Tea Fire Resources

As our community continues to put the pieces back together after the Tea Fire, I wanted to provide everyone with an update and some important information. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy and we, as a City, are grateful to the many groups and individuals who have helped in the response and recovery efforts. 151 homes within the City of Santa Barbara were destroyed, as well as 80 more within the County.

For residents returning to your homes, these are the key phone contacts for your gas, electricity, and water connections:

Gas Company - (800) 427-2200 [note: please DO NOT attempt to turn your gas back on yourself! Call the Gas Company for assistance.]

So. Cal Edison - (800) 611-1911

Water: (805) 564-5413 for the City of Santa Barbara
(805) 969-2271 for Montecito

The City of Santa Barbara wants to help those who have lost their homes re-build as soon as possible. The City Planning department, located at 630 Garden Street, will be issuing expedited permits. For any re-building projects which are of the same Floor Area Ratio, you must comply with new safety regulations but you will not need to comply with any additional aesthetic regulations. Re-building projects which increase the size of the home will need to comply with both new safety and aesthetic regulations. Additionally, the local chapter of the American Planners Association has volunteered their time and expertise to provide guidance and help people through the permitting process. A list of qualified professionals who have offered their assistance is attached to this posting.

The City of Santa Barbara wants to be as helpful as possible to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy. A Tea Fire Local Assistance Center has been opened at the Davis Center at 1232 De La Vina Street to assist those who have lost their homes in the fire. The Center is open from 9am to 5pm. Please distribute this email to anyone who might be interested. Also, please feel free to contact my office with any questions or issues that I might be able to assist with.

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CVR Project

[ Excerpt from: "Council majority seeks middle ground on CVR project," by Eric Lindberg, DAILY SOUND, July 15, 2008 ]

With community members sharply divided on a proposal to replace an aging gas station on Coast Village Road with eight condos and commercial space, a majority of the Santa Barbara City Council sought a happy medium to divergent viewpoints.

On a 4-3 vote, leaders upheld earlier approvals of the project but sent it along to the city’s design board to work on reducing its bulky appearance...

Since initially presented in 2004, the proposal to destroy a gas station at the corner of Coast Village and Olive Mill roads in order to build a 17,270 square-foot, mixed-use building has provoked fervent criticism from some and unrestrained praise from others.

Its location is commonly heralded as the gateway to Montecito...

A portion of public speakers joined that chorus, citing concerns about its bulk and height, compatibility with neighboring residences, potential traffic impacts and strain on water resources...

Height remained a critical issue for some city leaders, including Councilmember Iya Falcone, who cast a dissenting vote along with Mayor Marty Blum and Councilmember Dale Francisco.

While split on the merits of a third story, the council appeared largely in consensus on another issue — a requested modification on the northern edge of the building to allow a two-story section to protrude into the required setback...

City planner Peter Lawson... said rezoning a 50-foot segment of land along the northern edge of the project site currently designated as residential would merely fit with the city’s General Plan and present commercial use of the property...

While unanimously approving the rezone, the council majority deferred a decision on how exactly to solve the issue of neighborhood compatibility, instead directing the ABR to place an emphasis on resolving the project’s impact on the Olive Mill Road neighborhood.

Falcone and Mayor Blum said the possibility that the building might remain at three stories prevented them from giving it a nod of approval.

“It is just a little bit too big for that corner,” the mayor said. “It’s bulky. I’m struggling with that third story.”

Francisco, however, took issue with another condition of approval backed strongly by Councilmembers Schneider, Das Williams and Grant House.

While the city has yet to finalize changes to its inclusionary housing ordinance — which in essence requires developers to provide affordable units or pay into a city housing fund — Williams asked that the project be held to those standards by paying $17,000 per unit toward the development of affordable housing stock.

Representatives of developer John Price quickly agreed to such a proposition, but Francisco met the concept with great hesitation...

Nonetheless, with a majority vote, the project is off to the city’s design board for more tinkering on its apparent bulkiness and neighborhood compatibility. If the ABR grants preliminary approval to the project, that decision can be appealed back to the council for further discussion.

Coast Village Road

[ Excerpt of "Caring for Coast Village Road - What to Do about Santa Barbara’s Slice of Montecito," SB INDEPENDENT, May 29, 2007 ]


Coast Village Road... The lucrative five-block retail strip looks and feels like Montecito, but it is, in reality, part of the City of Santa Barbara. How could that be?

