An eight-story apartment tower proposed for behind the Santa Barbara Mission is moving closer to reality but still faces significant review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
The City of Santa Barbara on May 12 deemed the project application incomplete for the fourth time, but the issues are largely technical and minor. The developer, So Cal Industrial Equities, doing business as The Mission LLC, has until Aug. 10 to respond.
The proposal, first submitted to the city in August 2024, has sparked widespread community opposition, largely centered on its location and impact to the surrounding area. The project is proposed to be 90 feet high, and the allowed height for the area is 30 feet.
“It is a horrendous nightmare,” Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse said. “There is nothing that could go back there that would be appropriate in my mind.”
A Los Angeles County developer has proposed building 270 apartments in an eight-story building near the Mission. The project, slated for 505 E. Los Olivos St., would include 54 low-income units, 445 parking spaces and 255 bike spots.
The building area is proposed at 468,816 square feet and would include lobbies, corridors, and mechanical spaces as well as a podium deck with a gym and a swimming pool.
In a letter obtained by Noozhawk, the city has requested more specific details on plans for wastewater, the proposed floor area, utility plans, water supply, transportation, mechanic space noise related to the parking garage, vehicle ramps and on-site loading.
The formal application was submitted July 22, 2024, but the preliminary application was submitted in 2023, when the city’s Housing Element was not certified, which makes it a Builder’s Remedy project. Such projects limit local control because they were designed to make it easier for developers to build housing and discourage government entities from stopping them.
This particular project has troubled observers because it is located so close to the Mission — and an area of Santa Barbara highly regarded as one of the places that gives the city its sense of charm.
The developer did not return Noozhawk calls or messages on Tuesday. If the project application is eventually deemed complete, it still must undergo a review under CEQA.
Some of the concerns that would be scrutinized include its location next to Chumash historic resources, fire, flooding, traffic patterns, pedestrian travel and a variety of other issues.
Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon represents the district where the project is proposed.
“It is essential that the community stay engaged and voice their concerns, and I think this is a really good example of why CEQA is so important,” Sneddon said.
The site is across a driveway from the Mission cemetery and diagonal to the Rose Garden. From the street, it is covered by trees, hedges and a stonewall. The property is the former site of the Mount Calvary Monastery.
A marketing brochure for the property a couple years ago stated that it “rests at the top of a gentle slope from the ocean to the low hills of Santa Barbara, perched optimistically and peacefully over the city landscape, and looks back reverently toward the towering mountains behind. This location is the spiritual and civic heart of Santa Barbara, and the Mount Calvary Monastery property will forever hold this unique distinction.”
The property previously was the St. Mary’s Retreat House and was purchased by Mount Calvary Monastery in 2013.
The project also would have to undergo design review from the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission.
Mayor Rowse raised concerns about evacuations out of the Mission Canyon during an emergency and what happens when 1,000 more residents are added in that spot.
“The impact on those roads is going to be substantial, and for what?” Rowse said. “It is just so inappropriate on so many levels.”
He said the state is putting too much pressure on cities to approve projects that are out of bounds for the area. He said the state has a “lust for housing anytime and at all costs,” and it is a feeling shared by mayors throughout the state.
“It is kind of a helpless feeling,” Rowse said. “Clearly, this entire thing is an abomination.”
The City of Santa Barbara has not released a rendering of the proposed tower. Any renderings, according to a new state law, are owned by the architect until the application is deemed complete. The project architect did not return Noozhawk calls.