Friday, November 14, 2008
Ocean Road
How can building on Ocean Road NOT be considered as part of UCSB's Long Range Developement Plan?
[ From: "UCSB’s Ocean Road Project Raises Concerns - University Administration Facing Possible Housing Pressure," By Ben Preston, SB INDEPENDENT, November 13, 2008 ]
In an attempt to get going on a portion of its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) for 2025, UCSB has been pushing to get a campus housing project proposed for Ocean Road considered separately from the rest of the plan. The university’s argument that this part of the already controversial plan could be initiated as an amendment to the university’s 1990 LRDP was met with skepticism from members of the public at a November 6 hearing.
Objections to what some are calling a piecemeal approach were met by comments from Tye Simpson, UCSB’s director of campus planning and design, [who] claimed at the meeting that the university is doing what any community would do when making an amendment to its General Plan. The project’s detractors argue that since the LRDP for 2025 is currently under review — of which the Ocean Road development is part — has not been passed, dealing with it separately goes against the existing LRDP and the California Environmental Quality Act process.
Adjacent to Isla Vista along the western boundary of UCSB’s main campus, the Ocean Road project would include 532 units containing faculty, staff, and graduate student housing, commercial space, and more than 1,000 parking spaces. The row of eucalyptus trees that now stands along Ocean Road next to Isla Vista’s easternmost houses would be removed, and UCSB’s student health center would be relocated. UCSB’s position has been that the housing and parking are much needed, but community activists say that it is over and above what that area can accommodate. “The project includes so much more parking than is required by the housing they’re building,” said Olivia Uribe, the associate director of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN).
“Even though the Ocean Road project is an integral part of the 2008 LRDP for 2025, [UCSB] is representing it as an amendment to the 1990 LRDP,” said Dick Flacks, a professor emeritus of sociology at UCSB and a member of SBCAN’s Board of Directors. Along with individuals and groups he said are “concerned with the future of UCSB as a part of the community,” Flacks recently formed the Sustainable University Now (SUN) Coalition to address the many problems they’ve perceived in the LRDP for 2025. “[The Ocean Road project] changes a lot of things. Height limits, for instance — there are buildings that will be taller than anything allowed in the 1990 LRPD,” he said. The apartments and town homes in the development would be anywhere from two to six stories tall.
Flacks... also said that extracting elements of the plan would go against the very nature of long-range planning...
Linda Krop, the Environmental Defense Center’s chief counsel, said that although the LRDP amendment process has been going on for nearly two years, the Ocean Road project is only a part of it, and is still subject to its own environmental review and scrutiny by the California Coastal Commission before anything can be done...
The next hearing for the Ocean Road project will be December 20, when many students will be gone for the winter holiday...
[ From: "UCSB’s Ocean Road Project Raises Concerns - University Administration Facing Possible Housing Pressure," By Ben Preston, SB INDEPENDENT, November 13, 2008 ]
In an attempt to get going on a portion of its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) for 2025, UCSB has been pushing to get a campus housing project proposed for Ocean Road considered separately from the rest of the plan. The university’s argument that this part of the already controversial plan could be initiated as an amendment to the university’s 1990 LRDP was met with skepticism from members of the public at a November 6 hearing.
Objections to what some are calling a piecemeal approach were met by comments from Tye Simpson, UCSB’s director of campus planning and design, [who] claimed at the meeting that the university is doing what any community would do when making an amendment to its General Plan. The project’s detractors argue that since the LRDP for 2025 is currently under review — of which the Ocean Road development is part — has not been passed, dealing with it separately goes against the existing LRDP and the California Environmental Quality Act process.
Adjacent to Isla Vista along the western boundary of UCSB’s main campus, the Ocean Road project would include 532 units containing faculty, staff, and graduate student housing, commercial space, and more than 1,000 parking spaces. The row of eucalyptus trees that now stands along Ocean Road next to Isla Vista’s easternmost houses would be removed, and UCSB’s student health center would be relocated. UCSB’s position has been that the housing and parking are much needed, but community activists say that it is over and above what that area can accommodate. “The project includes so much more parking than is required by the housing they’re building,” said Olivia Uribe, the associate director of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN).
