••• Noozhawk and the Independent covered yesterday’s meeting of the State Street Advisory Committee. From Noozhawk:
Among the biggest changes was the 500 and 600 blocks, which staff proposed to be flat, flexible and curbless. The streets would have 20-feet wide car-free lanes for bikes, pedestrians and transit and 60 feet for pedestrians, dining and performers.
The 700 to 900 blocks would be flat, flexible and curbless, and “pedestrian-prioritized.” Vehicles for loading and delivery would be allowed in early hours. Bikes would be allowed, but with “walk your wheels” options for certain times throughout the week, such as during Old Spanish Days’ Fiesta.
The 1000 through 1200 blocks would have one-way car travel, two-way bike lanes and a larger sidewalk for pedestrians, exhibit space and dining. The 1300 block would have two-way car lanes and two-way bike lanes and some type of “Gateway” between Upper State Street and the downtown core. […]
The new plan includes separated bike paths, unlike what exists now, which is often people on bikes whizzing down the middle of the street.
••• “A majority of property owners in Downtown Santa Barbara agreed to assess themselves to pay for a variety of public improvements. […] The money would go to address cleanliness, safety, beautification, maintenance, identity, and placemaking, beyond what the city currently provides.” —Noozhawk
••• “A developer is proposing 25 new studio housing units near Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. The project calls for demolishing an existing 1,052-square-foot home and detached accessory building and replacing them with studio apartments at 515 W. Los Olivos Street. No parking is proposed for the development.” —Noozhawk
••• More on the unfortunate plan to build a 30-unit apartment building on Grand Avenue in the Lower Riviera. We need housing, but not like this. —Noozhawk
••• Refugio State Beach should reopen early this summer. But “after this winter’s storms put 10 more palms in the ocean, [Dena Bellman, district superintendent of California State Parks] made the call last month to cut down an additional 14 trees over concerns that they may fall and injure beach-goers—who have been allowed to walk into the park, despite its closure. A graveyard of stumps now lines the shore—a reminder of the postcard that Refugio once was.” —Independent
••• The Waterman hotel in the Funk Zone has been rebranded as a Moxy, which seems destined to be confused with MOXI across the street. —Noozhawk
••• An update on the Las Alturas house that’s falling down the hillside, including the GoFundMe for its owners, and the road itself. “The city is working with a geotechnical firm to determine what the next steps are for restoring the road. The firm […] is expected to do an assessment of the area in July, and come back with an update in the month after that. After receiving the report, the city will move forward regarding the road and any repairs.” —Noozhawk
••• “The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office shared that a hidden camera was found in the front yard of a county residence [on Via El Encantador in Noleta] in April and other law enforcement agencies across the state have encountered similar incidents.” What are they hoping to see? Try that at my house and you’ll get a lot of footage of me complaining about dead sycamore leaves. —KEYT
••• The tree of the month is the chinaberry: “In late spring and early summer, its lavender-colored flower clusters appear in a dazzling display. In autumn, the lush foliage turns a bright yellow, providing stunning fall color.” And its “fruit is toxic to most animals, including humans, but the flesh is so bitter that it is essentially inedible. However, birds can eat the ripe fruit—and will gobble them up with no other ill effect than intoxication.” —Edhat
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The Grand housing project should be dead already. This is NOT what Santa Barbara and especially this area needs
A majority of property owners in Downtown Santa Barbara DID NOT agree to assess themselves to pay for a variety of public improvements. Only 57% of the property owners returned ballots, and while a majority of the retuned ballots were in favor that only represents 40% of Downtown SB property owners supporting this measure – which is an additional tax that is paid by our local small businesses via their commercial leases for services (not improvements) the city should be providing already.
Exactly. This assessment will be passed to the local business via their lease cam.
We lost a handful of trees in the winter storms and now there seems to be an overreaction where we are proactively cutting down trees that might fall. The thing about trees is… they can fall. We accept all sorts of risks in our day to day lives and the trade off of having large beautiful trees that provide shade and support our ecosystems seems worth it. The alternative is bleak, literally
Shoutout to Strong Towns Santa Barbara for their leadership in articulating a thoughtful vision for the future of State St., helping organize the community, and making sure our voices are heard. Will be joining as a new member!
Thank you for getting involved. Having almost been run over by out of control electric bikes on several occasions, we are shocked that there are no police officers on foot patrolling this area. I don’t know how anyone, especially the eldergly would ever feel safe walking on this street, let alone any vistor feeling a sense of welcome to walk on an asphalt street with nothing of interest. When you walk on the sidewalks you feel the charm, but there is nothing charming about the current scene in the middle of State Street. The architecture and preservation of downtown Santa Barbara is critical. Business owners, residents and vistors are NOT happy with the current situation.
StongtownsSB, enjoy State street being closed to cars. I couldn’t watch the SSAC meeting yesterday but I’ve read that no action was taken, and things were considered, and mulled over. I believe that’s the future of State street. Meetings will be held, words will be spoken, no action will take place. However, there is some work going on now under the 101. That’s $11 million and rising. Where’s the revenue to transform these blocks to “flat, flexible and curbless?” (I would like to get my torso back in that condition. . .)
I live around the corner from the [currently] vacant lot on Grand Ave. This plan for 30 units is absurd. It’s simply too dense for this neighborhood. First of all, the lot isn’t that big. I always imagined three slender homes on that lot (sounds like it’s officially zoned for two). Second, the surrounding streets aren’t well suited for the existing traffic, much less the addition of 30 families. E. Valerio is so narrow and congested with parked cars that two way traffic must stop and wave one another through. California St. – on the other side of the property – is both narrow and steep. Once again, the good ol’ neighborly “you go ahead!” wave is required to keep things moving in an orderly fashion. Finally, I’m concerned for those across the street who may potentially see a significant hit to the value of their homes. I recognize that we have a crisis-level housing problem, but we need to tread carefully as we work to remedy the problem in order to avoid negatively impacting the lives of current residents (speaking as someone who went all in with a cottage-sized home purchase in beautiful Santa Barbara).