[ Excerpt from: "Council OKs Chapala development," BY ERIC LINDBERG, DAILY SOUND, March 4, 2008 ]
After a grueling four-hour public hearing... the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously decided to give preliminary approval to a condo project on Chapala Street, overturning a Historic Landmarks Commission denial many viewed as inappropriately timed...
The development in question is a three-story, mixed-use condo project at 517 Chapala St. that started working through the city’s planning process in 2005. Plans call for six residential units, two commercial spaces and 17 parking spaces on two parcels currently being utilized as a used car sales lot.
After receiving favorable comments about its size, bulk and scale at an HLC conceptual review, the project received unanimous approval from the Planning Commission on July 13, 2006. After it returned to the HLC for preliminary approval, an apparent change in sentiment among commissioners resulted in requests for significant changes to the project — particularly related to the height and scale of the proposed building, as well as its compatibility with the neighboring Brinkerhoff Avenue Landmark District...
“Among the mess-ups in this [approval/denial] process, that is probably one of the biggest ones,” Councilmember Das Williams said [of the HLC change of mind late in the game].
[Das]... said reconsideration requests need to be made within days of the vote, rather than weeks later at another meeting...
In any event, the project developer, represented by architect Detlev Peikert, decided to continue to work with the HLC in hopes of finding common ground on the project.
“We did try to make as many changes as we could,” Peikert said. “…We didn’t object to [the approval being rescinded], feeling again that we wanted to be cooperative.”
But after several more meetings with the HLC, he said it appeared they had come “to the end of the road” in terms of any further changes they could make without substantially altering the design approved by the Planning Commission. So Peikert requested a denial from the HLC in order to be able to appeal the issue to the City Council...
Fermina Murray, an HLC commissioner who spoke at the hearing, acknowledged she goofed when first examining the project in 2005.
“I will admit to you the mistake we made at the very first meeting when this came before us,” she said. “…I did not raise the issue of [compatibility with] Brinkerhoff and my conscience is bad about that.”
In contrast, commissioner Alex Pujo said he did not make a mistake in approving the project at any stage along the process. He argued that the project meets guidelines and is compatible with neighboring properties, even going as far as to characterize landscaped setbacks along Chapala Street as inappropriate urban landscaping.
Commissioner Robert Adams disagreed while explaining his reasoning for requesting the HLC revisit the project following its preliminary approval.
“I went back to the site the next morning and I felt bad,” he said, adding that he felt the landscaping was inadequate...
Ultimately, the council determined on a 6-0 vote that the HLC had overstepped its bounds in trying to rectify mistakes Adams and other commissioners felt they had made.
“There are a number of errors in this whole process,” Williams said. “Some of those errors have been made by the applicant. Some of the errors have been made by the project opponents. Some may have been made by the Planning Commission..."
... In order to address the larger issues with the planning process, several members of the council called for increased communication between design review boards, such as the HLC and the Architectural Board of Review, and the Planning Commission. Several planning commissioners came forward to echo those sentiments...
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For the full-text article, please go to:
SB DAILY SOUND: Chapala Project ApprovedLabels: 517 Chapala, Chapala
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