Anonymous
By an edhat reader
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 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
May is budget time for the Council when each department present its budget for Council approval and adoption. This week, the hearings are winding down. There’s a new Financial Transparency Tool on the Budget & Finance page, boasting of transparency…..
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, 5/16
Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., DGR, Consent, cancelled.
Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., Consent, in person, DGR: Agenda: 1129 Olive St., FA.
Architectural Board of Review, 3:00 P.M., DGR, regular meeting, Agenda, with electronic access info. 419 S. Salinas St, “The project consists of permitting as-built additions to multiple living areas.”; Architectural drawings, pgs 1-34, linked here.
State Street Advisory Committee, 4 P.M., DGR, Cancelled, as are the meetings for June and July with the next scheduled, tentatively, August 15. While you’re waiting, check the Agenda page for various resources, including the city’s 1964 General Plan, especially worthwhile reading for committee members; also: Sheila Lodge’s illustrations of some pedestrian streets in other cities.
TUESDAY, 5/17
City Council Finance Committee, hybrid, DG Room, 12:00 p.m., special meeting, Agenda, see packet:, General Fund Interim Statement of Appropriations, Expenditures and Encumbrances For the Nine Months Ended March 31, 2022 (75% of Fiscal Year), review of the fiscal year 2023 budget.
City Council Ordinance Committee, 12:30 P.M., Agenda, special meeting, council chambers, amending Title 6, the MC re “dangerous animal” provisions.
City Council, regular meeting, P.M., city council chambers., hybrid, access info at the Agenda, consent calendar includes assignment of restaurant lease at 113 Harbor Way.
WEDNESDAY, 5/18
Staff Hearing Officer, 9 A.M., DGR, Agenda: 1512 Castillo St., architectural drawings :8 Ocean View Avenue, lot merger, so from 1 residence to 7, 5 of which are primary, 2, ADUs., architectural drawings. ONLINE only – the City Council budget hearing takes precedence. SHO is listed in City TV for 10PM on Saturday, 5/21.
City Council, special meeting, 9 A. M, hybrid, City Council chambers, Recommendation: That Council hear a presentation from the Community Development and Sustainability & Resilience Departments regarding their Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Budget. Agenda. “Members of the public are encouraged to participate and will have the opportunity to make comments and provide feedback in person or via electronic meeting format on any aspect of the Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Budget at the work sessions.” But there are no links to the budget on the agenda page or anywhere on the Council webpage reasonably visible to ordinary “members of the public.”
THURSDAY, 5/19
Water Commission, 9 A.M., DGR, hybrid, with access info at the Agenda, staff report, updating on the city’s water supply and a Resolution presented for the council to adopt a resolution declaring a Stage Two Water Shortage Alert.
Planning Commission, 1 P.M., hybrid, Council Chambers, see agenda for electronic access: Agenda: roster has been updated. 3239 Cliff Drive, new item.68-page staff report, Architectural drawings are also available.
(3 important public comment letters re last week’s 711 N. Milpas, available to the PC but not in time for the edhat calendar report, so we link them as a fyi.)
Harbor Commission, 6:30, Council Chambers, hybrid, access info on the Agenda. Special presentation on oil/fisheries and also MC amendments to Title 17.
FRIDAY, 5/20
City Council, 1:30, P.M., Council Chambers, hybrid, Special meeting agenda, Fiscal Year 2023 Recommended Operating And Capital Budgets of SBPD and the City Attorney office.
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BUDGET HEARINGS SCHEDULE, fiscal year 2023, link. These are work sessions and public hearings, with a chance for the public to speak. City Departments have been presenting their annual budgets to the City Council.: Committee Budget Recommendations to Council; Council Budget Deliberations; Final Council Budget Direction to Staff; Planned Close of Budget Hearings. Budget Adoption will be 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.
AIA-Santa Barbara, August 2020, State Street Promenade and housing community survey results, more than 4,800 responses, linked here.
A useful City webpage is Government Transparency: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/transparency/default.asp. Oddly not listed under 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.”
