City Council to Consider a Moratorium on New Hotels

••• Sixteen Santa Barbara High School students were caught attempting a “senior prank” at the school that “involved gallons of baby oil, Vaseline, raw fish, and oysters being placed all over the floors and door handles. Toilet paper and streamers were strewn in trees on the exterior of the school property. It was also discovered there were numerous items of vandalized property inside the school, to include broken windows and items spray painted.” Dozens of students got away. —from an SPBD press release on Edhat

••• “Nearly 300 people watched the first and only campaign forum in the race for County Superintendent of Schools live online Tuesday night, as incumbent Susan Salcido and challenger Christy Lozano differed sharply on the direction of public education in local districts.” —Newsmakers

••• “Biologists have a new theory on what may be creating a health crisis for California’s Brown Pelicans [….] Experts say it could be connected to a shortage of the fish which make up their limited diets.” —KCLU

••• “The Santa Barbara Airport is raising parking fees to help cover the cost of a rising minimum wage and increased shuttle rental costs. The maximum fee for parking in the short-term lot will jump from $25 to $27. The maximum fee to park in the long-term Lot 1 will go from $15 to $17. The long-term Lot 2 will rise from $10 to $12. The cost per hour for each lot is currently $1, but that will rise to $1.25.” I love SBA, but it needs more parking—and the “lots full” signs at the airport entrance aren’t especially helpful. Surely there’s a way to put those updates online? —Noozhawk

••• From a Caltrans press release on Edhat: “southbound U.S. 101 off-ramp at Seacliff will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday until summer 2023. The Seacliff on-ramp to southbound U.S. 101 also will be closed intermittently. The purpose is to provide large trucks carrying concrete access to a batch plant yard. Motorists can expect delays.” Underline mine.

••• A local Pacaso owner tells his side of the story. —Noozhawk

••• “Santa Barbara Council Discusses Possibility of Imposing Commercial Vacancy Tax. The idea, drawing mixed reactions, comes up as part of a budget hearing for the city’s Community Development Department. […] Austin Herlihy, a broker for Radius Commercial Real Estate, expressed concerns about a commercial vacancy tax. ‘I don’t think that’s a fair solution to the problem,’ Herlihy said. ‘Landlords are having a hard enough time finding tenants that actually want to be on State Street.'” —Noozhawk

••• “Later this summer, the [city] council will discuss a possible moratorium on new hotels, the argument being that too frequently developers are favoring new hotels over new housing on land that’s zoned for both.” —Independent

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5 Comments

Jillian

They should put a hold on new hotels. Where do they think the water they need will come from?

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BW

Yes to the hotel moratorium. We’re rapidly becoming less of a “real place.”

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Doug B

I’ve been on the fence about Pacaso, but I think I’m beginning to lean in favor of it. I’d rather have eight people buy into a single $12M vacation home, then have each of them purchase a $1.5M vacation home. Taking one $12M home away from locals hurts the housing situation a lot less than taking eight $1.5M homes away from locals. Or am I missing something?

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Anne-Marie

I agree. As long as the folks behave nicely, what is the harm. They come and spend money in our community and obviously like it, or else they wouldn’t be here.

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