Treaty of El Pueblo Viejo
[ More about the groups working together on the issue of downtown building heights - "Height fight opponents unite," BY COLBY FRAZIER, DAILY SOUND, April 17, 2008 ]
Warring factions of Santa Barbara groups that have been at odds over plans to place an initiative on November’s General Election ballot that would change building height limits throughout the city announced... a truce has been reached.
There’s only one hitch: The Santa Barbara City Council has to adopt an interim building regulation ordinance... or else, they say, efforts to move forward with the ballot initiative will continue.
The groups made the announcement on the steps of city hall and were joined by city council members Helene Schneider and Das Williams, who helped draft the interim ordinance. If approved, the ordinance would set the maximum building height throughout the city’s commercial zones that allow residential use at 40 feet — down 20 feet from the 60 feet currently allowed under the city’s charter.
“We all want to have a Santa Barbara that continues to be beautiful,” Williams said. “People stepped aside from pride and said ‘how can we make things best for Santa Barbara?’”
... Because the height initiative blossomed in the midst of an effort to amend the city’s General Plan, some argued that a better way to address issues like height would be at Plan Santa Barbara meetings.
One of these people was Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Cushman, who voiced his disapproval of a ballot initiative last month.
Bill Mahan, chair of Save El Pueblo Viejo, said he always agreed going through the General Plan and the city was the proper route, but said he addressed the city council about the idea last summer and there was no interest.
Now there is apparently plenty of interest from the council, or at least from Williams, Schneider and Councilwoman Iya Falcone...
When asked what changed between last summer and now, Williams said, “Nobody was quite ready for it [then].”
Williams and Schneider both said the tone at Plan Santa Barbara meetings about the size, bulk and scale of buildings points in the direction of further restriction, as does the roughly 4,000 signatures that Mahan said his group has gathered in favor of the height initiative in the past two months.
He speculated that by November, he could have as many as 12,000 signatures — a clear sign, he said, that many are ready for change.
To the pleasure of some, the interim ordinance does a lot more than limit height.
It would mandate 10 percent of a net lot area to remain open space on mixed-use projects and 5 percent on commercial projects.
Projects where at least 30 percent of the residential units are classified affordable will be allowed an additional 12 feet of height. The ordinance would also set limitations on maximum floor areas and mandate additional setbacks of up to five feet from the property line facing a public street.
By dealing with the height issues through the General Plan, [Mickey] Flacks said any permanent ordinance would require environmental review. A community driven ballot initiative would not.
Mahan said the 40-feet height limit would be calculated from the ground to the top of the wall, which means a buildings roof could be several feet higher than 40 feet.
Williams said a local architect, who was once opposed to such an ordinance, called the proposed ordinance a “masterpiece.”
“This tackles the biggest issues in Santa Barbara [building heights] on one page,” he said. “That’s hard.”
... Williams said the ordinance is a way to stave off larger developments while the General Plan is being updated, and if approved, it could provide a framework for Plan Santa Barbara discussions.
... Over the past couple of months, those involved in drafting the proposed ordinance said they looked at their friends and neighbors, many of whom were on opposing sides of the issues, and asked one another why they were fighting.
For Williams, the day came when he realized he was at odds with his mentor, former Santa Barbara City Mayor Sheila Lodge, who is on the Save El Pueblo Viejo Committee.
“We just looked up at each other one day and said, ‘this is weird. We’ve got to come up with a compromise,’” he said...
------------------------------
For full text of the article, along with posted comments, please go to:
SBDS: Height Fight Opponents Unite
Warring factions of Santa Barbara groups that have been at odds over plans to place an initiative on November’s General Election ballot that would change building height limits throughout the city announced... a truce has been reached.
There’s only one hitch: The Santa Barbara City Council has to adopt an interim building regulation ordinance... or else, they say, efforts to move forward with the ballot initiative will continue.
The groups made the announcement on the steps of city hall and were joined by city council members Helene Schneider and Das Williams, who helped draft the interim ordinance. If approved, the ordinance would set the maximum building height throughout the city’s commercial zones that allow residential use at 40 feet — down 20 feet from the 60 feet currently allowed under the city’s charter.
“We all want to have a Santa Barbara that continues to be beautiful,” Williams said. “People stepped aside from pride and said ‘how can we make things best for Santa Barbara?’”
... Because the height initiative blossomed in the midst of an effort to amend the city’s General Plan, some argued that a better way to address issues like height would be at Plan Santa Barbara meetings.
One of these people was Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Cushman, who voiced his disapproval of a ballot initiative last month.
Bill Mahan, chair of Save El Pueblo Viejo, said he always agreed going through the General Plan and the city was the proper route, but said he addressed the city council about the idea last summer and there was no interest.
Now there is apparently plenty of interest from the council, or at least from Williams, Schneider and Councilwoman Iya Falcone...
When asked what changed between last summer and now, Williams said, “Nobody was quite ready for it [then].”
Williams and Schneider both said the tone at Plan Santa Barbara meetings about the size, bulk and scale of buildings points in the direction of further restriction, as does the roughly 4,000 signatures that Mahan said his group has gathered in favor of the height initiative in the past two months.
He speculated that by November, he could have as many as 12,000 signatures — a clear sign, he said, that many are ready for change.
To the pleasure of some, the interim ordinance does a lot more than limit height.
It would mandate 10 percent of a net lot area to remain open space on mixed-use projects and 5 percent on commercial projects.
Projects where at least 30 percent of the residential units are classified affordable will be allowed an additional 12 feet of height. The ordinance would also set limitations on maximum floor areas and mandate additional setbacks of up to five feet from the property line facing a public street.
By dealing with the height issues through the General Plan, [Mickey] Flacks said any permanent ordinance would require environmental review. A community driven ballot initiative would not.
Mahan said the 40-feet height limit would be calculated from the ground to the top of the wall, which means a buildings roof could be several feet higher than 40 feet.
Williams said a local architect, who was once opposed to such an ordinance, called the proposed ordinance a “masterpiece.”
“This tackles the biggest issues in Santa Barbara [building heights] on one page,” he said. “That’s hard.”
... Williams said the ordinance is a way to stave off larger developments while the General Plan is being updated, and if approved, it could provide a framework for Plan Santa Barbara discussions.
... Over the past couple of months, those involved in drafting the proposed ordinance said they looked at their friends and neighbors, many of whom were on opposing sides of the issues, and asked one another why they were fighting.
For Williams, the day came when he realized he was at odds with his mentor, former Santa Barbara City Mayor Sheila Lodge, who is on the Save El Pueblo Viejo Committee.
“We just looked up at each other one day and said, ‘this is weird. We’ve got to come up with a compromise,’” he said...
------------------------------
For full text of the article, along with posted comments, please go to:
SBDS: Height Fight Opponents Unite
Labels: building heights, General Plan
Posted by Malcolm on
4/22/2008
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1 Comments
When we talk about size, bulk, and scale of buildings, height is but one factor. Our zoning laws limit the size of a building by Height, square footage of Land, and the Number of parking spaces needed to accommodate the building. The ONLY LAW THAT HAS CHANGED recently to affect the size of a building is the Number of Parking Spaces required. Honesty would require one to look at the driving issue: required on site parking. It has been reduced and buildings are larger as a result.
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