Anonymous
By an edhat reader
Week of October 31- November 4: council and advisory committee 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 this week: https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/cals/. (NB: City Calendar is a guide to many public meetings, not always accurate.) City TV covers many of the meetings and has reruns and updates with newly-scheduled meetings. However, Consent Calendar meetings are not televised.
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; AUD, average unit-size density program; CAR, Council Agenda Report. Also: BOS, Board of Supervisors; HA, Housing Authority; Meeting locations: City Council chambers upstairs at City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street; David Gebhard Room (DGR), 630 Garden Street; 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.
On the BOS agenda, meeting in Santa Barbara at the County Building, this week, is item 6 re the Modoc multi-use path that will affect Santa Barbara city residents, those concerned about the location of the proposed bike lane, link. agenda. It is preceded by item 5, an appeal of the Santa Claus Lane storefront cannabis.
MONDAY, 10/31
Single Family Design Board, 11:00 A.M., DGR, in person: Consent Agenda: 1260 Ferrelo Rd, Concept Review; 222 Mesa Lane, PDA & FA – last reviewed by full SFDB on 8/1 and PC re mods. on 10/6; 58 Via Alicia, PDA & FA; Architectural drawings, link.
Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., DGR, in person, Consent Agenda: 222 N. La Cumbre Rd, “demolition of all existing commercial buildings on-site and construction of a new 48-unit multi-family residential development, 53′ high, 71 parking spaces + 10 guest, PDA & FA, last reviewed 9/19/22; 414 W. Canon Perdido, PDA; 513 de la Vina, revised PDA; 601 Santa Barbara St (ex. 119 E. Cota St.) new 3-story, 64,000 sq ft, 53′ high police station plus parking structure; Architectural drawings: link. Public comment letters, La Cumbre Rd and 601 SB St: link. This meeting is cancelled.
Architectural Board of Review, 3 P.M., DGR, hyflex, access instructions on the Agenda: 220 N. La Cumbre Rd, PDA, see the ConsenThjist description above; 414 W. Canon Perdido, two multi-residential 2-BR units, w/ two covered parking places, AUD; 513 de la Vina, proposal to convert a commercial bldg to a 15-unit hotel; 601 Santa Barbara St (ex 119 E. Cota) SB Police Station and parking structure, see description above; Architectural drawings and public comment letters: link.
TUESDAY, 11/01
Sign Committee, 9 A.M, DGR, in person, Agenda: Concept Reviews: 601 Firestone Rd; 206 Castillo St; 1030 Coast Village Rd; 3451 State Street.
City Council Finance Committee, 12:30 P.M., DGR; Hyflex, access info in the Agenda: recommendation that the Council “Appropriate the Fiscal Year 2022 Preliminary General Fund Operating Surplus….”
City Council, regular meeting, Hyflex, 2 P.M., city council chambers, access info at the Agenda;
Consent Calendar: dates for site visits and public hearings for 691 Hope Ave. (SFDB) and appeal for 2315 Edgewater Way (PC) have been rescheduled to 1/23 – 1/24/23 and 2/6/23 respectfully.. Item 8, Public Works: capital improvements projects status report. Item 8, interviews of applicants for various advisory groups.
WEDNESDAY, 11/02
Staff Hearing Officer, 9 A.M., in person, DGR; Agenda: Meeting cancelled.
Street Tree Advisory Committee (Parks & Rec), regular monthly meeting @ Parks Office: 402 E. Ortega St., 8:30 a.m., in person and no CityTV; staff report: link. Tree removal considerations: 35 Anacapa St., 1322 /13221/2 Yanonali St., 101 Santa Cruz Blvd; reasons varied, including for the Yanonali request: “The area in front of the property is not maintained, the vegetation is thick and is littered in. It has become a dumping ground of sorts and is a vagrant hang out with these stumps being used as stools. It is an eyesore for the community. There are prostitutes that use this corner for soliciting their business. There is a public park and a school just down the street and we would like to remove the trees in hopes of cleaning up the ground space and the discourage such vulgar individuals to use this area as a hangout.”
Architectural Board of Review, 1 P.M., DGR, joint special public hearing with the Montecito Board of Architectural Review, on the design review for the roundabout at Olive Mill Road/Coast Village Road/ N. Jameson Lane: agenda.
THURSDAY, 11/03
State Street Master Plan, community workshop: 12 noon-1 p.m, 2-3 p.m., 5-8 p.m.; https://statestreet.santabarbaraca.gov/events/state-street-master-plan-community-workshops:
“On November 3rd and 4th, the City will hold bilingual open house events at 1230A State Street to gather feedback and hear from the community about the long-term vision for State Street. Events will take place from 12pm – 8pm on Thursday, November 3rd and 7am – 1:30pm on Friday, November 4th. We look forward to seeing you there!”
Planning Commission, 1 PM, Hyflex, Council Chamber, Agenda: Meeting cancelled.
FRIDAY, 11/04
State Street Master Plan, community workshop: 7-8 a.m. 9-10 a.m., 11:30-1:30 p.m.; https://statestreet.santabarbaraca.gov/events/state-street-master-plan-community-workshops:
“On November 3rd and 4th, the City will hold bilingual open house events at 1230A State Street to gather feedback and hear from the community about the long-term vision for State Street. Events will take place from 12pm – 8pm on Thursday, November 3rd and 7am – 1:30pm on Friday, November 4th. We look forward to seeing you there!”
Of general interest:
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.
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. YouTube of last Friday’s, 10/14 joint meeting, Planning Commission and HLC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqGskMkKBs, starting at about 16 minutes; also rerun on City TV.
City of Santa Barbara emphasizes transparency: https://santabarbaraca.gov/government-transparency. Not 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.”