“Even though the Ocean Road project is an integral part of the 2008 LRDP for 2025, [UCSB] is representing it as an amendment to the 1990 LRDP,” said Dick Flacks, a professor emeritus of sociology at UCSB and a member of SBCAN’s Board of Directors. Along with individuals and groups he said are “concerned with the future of UCSB as a part of the community,” Flacks recently formed the Sustainable University Now (SUN) Coalition to address the many problems they’ve perceived in the LRDP for 2025. “[The Ocean Road project] changes a lot of things. Height limits, for instance — there are buildings that will be taller than anything allowed in the 1990 LRPD,” he said. The apartments and town homes in the development would be anywhere from two to six stories tall.
Flacks... also said that extracting elements of the plan would go against the very nature of long-range planning...
Linda Krop, the Environmental Defense Center’s chief counsel, said that although the LRDP amendment process has been going on for nearly two years, the Ocean Road project is only a part of it, and is still subject to its own environmental review and scrutiny by the California Coastal Commission before anything can be done...
The next hearing for the Ocean Road project will be December 20, when many students will be gone for the winter holiday...
Labels: California Coastal Commission, housing, IVMP, LRDP, Ocean Road, parking, UCSB
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Fight the IVMP
There's a FaceBook group, organized through the Biko House, that's nearly 1500 strong.
The FaceBook Group is in opposition to much of Isla Vista Master Plan. Check them out and be sure to scroll down to the bottom for discussions and postings. If you are of like mind, please join:
FB: Fight The IV Master Plan
The FaceBook Group is in opposition to much of Isla Vista Master Plan. Check them out and be sure to scroll down to the bottom for discussions and postings. If you are of like mind, please join:
FB: Fight The IV Master Plan
Labels: FaceBook, Isla Vista Master Plan, IVMP
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Chant 1447
Surprise, surprise...
[ Excerpt of "I.V. May Add 1,447 Housing Units - Density, Dude," SB INDEPENDENT, September 6, 2007, By Chris Meagher ]
With the passage of the Isla Vista Master Plan last week, Santa Barbara County officials believe they have met the state’s housing mandate and have sent a letter to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) asking for final certification. As a result of rezoning included in the plan, 1,447 additional housing units can be built in the already densely populated Isla Vista area. Of those units, 1,415 can be “built at densities ranging from 25-45 dwelling units per acre” — a density rate consistent with state guidelines for lower-income housing in the county. The 1,415 units will sit on 259 acres of recently rezoned land in Isla Vista.
County planners knew the completion of the plan would help make up for the county’s overall shortfall of available affordable units, but wouldn’t speculate on how big the effect would be until the Board of Supervisors okayed the Master Plan. Up until that point, the county had a reported shortfall of 1,235 units out of a designated 6,064 units it had to zone for by December.
The state housing mandate doesn’t call on counties to build homes, but rather requires them to prepare for housing through policy decisions and incentive packages for builders. HCD crafts a Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for agencies such as the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), which then divvies up that number as requirements for each city and county. David Matson, the county deputy director of long-range planning, said the primary consideration in placing housing units is providing a balance between housing and available jobs. The South Coast received 38 percent of the RHNA-zoned units in the county. Another 30 percent went to the Santa Maria area — primarily Orcutt — while Santa Ynez received 13 percent, Lompoc 14 percent, and Cuyama five percent. Because the greatest job generation in the county comes from the South Coast, Isla Vista was an appropriate place for the units, Matson said.
Meanwhile, some groups have stepped up against the choice to make I.V. housing even denser. Chris Henson, director of the Coastal Housing Coalition, called the move by the county “shortsighted,” opining that the housing units should be geared to an entire county community and not just I.V.’s student population. Henson pointed to a section of the county’s Housing Element which states that the “county shall ensure adequate sites zoned at densities that accommodate the county’s ‘fair share’ housing needs for the current planning period at all income levels and in all Housing Market Areas.”
When asked if the county was just putting the units in Isla Vista to get through this round of housing mandates, Supervisor Brooks Firestone — whose 3rd District includes Isla Vista — said that various options had been studied and that the option adopted was ideal. “The county ultimately must do what the state requires us to do,” he said. First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal said that while the housing crisis is by no means solved with this move, rezoning Isla Vista allows the county to move on and address the next cycle of mandates from the state. The county didn’t go about the last cycle in the most productive way, Carbajal said, but is working to improve this time around.
