Agreed, toll lanes would be a much better use than carpool lanes given the ability to generate revenue.
Genuine question. .What is the issue you have with any house that has steps in it? Exterior or interior. You seem like an active person able to navigate some stairs. I've lived in many houses with stairs throughout my life (60 yrs) and never really thought about it. Until this blog where any house with stairs gets a call out like it has a major flaw. Am I missing something?
The folks who think that what the city is proposing is some sort of homeless RV encampment by the beach are frankly utterly and completely detached from reality. That's not what this is. Let's break this down:
1. The city already a runs a program for homeless people who are living in vehicles, to help them find safe parking spaces to stay at overnight. You are free to have whatever opinion you want of that program, but this proposal and that program are not in any way the same. The amount a homeless person is looking to spend per night to park is in the neighborhood of $0. You can read more about that here:
https://santabarbaraca.gov/government/priorities-policies/homelessness-initiatives/new-beginnings-safe-parking-program
2. As someone who used to own an RV - which was anything but an "old dilapidated rolling box of sewage" - and whose first experiences of Santa Barbara were visiting in that RV, I can tell you that there are very few places near Santa Barbara to stay legally with an RV. Between El Cap and Carp, there is only one private campground that is on the East Side right next to the freeway. I expect demand for this to be VERY high, and they will likely need to implement a reservation system. I'd expect this lot to overperform financial expectations.
3. At $100/night, the type of person willing to pay that rate for dry camping is someone on the higher end. Think your fancy Airstream crowd or your Prevost motorcoach owner. This is honestly a price point that is higher than most RV folks are willing to spend, unless it's a "splurge" part of a trip.
4. Campgrounds like this can and do have maximum stay provisions, to discourage long term stays. I'd expect this lot to have similar policies, and likely more stringent than the state parks. For reference, in the state of California, you can only camp in a State Park for 30 nights TOTAL over the course of a year, and most parks have a 7 consecutive night stay limit during high season. If state parks can keep from looking like trailer parks full of long term residents, so can we. The idea that people will be "living for cheap" in this lot on any kind of long term basis is absurd.
5. This is a way to bring in tourist dollars that does not require more hotels to be built, or take away from housing stock with things like AirBnB etc. It puts them smack dab in the middle of the most tourist-ey part of town. Personally I think that's a plus.
6. If you're paying attention, these people are already camping in their RV's here in town. They're the rigs that are clean, new and modern and high end. No one looks at them and calls the cops because one glance tells you there's not a homeless person in them. A professionally converted sprinter van STARTS well over $200k, and I've seen some that are $350k plus. These rigs are all over town already if you know what to look for. May as well take their money.
7. I do see one downside, which relates to generators. By not offering electrical hookups, unless the city enacts a no generator policy for the lot, expect folks to be running them, which I'm against in this location. I think the city would be wise to run shore power hookups to each site, raise the price and make paying for shore power mandatory instead of optional. If you make it optional, some folks will not pay and just run their generator. Tack on another $25/night and make it mandatory to run shore power, or have a no generator policy.
My daughter had her wedding dinner here in September. It was so lovely. The food and service were top notch. This makes me sad.
What's wrong with the skate park? That lot is next to the wharf, State street and the funk zone. This is a good thing because these rv travelers are going all over CA why not create a place downtown that generates revenue for the city directly and also sales tax and revenue for SB merchants.
Build it and they will come.
Dined there on 3/26. the smash burger was awful. Ground up hamburger. Really? Looked sickly. NO tomatoes nor lettuce. Really? Telling family, friends, neighbors that I “don’t need to go back”. Mary
Erik, your viewers here should check out some videos on YT of full time RV'rs. There are many that would pay $100 a night to park by the beach. And these are people that have spent at least $200k on their rigs. Just last night I watched a family of four visiting Key West, FL, they paid $330 to park their trailer for one night.
As opposed to the garden street RV / car parking lot? And why would nice rigs pay to park by the skatepark?
Please don’t change your approach in any way, shape or form! You are delightful and so amusing! And you are completely spot on in all of your analyses of houses!
$100/night until the class action lawsuit on behalf of those who cannot afford the fee
The users of this lot would be RV tourists with expendable income in nice rigs.
There is no "gift' proposed as those spaces would be $100 plus per night.
I love the sweetshade tree in Alice Keck!
Precisely!
If an old dilapidated rolling box of sewage can drive in and out of a parking lot every night, it can drive to a place that is more appropriate for the owners finances. Gifting the most desirable and expensive real estate in the world to a few, while charging the highest taxes and fees in the country for everyone else, is insane and wrong. There are 1000's of places a person can live for cheap, and even for free in this country. Santa Barbara CA is not and will never be one of those places.
Cool 😎
I have serious concerns about the excessive speeds many vehicles travel on the local roads in the Santa Ynez area. To whom should I direct my concerns and observations? Thank you.
Your OP left the erroneous impression that the business you mentioned were gone when in fact several just relocated. I wanted to clarify for any readers that some of the businesses you cite are very much alive--and IN the Valley, just not in the same town where they began. As for a "dusty camping trailer" that's not to your liking, others might just find it delightful. Opinions are funny like that.
Moving to a dusty camping trailer on the backside of Los Olivos, in a gravel parking lot, is not a “move up”…all the businesses I listed have left the town of Santa Ynez, which opens the door for some businesses that may serve the actual residents of Santa Ynez, not the ones here on the weekends..
Not sure if referencing "dropping out" of Santa Ynez the town or the Valley overall. Several of the businesses you mention have moved or are trying to: Queen Cup moved into a sweet Airstream adjacent to the also relocated (SY) General, both now in Los Olivos, and Lucky Hen Larder says they're searching for another space. Also, SYV Pantry is moving up Sangunto St, in SY (next door to Baker's Table). Add in the delightful Stica, difficult-to-score Santa Ynez Sourdough, and Lucky Penny opening in Los Olivos, just to name a few, the Valley's commercial climate appears robust.
We used to live around the corner from the Cuesta house and I always loved the faded glamour of the place, and the interior photos do not disappoint. Love that you can spend $3.6m for a fixer here (*sob*).
SBIFF is on instagram. https://www.instagram.com/officialsbiff
They also have a showtimes app.
'Six-Acre Compound in the Upper Village Sells for $47.59 Million', this is very high for 6 acres in Montecito. Wonder what's really going on with this because knowing Montecito properties,
Re: carpool lanes, it would be nice if they could instead be toll lanes for single drivers (and free/reduced for carpoolers) so they could also serve as a revenue generator for infrastructure and maintenance. Is that at all possible in the future? or would it be cost- or space-prohibitive to install the systems needed for that?
I'm wondering the same thing. Do they take the profit and roll it into that project or are they out of SB completely.
The site renderings show stairs and a switch-back incline from the sidewalk to the building. The bottle shop is all at street level. What accounts for the 2-3 feet of new elevation?
The solar panel covered carport looks very “urban planner” to me, but that must be part of the LEED Gold certification.
