••• On the December 14 agenda for the city’s Board of Architectural Review: a new four-story apartment building at 425 Santa Barbara Street (between Haley and Gutierrez—i.e., in front of Renegade Wines). It’s more Spanish-style architecture, which I’m often unconvinced we need more of, but it’ll probably feel welcome in that industrial area. Too bad, however, that the big, gorgeous trees seem to be headed for the chopping block. The building will be “comprised of one two bedroom unit, eight one-bedroom units and ten studio units, on a vacant lot within the Priority Housing Overlay area of the City. […] The units range in size from 489 square feet to 995 square feet with an average unit size of 608 square feet. Two of the units are proposed to be restricted to ‘Very Low Income’ tenants under the State’s Density Bonus Program; additionally, one of the units is required to be restricted to ‘Moderate Income’ tenants under the City’s Inclusionary Program, with an additional in-lieu fee payment to replace a second ‘Moderate Income’ unit.”
••• A faint silver lining of the stay-at-home order. UPDATE 12/9: It appears that parking enforcement will only be suspended for street-sweeping; otherwise, it’s business as usual.
••• Merchant of Venice has a pop-up going on at 1046-G Coast Village Road (in the Starbucks shopping center) through the end of the month. You can expect “handmade cushions and hand loomed napkins, tablecloths, placemats and towels, beautiful Italian flatware, stainless steel accessories including coffee sets and more, enchanting kids’ rugs and flatware, Scandinavian handblown glass, and original artwork.”
••• On the agenda for this Tuesday’s meeting of the county Board of Supervisors: “The Southern California Gas Company would like to install approximately 63 wireless signal transmitting and/or receiving natural gas telecommunication facilities in the Inland Area (i.e., nonCoastal Zone) of Santa Barbara County. SoCalGas would locate approximately 8 facilities in the Montecito Community Plan area and 55 facilities in the balance of the unincorporated county. The facilities would monitor and transmit natural gas use information from customer meters and underground pipelines. In part, these facilities would improve public safety by detecting gas leaks in underground pipelines.” Here’s what they’ll look like.
••• San Francisco’s Thomas Reynolds Gallery has chosen 1331 State Street (Sola/Victoria) for its 26th-annual holiday exhibition, and there’s a chance the gallery will make it a permanent home. About the show: “Our inaugural exhibition brings Sandy Ostrau, who paints at the Sea Ranch, back to Santa Barbara. Sandy is a proud graduate of UCSB, where she starred on the women’s soccer team. Her juicy paintings of life on the California coast—north, central and south—are among the most exciting works of our time.The exhibition also includes work from the estate of Ken Auster, the Laguna Beach surf artist who became one of California’s preeminent plein-air painters, then perfected his of-the-moment style painting the streets, bars and restaurants of San Francisco and NewYork. We’re also pleased to present the bold and colorful abstract paintings of Santa Barbara’s own Marge Cafarelli, owner of the Public Market, plus other gallery artists.” Below: Auster’s “Slide Ranch” and Cafarelli’s “Sunset Over Stearns Wharf.”
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