SBCAG is already working on the next cycle of mandates... As it sits now, the county will be forced to accommodate 13,312 new housing units between 2008 and 2014 as part of the RHNA program. SBCAG officials are attempting to negotiate with the state, saying a cookie-cutter mandate doesn’t work in Santa Barbara. “Housing Elements are a sham throughout the state of California,” Carbajal said. “The state is not providing the tools —
the creativity and the flexibility — to meet our mandates. It’s a bogus process that polarizes our community.”
[ Excerpt of "I.V. May Add 1,447 Housing Units - Density, Dude," SB INDEPENDENT, September 6, 2007, By Chris Meagher ]
With the passage of the Isla Vista Master Plan last week, Santa Barbara County officials believe they have met the state’s housing mandate and have sent a letter to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) asking for final certification. As a result of rezoning included in the plan, 1,447 additional housing units can be built in the already densely populated Isla Vista area. Of those units, 1,415 can be “built at densities ranging from 25-45 dwelling units per acre” — a density rate consistent with state guidelines for lower-income housing in the county. The 1,415 units will sit on 259 acres of recently rezoned land in Isla Vista.
County planners knew the completion of the plan would help make up for the county’s overall shortfall of available affordable units, but wouldn’t speculate on how big the effect would be until the Board of Supervisors okayed the Master Plan. Up until that point, the county had a reported shortfall of 1,235 units out of a designated 6,064 units it had to zone for by December.
The state housing mandate doesn’t call on counties to build homes, but rather requires them to prepare for housing through policy decisions and incentive packages for builders. HCD crafts a Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for agencies such as the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), which then divvies up that number as requirements for each city and county. David Matson, the county deputy director of long-range planning, said the primary consideration in placing housing units is providing a balance between housing and available jobs. The South Coast received 38 percent of the RHNA-zoned units in the county. Another 30 percent went to the Santa Maria area — primarily Orcutt — while Santa Ynez received 13 percent, Lompoc 14 percent, and Cuyama five percent. Because the greatest job generation in the county comes from the South Coast, Isla Vista was an appropriate place for the units, Matson said.
Meanwhile, some groups have stepped up against the choice to make I.V. housing even denser. Chris Henson, director of the Coastal Housing Coalition, called the move by the county “shortsighted,” opining that the housing units should be geared to an entire county community and not just I.V.’s student population. Henson pointed to a section of the county’s Housing Element which states that the “county shall ensure adequate sites zoned at densities that accommodate the county’s ‘fair share’ housing needs for the current planning period at all income levels and in all Housing Market Areas.”
When asked if the county was just putting the units in Isla Vista to get through this round of housing mandates, Supervisor Brooks Firestone — whose 3rd District includes Isla Vista — said that various options had been studied and that the option adopted was ideal. “The county ultimately must do what the state requires us to do,” he said. First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal said that while the housing crisis is by no means solved with this move, rezoning Isla Vista allows the county to move on and address the next cycle of mandates from the state. The county didn’t go about the last cycle in the most productive way, Carbajal said, but is working to improve this time around.
SBCAG is already working on the next cycle of mandates... As it sits now, the county will be forced to accommodate 13,312 new housing units between 2008 and 2014 as part of the RHNA program. SBCAG officials are attempting to negotiate with the state, saying a cookie-cutter mandate doesn’t work in Santa Barbara. “Housing Elements are a sham throughout the state of California,” Carbajal said. “The state is not providing the tools —
the creativity and the flexibility — to meet our mandates. It’s a bogus process that polarizes our community.”
Labels: development, IVMP
Saturday, May 26, 2007
IVMP Approved by SBCPC
[ Excerpt from: "SB Officials Approve I.V. Master Plan," by Matthew Weisner, DAILY NEXUS, May 24, 2007 ]
The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission authorized the Isla Vista Master Plan yesterday morning, leaving it only months away from the desk of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors... the Planning Commission voted to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the IVMP...
