••• The Carpinteria-Summerland Fire District has purchased 2330 Lillie Avenue in Summerland for $5.3 million and will be moving there from 2375 Lillie Avenue (below); no word yet on what will happen to the current station.
••• Car-service company Blacklane announced that it has expanded to Santa Barbara. I’ve found it useful in other cities, although Uber is in the process of buying it, which could change things.
••• Along with the goal of adding a bunch of buildings (mostly back-of-house), which will take a decade or two, Lotusland is looking to revise its conditional use permit to allow more visitors and a shift to being open year-round, bringing it in line with such similar attractions as the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden and the Music Academy of the West. More on all that when it enters the county process, which should be soon; nearby residents have already been notified. Given the organization’s history of restraint and consideration, one can only hope that the county will see fit to broaden access to such a special place. In the meantime, Lotusland is gathering names of people who would care to proactively show support.
••• “What’s going on at the Ortega/Sheffield/Jameson intersection?” asked D. It’s intended to be a better connection for cyclists. In the graphic below, which I ran back in May, the new bike path is in yellow, and there will be a sidewalk, too.
••• And at least once a week, someone asks about the construction on the south side of the 101 at Milpas Street. That’s 926 Hutash Street, cradled by an off-ramp, and it’s going to be a three-story hotel with 105 rooms and “rooftop amenities”; the name might be Hotel Anna.
••• Today’s meeting of the Architectural Board of Review includes a one-time design consultation for “proposal to install new rooftop mechanical equipment and associated screening and platform” on the Trader Joe’s building at 3025 De La Vina Street. Below is what it looks like now (huge, ugly); how did that ever get approved in the first place? The rendering shows a giant white cube, but surely more can be done to make it presentable. Maybe they can paint it to look like a giant peanut butter–filled pretzel nugget.
••• A new tome for your coffee table, Private Homes of Santa Barbara: The Visionaries & Creators by Holly Lepere, comes out this week. It includes “commentary by the featured architects, interior designers, landscape designers, and builders, along with behind-the-scenes stories from Lepere’s photo shoots.”
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C’mon Trader Joe’s! You can do better than that. I’ve got no problem with a structure on top, but why is it completely devoid of even an attempt of design? Just lazy.