in the North County region.
The State requires the County’s Housing Element to accommodate 2,818 very low, low- and moderate-income units.
