••• “Santa Barbara City Council OKs 90-Unit Milpas Street Housing Project [….] Nearby residents appealed the four-story development over concerns about blocked views as well as traffic and safety.” It’s at 418 N. Milpas Street and 915-923 E. Gutierrez Street. —Noozhawk (rendering courtesy Hochhauser Blatter Associates)
••• The Historic Landmarks Commission rejected the contemporary orange picnic tables proposed for the Santa Barbara Library Plaza. —Noozhawk
••• Common sense prevailed: “Planning Commission Denies 24-Hour Cannabis Operation in Carpinteria.” —Noozhawk
••• As of Wednesday evening, the Gifford Fire was 41% contained, with 130,440 acres burned. —Los Padres National Forest
••• “According to the Air Pollution Control District’s Air Quality Index, as of Tuesday, most areas in Santa Barbara County have been mainly green and yellow—green indicating ‘safe’ and yellow ‘moderate’ air quality, which is only unsafe for people who may be unusually sensitive to particulate pollution. […] Lyz Bantilan with the APCD, which documents air quality using monitoring stations around the county, said that the smoke from the fire has been mostly staying aloft due its ‘mixing height,’ which indicates where and to what extent smoke disperses. So far, most of the smoke is visible but not felt on the ground. While it may look smokey, forecasters expect it to continue to stay up high with no real ground impacts.” —Independent
••• “Highway 166 is now open between Highway 101 and New Cuyama. However, due to ongoing road work following the Gifford Fire, drivers should expect delays of up to one hour.” —KSBY
••• Developer Jim Knell of SIMA had some harsh words for the city council in a Noozhawk article about the Press Room managing to hold on while redevelopment of its lot and some nearby ones is on hold: “He is still keeping the permits alive to build the hotel, but right now ‘it does not make any economic sense,’ he said. ‘What the city has done has rendered the hotel virtually worthless by keeping the street closed. […] The city doesn’t know what it wants to do. All you have is a bunch of unsophisticated City Council members dealing with economics and traffic patterns which is way beyond their pay grade, and nothing gets done.”
••• “Palo Alto–based company Pivotal took to the skies at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club [last] Saturday to demo an unusual single-seater, ultralight aircraft, the BlackFly. On the ground and in flight, it looks like a mix of a drone, a kayak, an airplane, and a helicopter. In actuality, however, the BlackFly is an all-electric aircraft that uses eight small propellers and motors to provide thrust and lift. This allows for the BlackFly to perform vertical take-offs and landings like a helicopter.” —Independent
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I am okay with development downtown if we absolutely must grow. This structure should have more parking however.
NEVER allow the development behind The Mission to occur, however.
Roger NIMBY just like they “do downtown” they will do behind the mission. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice they do whatever they want. They don’t care about parking. They don’t care about what the citizens say. This is in Newsom’s order and mandate, and they have to obey.
Don’t fool yourself. If you support development where it doesn’t affect you what kind of person does that make you.
This is horrible for the east side and Milpas and for the East side and the residence who are being kicked out of their homes.
This is not downtown.
I’m not saying the current set up is perfect, but the city would be wise to keep State Street closed to car traffic. However, the city absolutely needs to make it easier to build more housing vs. hotels – if memory serves, the project was originally intended to be housing, but requirements from the city made that infeasible.
Without significantly increasing the allowed density of units and height of buildings downtown (currently limited to 36 units per acre and 60 feet in height for the central business district, the densest and highest in town) we will never be able to build enough housing to provide any meaningful change in affordability. The CBD is 169 acres (which includes streets and all government buildings like the library, city hall, the courthouse, etc.). Even if you assume all government buildings are moved elsewhere and every inch of the CBD, including streets and parks, were developed for multi-family you’d hit a max of 6,000 units. This is basic math City Council is either ignorant of or ignoring.
City Council needs to stop playing politics trying to appease the NIMBY’s and affordable housing crowds simultaneously as it’s been going nowhere for decades. Either accept that Santa Barbara will never be affordable and maintain the small town look and feel, or drastically change the City Council imposed limits on density and height.
You’ll never have enough housing to satisfy demand in SB. We should add housing — and there are LOTS of responsible places to do it with positive impact. But maintaining integrity of the town is crucial. Height limits are a key element of that. Mountain views are an existential piece of SB identity. Building high-rise, or greater than 4 stories or so, will impede views with buildings and permanently destroy the charm and aesthetic value of the town.
We could easily 2-3x the housing here by doing it responsibly but there have to be certain values in place.
I don’t think it’s an either/or with the city council. I watched the meeting regarding 418 N. Milpas and several comments stood out. But most surprising to me is council members Kristen, Wendy and Oscar all supported my opinions. That was a first. Yes the NIMBY comments were abundant, many pointed out it’s 90 units with only 65 parking spots. And I totally disagreed with the majority even though they had the “law” on their side. Reminded me of the song,
“I fought the law and the. . . law won.”
I also noticed this, regarding NIMBY comments from the neighbors. Mike Jordan saying, “I like this project on Milpas and look forward to more like it.” (loose quote)
Okay Mike, then start planning for some four story apartment buildings in the Cliff drive, Meigs commercial area. Or down the street near City College, or next to 215 Bath street in West Beach. These areas already have too many STVR’s. Why not build more multi-story “housing.” And if you say no then aren’t you a NIMBY?
Just develop from goleta to solvang.
Of course we want to preserve land and have open space, but not at the expense of cramming everybody so tight that it’s just an absolute cluster and zero quality of living. Currently everything is such a cluster you can’t even get in and out of any parking lot or Gas Station. Not to mention, there’s literally construction every three blocks or a road closure.
It’s just going to get worse.
On top of it there is no consideration whatsoever when doing construction nor do they even follow the law because they know nobody is checking. They get away with whatever they can, its blatant and shocking. Blocking full lanes, sending cars into oncoming traffic with no traffic control, illegally closing sidewalks… Imagine 90 units being built on Milpas and Gutierrez.
That’s not even including the car wash project, Tri-County project, and whatever happened to capital plumbing after that dude bailed.
Regarding fires across the nation, there is a great app called Watch Duty which provides real-time updates on fires and gives info on evacuations, and much more for over 22 States. I’ve been using it for the Gifford fire and it’s been very helpful. The app is a non profit.