The Isla Vista Project Area Committee, a group of 13 individuals that includes local residents, students and business owners, took six years to devise the plan. The finalized IVMP attempts to reach a compromise between residents who wish to see a more upscale I.V. and those who are concerned about overdevelopment impacts such as environmental damage and increased traffic...
[Deputy Director of the Santa Barbara County Redevelopment Agency Jamie] Goldstein said the planning commission was confident in the plan and he projected that it will go to the Board of Supervisors as early as this August. Goldstein also said in a recent interview that the El Embarcadero and Pardall Road revamping projects would likely begin by summer 2008.
--------------------
For full text of this article, please go to:
DN: IVMP Approved by SBCPC
--------------------
Additional coverage at:
SBI: IVMP Go-Ahead
(Jamie Goldstein image courtesy of Paul Wellman and SBI)
The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission authorized the Isla Vista Master Plan yesterday morning, leaving it only months away from the desk of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors... the Planning Commission voted to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the IVMP...
The Isla Vista Project Area Committee, a group of 13 individuals that includes local residents, students and business owners, took six years to devise the plan. The finalized IVMP attempts to reach a compromise between residents who wish to see a more upscale I.V. and those who are concerned about overdevelopment impacts such as environmental damage and increased traffic...
[Deputy Director of the Santa Barbara County Redevelopment Agency Jamie] Goldstein said the planning commission was confident in the plan and he projected that it will go to the Board of Supervisors as early as this August. Goldstein also said in a recent interview that the El Embarcadero and Pardall Road revamping projects would likely begin by summer 2008.
--------------------
For full text of this article, please go to:
DN: IVMP Approved by SBCPC
--------------------
Additional coverage at:
SBI: IVMP Go-Ahead
(Jamie Goldstein image courtesy of Paul Wellman and SBI)
Labels: Isla Vista, IVMP
Sympathy for The Plan
[ Excerpt from: "A Not-so-Simple Plan," y Matthew Weisner, DAILY NEXUS, May 23, 2007
]
... Isla Vista is nearing a period of unparalleled growth and development that promises to change the face of this beachside community for years to come... the creation and implementation of the 736-page-long Isla Vista Master Plan will encourage an entirely new change. It changes zoning codes, gives I.V. a downtown facelift and updates parks and roadways throughout I.V. to streamline transportation.
... if it is approved, the project... could result in new two- to three-story buildings in I.V. as well as a refurbished soccer field and a new skate park.
One of the most prominent ideas in the IVMP is a publicly funded facelift for the “downtown” I.V. area. This plan would connect Pardall Road to Anisq’ Oyo’ Park with a passageway known as a “paseo,” which acts as a walkway for pedestrians. This facelift would establish Anisq’ Oyo’ as both a central point and corridor between apartments and marketplaces in I.V. The plan provides Pardall with widened sidewalks and bike lanes to encourage pedestrian access and safe bicycling.
The IVMP also aims to revamp the faade of the properties on Pardall Road, transforming its current stores into multiple story “mixed use” buildings, with retail stores on the first floors and housing above. In addition, the IVMP outlines the creation of similar “mixed use” buildings along the Embarcadero loop.
The creation of these structures will require changes to current zoning laws, and despite resistance from some residents who are wary of allowing such sizable construction in I.V., planners believe the zoning changes are an integral part of the IVMP.
Deputy Director of the Santa Barbara County Redevelopment Agency Jamie Goldstein, who has presided over several Master Plan meetings, said the changes would make downtown more accessible and help make Anisq’ Oyo’ Park a social center of Isla Vista.
“Narrowing Pardall to cars and making it more bicycle and pedestrian friendly will make that area a cool spot to come shop and hang out,” Goldstein said. “It will give businesses more sides, and make going downtown easier for everyone.”
Lou Ventura, a seat holder on the Isla Vista Project Area Committee - the committee charged with creating the IVMP - and owner of property management company Ventura Enterprises, said the challenge would be convincing property owners to pull the trigger on remodels and redevelopments...
