Anonymous
By an edhat reader
Week of May 5/31- 6/3: 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. 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, a guide to meetings; for May: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/; see also, What’s Happening. 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 has been budget time for the Council when each department has presented its budget for Council approval and adoption. Most of the council members have attended, absent has been Councilmember A. Gutierrez. Next week there’ll be final budget deliberations, with a special 6-9 P.M. meeting on June 8; budget adoption will be in June 21. For review of city council videos, the budget schedule is listed below.
Common acronyms, abbreviations: hybrid, meeting access is both in person and via Zoom or other web access; ADU, Accessory Dwelling Unit; 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, 5/30 – Holiday: administrative offices closed.
TUESDAY, May 31
Single Family Design Board, 11:00 a.m., DGR, Consent Calendar, no electronic access, no City TV; Agenda: 1161 E. Cota St., Review after FA; 414 Yankee Farm Road, Review after FA; 647 Sea Ranch Drive, PDA and FA; 476 Pao del Descanso, PDA and FA; 270 San Rafael, PDA. Architectural drawings linked here.
City Council, still on holiday.
Architectural Board of Review, Consent calendar, 1 P.M., canceled.
ABR regular meeting, 3 P.M., DGR, hybrid; Agenda: Architectural drawings and public comment letters, here.
Wednesday, 6/1
Staff Hearing Officer, 9 A.M., DGR, in person and by Zoom; Agenda, ANNOUNCEMENTS section: 229 Mohawk Rd, ” The project consists of a proposal to demolish the existing 800-square-foot, single-family, one-story residence and 511-square-foot detached garage and construct a 1,911-square-foot, one-story residence, a 404-square-foot attached garage and a 602-square-foot detached Accessory Dwelling Unit.” Only the ADU requires discretionary review; not appealable; 210 Gray Avenue, Project- change of use; Coastal Development permit.
Thursday, 6/2
Planning Commission, 1 P.M, City Council chamber, hybrid; Agenda: Environmental Hearing draft Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) public comment hearing 601 Santa Barbara Street (Formerly 119 E. Cota St.) (Police Station), comments, no action as per Staff Report.
FRIDAY, 6/3
Plaza de la Guerra Committee Revitalization Design Advisory Committee, 8:30 A.M., DGR, hybrid, Zoom link on Agenda page. Two items on the agenda: A. Present and discuss feedback from the joint work meeting with Historic Landmarks Commission on April 22, 2022. B. Discuss parameters for Art in the Plaza and for the Art Sub-committee to implement for the Plaza.
BUDGET HEARINGS SCHEDULE, fiscal year 2023, link. These are work sessions and public hearings, with a chance for the public to speak. On June 8, 6-9 p.m.: 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. For the next two weeks there will be Council interviews of the applicants for committee vacancies: 6/7, 4 p.m., and 6/14, 6 p.m.
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.”
No parking!! What could go wrong…