••• The Carpinteria city council approved the proposed Surfliner Inn: “The latest project designs […] included a smaller footprint and overall mass to the hotel’s facade—most notably the removal of stairwell and elevator towers that originally extended above the two-floor main building. […] With the approval, the project developers can now submit applications and enter the city development review process, including the Architectural Review Board, where it is expected to receive even more changes to the size and scale of the buildings.” This is only good news for Carp. Above: “A composite drawing of an older design and newer plans without the extended towers.” —Independent
••• Something called the Aloha Fun Center—with “roller skating, laser tag, arcade games and possibly a miniature golf”—is opening this month at the former Macy’s store on State Street (at Ortega), notes John Palminteri. There are other outposts in the works in Emeryville and San Jose.
••• “Santa Barbara County Public Health Department extended mask indoor mask mandate on Friday. […] The order begins on Friday at 5 p.m. and will go until January 2.” Why can’t we move on to a system where you show proof of vaccination? —KEYT
••• “Santa Barbara experienced a hectic Friday morning when news broke that two Omicron contacts here were linked to the first case in San Francisco. However, by late morning, the state health department had retracted all the information related to the two potential cases. ‘There are zero Omicron cases in town,’ confirmed Jackie Ruiz, public information officer for Santa Barbara County Public Health.” —Independent
••• “Santa Barbara County’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission picked three ‘focus maps’ on Wednesday night, just two weeks before the Dec. 15 deadline of adopting a final map.” —Noozhawk
••• From an Independent article about the decrease in housing around here: “There’s increased interest among elected officials on the South Coast for imposing some sort of vacancy tax to penalize those who choose to leave their properties vacant.”
••• Sight Unseen has a terrific interview (“I’m not great at subtle”) with architect Jeff Shelton.
••• “A group of eight former campus architects within the University of California system slammed UC Santa Barbara’s proposed Munger Hall dormitory in a letter sent to UC President Michael Drake last month, calling the proposed building a ‘disaster in the making.'” The Noozhawk article has a bunch of renderings of interior spaces, including the three below, courtesy the UCSB Design Review Committee.
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