Imagining the journey from the 6700 block of Sabado Tarde Road to Freebirds without having to walk in the middle of the street is difficult to comprehend for most Isla Vistans. However, the IVPAC claims the IVMP will improve pedestrian safety throughout I.V. with the construction of new sidewalks in areas such as Camino Pescadero, Sueno and Sabado Tarde Roads.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to resolve the overcrowded intersections of Pardall Road and the two halves of the Embarcadero Loop, the Plan seeks to add large roundabouts. The planners hope the roundabouts will ease traffic conflicts between bicycles and cars.
Currently, the preferred plan for improving traffic flow on El Colegio Road involves roundabouts at all major intersections, and improved sidewalks and bus stops all along the road. Goldstein said one of the possible solutions involves a consolidation of bus routes that would allow for more frequent public transit through I.V.
New zoning laws would allow more than a thousand additional units to the I.V. community - including low- and moderate-income housing in accordance with California State law and the Santa Barbara County’s Inclusionary Housing Program.
According to the law, new I.V. developments of five or more units must allocate at least 25 percent of the total units to affordable housing. Technically speaking, a unit that allows the tenant to spend less than 30 percent of their total income on housing is considered affordable, Goldstein said.
“The plan makes it easier for the private sector to come build and develop,” Goldstein said. “It should result in more affordable housing and increased property tax revenue that can be used only in I.V.”
However, Associated Students External Vice President of Local Affairs Joel Rodriguez-Flores, who currently holds a seat on the IVPAC, said the effects are uncertain.
“I think it will have a mixed impact,” he said. “It will make it possible for more development of affordable housing and also increased revenues for Isla Vista, but it could also increase property values because of the renovations.”
According to the IVMP outline, the Master Plan seeks to “incorporate an appropriate amount of affordable housing within the community. Housing opportunities would be provided for families, students, university faculty and staff and area workers within Isla Vista.”
In addition, the County Redevelopment Agency will see increased revenues - currently about $2 million per year - with which they will fund the public projects outlined in the plan.
The changes introduced by the plan could lead to between 800 and 1400 new units throughout I.V., according to Kris Miller-Fisher, executive staff assistant to 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone.
“There hasn’t been the financial impetus for developers to build this much in the past,” Fisher said. “That could change with the passage of the Master Plan.”
Although the IVPAC had their plan for a parking permit program shot down earlier this year, the IVMP seeks to alleviate the severe lack of parking through a multifaceted approach.
First, the plan would install metered parking and minimize the number of red curbs along Pardall Road. Additional spaces could be obtained by negotiating for shared use of surplus spaces, particularly from private lots that planners believe are under-utilized. The combination of these efforts would add anywhere from 200 to 300 spaces to the greater downtown area.
Goldstein said the county hopes to eventually construct a parking structure to serve the downtown I.V. area. An underground parking lot is also being considered, depending on what space is available.
“The parking agency is in negotiation with land owners about a possible purchase for underground parking in I.V.” Goldstein said. “But it’s just too early to know where or how large scale it would be.”
In addition to the extra parking spaces, the IVMP could create a new community center, tentatively located at Estero Park, so long as the plan’s Environmental Impact Report - a document that details the possible environmental hazards associated with construction - is approved
This community center would include a nearby skate park, new basketball courts and a soccer field. The Isla Vista Recreation and Park District, a five-member board which assists in developmental oversight, will fund construction of the new playing field in part with a $1 million grant it received from the State of California for new athletic fields.
IVRPD General Manager Dale Sumersille said soccer fields would be constructed first and the basketball courts and skate park would follow. In the meantime, IVRPD and active community members would attempt to accommodate the athletic facilities, the community gardens and the community center all within the confines of Estero Park.
Although Goldstein predicts sending the IVMP to the County Board of Supervisors for approval as early as this summer, the plan must also be approved by the California Coastal Commission, which will determine whether the environmental impact of the plan is acceptable - a process that could take up to 18 months.
IVRPD Vice-Chairman and PAC seat holder Ken Warfield said he was confident that the plan was environmentally conscious, but unsure of CCC’s future decision.
“You never know with the Coastal Commission because they think we have a single constituency,” Warfield said, referring to the greater UCSB community. “It depends on what UCSB’s development plan is.”
IVRPD member Diane Conn said the environmental impacts of the IVMP projects would increase the challenges I.V. currently faces.