Legend has it that back in the 1960s, a newly formed Montecito Sanitary District was slow to bring sewers to Coast Village Road (CVR), and merchants, sick of l’eau de septic driving away customers, sought city sewers through annexation. What may have ultimately been flushed down the toilet was Montecito cityhood. To successfully incorporate and survive unseen economic swings, cities count on business diversity. Without CVR, Montecito is left with three hotels and a very short cityhood stick.

Only seven-tenths of a mile long, the Coast Village Corridor (CVR and Coast Village Circle) is primarily a commercial zone sprinkled with an array of profitable businesses, shops, jewelry stores, spas, salons, sundry, restaurants, banks, professional offices, residential condos, and apartments — all serviced by the City of Santa Barbara. In return, the city receives a share of the corridor’s tax revenue.

Given that there are two hotels (read: bed tax), more than 500 businesses (read: sales tax to the tune of $677,655 in 2006), and residential condos, commercial buildings, and apartment complexes (read: property tax), Coast Village Road is a cash cow in anybody’s book...

The [Coast Village Business] association has been pursuing street upgrades similar [to] those implemented on lower State Street. However, because of a radius limit, CVR does not qualify for downtown redevelopment agency funds used for the State Street upgrades. “Our village needs hundreds and thousands of dollars to upgrades sidewalks, street lighting, and landscapes. Coast Village has its own village atmosphere and quality. It is low key, but we need improvements to maintain a high-quality low key,” Atkins said.

She said the all-volunteer business association was set up to operate as chamber of commerce, promoting business, holidays, and mixers. However, she adds, while political noisemaking was not in their original mission, they do not plan to go quietly to the scullery like the stepchild Cinderella.

With three seats on the city council up for election in November 2007, the Coast Village Business Association is showing up to make sure politicians hear their message. In addition to city participation in infrastructure improvements, the CVBA quest-list includes continued adequate policing, more city council attention, and solutions to traffic problems.

“Our dominant issue in the past year has been the upcoming Milpas to Hot Springs highway 101 expansion, and the effect it will have on Coast Village Road,” Atkins said. “We get periodic updates about the road and round about design, but the actual construction will have obvious impacts, and the average citizen here has no clue.”

Santa Barbara City Councilmember Helene Schneider, who announced her reelection bid 10 days ago, said she understands the Coast Village corridor’s concerns and confusion about the upcoming 101 improvements, scheduled to get underway in 2008. “Continual communication on project updates will be imperative,” said Schneider, “and the city also needs to actively promote all business affected by the project throughout the construction period. Coast Village Road is a special part of our city, so it’s imperative that the city work with Caltrans in reducing the construction impacts to this area as much as possible.”

Fellow councilmember Brian Barnwell, who announced his reelection bid last week, agreed. “Coast Village Road has been overlooked,” he admitted. In addition to reviewing 101 and traffic issues, Barnwell said he has worked with CVBA over the past year to help them look into the possibility of a Business Improvement District. He also sees the opportunity for creative zoning along Coast Village Road. “They need special zoning to respect the character of the area and protect mountain views,” Barnwell explained. (Current codes allow for a 60-foot or four-story height limit.) “It is a unique part of town, and it deserves special attention.”

Councilmember Das Williams, who pitched his re-election hat into the ring this week, said he is already focused on Coast Village Road, and is hard at work on transportation issues. “Traffic is the issue that we must concentrate on,” Williams explained. “Demand reduction has been my primary tactic, by increasing buses and biking amenities. And the roundabout [at Coast Village and Hot Springs roads], if designed correctly, should help as well.” Thinking even broader, he added, “Commuter rail, if it can reduce the number of commuters using CVR as an alternative freeway, is also a solution that must be pursued. If the county won't, then we will have to figure out alternatives to getting commuter rail done.”

And getting things done is something that CVBA boardmember Jan Atkins understands. “There is no question the revenues benefit the City of Santa Barbara,” she sighed. “Beautification of the village by the city should be an obvious action.”

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For full text of this article, please go to:

SBI: Caring for Coast Village Road



( Map courtesy of the SB Independent )