“The plan proposes to increase the density of I.V. 20 percent, so you have all the same problems we do now up 20 percent,” Conn said. “There will be impacts to noise, parking, social and police services.”
While some individuals disagree with the Isla Vista Master Plan, all can agree that a monumental amount of time has been spent on it. Goldstein and board members have held more than 50 meetings about the plan and have spent countless hours planning and debating the future of I.V.
The process of creating the IVMP began in 2000...
--------------------
For full text of this article, along with images of what is envisioned, please go to:
DN: Not So Simple Plan
]
... Isla Vista is nearing a period of unparalleled growth and development that promises to change the face of this beachside community for years to come... the creation and implementation of the 736-page-long Isla Vista Master Plan will encourage an entirely new change. It changes zoning codes, gives I.V. a downtown facelift and updates parks and roadways throughout I.V. to streamline transportation.
... if it is approved, the project... could result in new two- to three-story buildings in I.V. as well as a refurbished soccer field and a new skate park.
One of the most prominent ideas in the IVMP is a publicly funded facelift for the “downtown” I.V. area. This plan would connect Pardall Road to Anisq’ Oyo’ Park with a passageway known as a “paseo,” which acts as a walkway for pedestrians. This facelift would establish Anisq’ Oyo’ as both a central point and corridor between apartments and marketplaces in I.V. The plan provides Pardall with widened sidewalks and bike lanes to encourage pedestrian access and safe bicycling.
The IVMP also aims to revamp the faade of the properties on Pardall Road, transforming its current stores into multiple story “mixed use” buildings, with retail stores on the first floors and housing above. In addition, the IVMP outlines the creation of similar “mixed use” buildings along the Embarcadero loop.
The creation of these structures will require changes to current zoning laws, and despite resistance from some residents who are wary of allowing such sizable construction in I.V., planners believe the zoning changes are an integral part of the IVMP.
Deputy Director of the Santa Barbara County Redevelopment Agency Jamie Goldstein, who has presided over several Master Plan meetings, said the changes would make downtown more accessible and help make Anisq’ Oyo’ Park a social center of Isla Vista.
“Narrowing Pardall to cars and making it more bicycle and pedestrian friendly will make that area a cool spot to come shop and hang out,” Goldstein said. “It will give businesses more sides, and make going downtown easier for everyone.”
Lou Ventura, a seat holder on the Isla Vista Project Area Committee - the committee charged with creating the IVMP - and owner of property management company Ventura Enterprises, said the challenge would be convincing property owners to pull the trigger on remodels and redevelopments...
Imagining the journey from the 6700 block of Sabado Tarde Road to Freebirds without having to walk in the middle of the street is difficult to comprehend for most Isla Vistans. However, the IVPAC claims the IVMP will improve pedestrian safety throughout I.V. with the construction of new sidewalks in areas such as Camino Pescadero, Sueno and Sabado Tarde Roads.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to resolve the overcrowded intersections of Pardall Road and the two halves of the Embarcadero Loop, the Plan seeks to add large roundabouts. The planners hope the roundabouts will ease traffic conflicts between bicycles and cars.
Currently, the preferred plan for improving traffic flow on El Colegio Road involves roundabouts at all major intersections, and improved sidewalks and bus stops all along the road. Goldstein said one of the possible solutions involves a consolidation of bus routes that would allow for more frequent public transit through I.V.
New zoning laws would allow more than a thousand additional units to the I.V. community - including low- and moderate-income housing in accordance with California State law and the Santa Barbara County’s Inclusionary Housing Program.
According to the law, new I.V. developments of five or more units must allocate at least 25 percent of the total units to affordable housing. Technically speaking, a unit that allows the tenant to spend less than 30 percent of their total income on housing is considered affordable, Goldstein said.
“The plan makes it easier for the private sector to come build and develop,” Goldstein said. “It should result in more affordable housing and increased property tax revenue that can be used only in I.V.”
However, Associated Students External Vice President of Local Affairs Joel Rodriguez-Flores, who currently holds a seat on the IVPAC, said the effects are uncertain.
“I think it will have a mixed impact,” he said. “It will make it possible for more development of affordable housing and also increased revenues for Isla Vista, but it could also increase property values because of the renovations.”
According to the IVMP outline, the Master Plan seeks to “incorporate an appropriate amount of affordable housing within the community. Housing opportunities would be provided for families, students, university faculty and staff and area workers within Isla Vista.”
In addition, the County Redevelopment Agency will see increased revenues - currently about $2 million per year - with which they will fund the public projects outlined in the plan.
The changes introduced by the plan could lead to between 800 and 1400 new units throughout I.V., according to Kris Miller-Fisher, executive staff assistant to 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone.
“There hasn’t been the financial impetus for developers to build this much in the past,” Fisher said. “That could change with the passage of the Master Plan.”
Although the IVPAC had their plan for a parking permit program shot down earlier this year, the IVMP seeks to alleviate the severe lack of parking through a multifaceted approach.
First, the plan would install metered parking and minimize the number of red curbs along Pardall Road. Additional spaces could be obtained by negotiating for shared use of surplus spaces, particularly from private lots that planners believe are under-utilized. The combination of these efforts would add anywhere from 200 to 300 spaces to the greater downtown area.
Goldstein said the county hopes to eventually construct a parking structure to serve the downtown I.V. area. An underground parking lot is also being considered, depending on what space is available.
“The parking agency is in negotiation with land owners about a possible purchase for underground parking in I.V.” Goldstein said. “But it’s just too early to know where or how large scale it would be.”
In addition to the extra parking spaces, the IVMP could create a new community center, tentatively located at Estero Park, so long as the plan’s Environmental Impact Report - a document that details the possible environmental hazards associated with construction - is approved
This community center would include a nearby skate park, new basketball courts and a soccer field. The Isla Vista Recreation and Park District, a five-member board which assists in developmental oversight, will fund construction of the new playing field in part with a $1 million grant it received from the State of California for new athletic fields.
IVRPD General Manager Dale Sumersille said soccer fields would be constructed first and the basketball courts and skate park would follow. In the meantime, IVRPD and active community members would attempt to accommodate the athletic facilities, the community gardens and the community center all within the confines of Estero Park.
Although Goldstein predicts sending the IVMP to the County Board of Supervisors for approval as early as this summer, the plan must also be approved by the California Coastal Commission, which will determine whether the environmental impact of the plan is acceptable - a process that could take up to 18 months.
IVRPD Vice-Chairman and PAC seat holder Ken Warfield said he was confident that the plan was environmentally conscious, but unsure of CCC’s future decision.
“You never know with the Coastal Commission because they think we have a single constituency,” Warfield said, referring to the greater UCSB community. “It depends on what UCSB’s development plan is.”
IVRPD member Diane Conn said the environmental impacts of the IVMP projects would increase the challenges I.V. currently faces.
“The plan proposes to increase the density of I.V. 20 percent, so you have all the same problems we do now up 20 percent,” Conn said. “There will be impacts to noise, parking, social and police services.”
While some individuals disagree with the Isla Vista Master Plan, all can agree that a monumental amount of time has been spent on it. Goldstein and board members have held more than 50 meetings about the plan and have spent countless hours planning and debating the future of I.V.
The process of creating the IVMP began in 2000...
--------------------
For full text of this article, along with images of what is envisioned, please go to:
DN: Not So Simple Plan
Labels: Isla Vista, IVMP
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
IVMP Hearing 5/23/2007
The hearing before the Planning Commission, on the Isla Vista Master Plan, is this Wednesday:
wed. may 23, 2007, 9:00 A.M.
PLANNING COMMISSION
105 E. ANAPAMU ST.
SANTA BARBARA, CA.
(anapamu and anacapa) near state street
Here's some email from Jeffrey Beltway about it:
------------------
Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 17:02:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: jeffrey beltway
Subject: isla vista,and ucsb the battle for the california coast
To: firewallsfortheenvironment@yahoo.com
the isla vista and ucsb master plans.
the destruction of hundreds of trees,including the EUCALYPTUS CURTAIN,which was planted in the 1800's, which now have numbered metal discs hammered into them and white paint on some of them, yes these mighty living beings that stretch from harder stadium to the sea, sycamore, redwoods, so many other types of trees could be totally destroyed!
23 parks some that could be turned into parking lots. one proposed parking lot on the site of a former gas station, still leaking. BIRDS AND DUCKS etc. including, the gnatcatcher, blue herring,mallards,coonts,blue jays,blackbirds etc. etc. and fish and turtles,wildlife of all kinds, native habitat etc. The release of asbestos,and lead through the contruction of 3,400,000 square feet of condos and townehouses creating more CEDARWOODS (the eviction of 52 families with no cause) the most posted sign in isla vista is roomates wanted!
Air, water,traffic,congestion, density etc. An increase of 5,000 students (to a new total of 25,000).emission city. They want to turn isla vista into westwood (ucla) los angeles.
We believe if the EUCALYPTUS CURTAIN falls then the border of isla vista and ucsb will be lost, and that there will be no difference, it will all be ucsb. for the curtain has always been the border, because these beautiful eucalyptus trees were planted before isla vista and ucsb ever existed!!!! They are a great wind break and reduce utility bills, and retard the deadliest animal in the world----the mosquito.
Help us save them please!! Therefore if isla vista falls to the redevelopment agencys and ucsb's plan then isla vista is the domino that will fall and after that goleta,the goleta valley, naples, gaviota coast, jalama etc. until the
california coast becomes san angeles or santa francisco. Let us join the united nations 100% vote in declaring global warming a fact,and that is destroying the world. let us stop global warming here in isla vista and santa barbara county and tell the developers NO to
their cancerous overdevelopment.
wed. may 23, 2007, 9:00 A.M.
PLANNING COMMISSION
105 E. ANAPAMU ST.
SANTA BARBARA, CA.
(anapamu and anacapa) near state street
time is running out!!!!!!
wed. may 23, 2007, 9:00 A.M.
PLANNING COMMISSION
105 E. ANAPAMU ST.
SANTA BARBARA, CA.
(anapamu and anacapa) near state street
Here's some email from Jeffrey Beltway about it:
------------------
Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 17:02:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: jeffrey beltway
Subject: isla vista,and ucsb the battle for the california coast
To: firewallsfortheenvironment@yahoo.com
the isla vista and ucsb master plans.
the destruction of hundreds of trees,including the EUCALYPTUS CURTAIN,which was planted in the 1800's, which now have numbered metal discs hammered into them and white paint on some of them, yes these mighty living beings that stretch from harder stadium to the sea, sycamore, redwoods, so many other types of trees could be totally destroyed!
23 parks some that could be turned into parking lots. one proposed parking lot on the site of a former gas station, still leaking. BIRDS AND DUCKS etc. including, the gnatcatcher, blue herring,mallards,coonts,blue jays,blackbirds etc. etc. and fish and turtles,wildlife of all kinds, native habitat etc. The release of asbestos,and lead through the contruction of 3,400,000 square feet of condos and townehouses creating more CEDARWOODS (the eviction of 52 families with no cause) the most posted sign in isla vista is roomates wanted!
Air, water,traffic,congestion, density etc. An increase of 5,000 students (to a new total of 25,000).emission city. They want to turn isla vista into westwood (ucla) los angeles.
We believe if the EUCALYPTUS CURTAIN falls then the border of isla vista and ucsb will be lost, and that there will be no difference, it will all be ucsb. for the curtain has always been the border, because these beautiful eucalyptus trees were planted before isla vista and ucsb ever existed!!!! They are a great wind break and reduce utility bills, and retard the deadliest animal in the world----the mosquito.
Help us save them please!! Therefore if isla vista falls to the redevelopment agencys and ucsb's plan then isla vista is the domino that will fall and after that goleta,the goleta valley, naples, gaviota coast, jalama etc. until the
california coast becomes san angeles or santa francisco. Let us join the united nations 100% vote in declaring global warming a fact,and that is destroying the world. let us stop global warming here in isla vista and santa barbara county and tell the developers NO to
their cancerous overdevelopment.
wed. may 23, 2007, 9:00 A.M.
PLANNING COMMISSION
105 E. ANAPAMU ST.
SANTA BARBARA, CA.
(anapamu and anacapa) near state street
time is running out!!!!!!
Labels: Isla Vista, IVMP, UCSB
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