One of Santa Barbara’s most prominent and visible auto dealerships is revving up for a transformation.
The Santa Barbara Automotive Group is proposing several changes to the property at 402 S. Hope Ave.
The city’s Architectural Board of Review gave mostly positive comments about the project at a special meeting on Tuesday and sent it to the Planning Commission for approval.
Plans call for a new, 1,708-square-foot electric vehicle service maintenance building, a 2,354-square-foot expansion and showroom addition to the Mercedes Benz/Porsche building, a 467-square-foot expansion to the BMW/Audi building, construction of a 1,532-square-foot extended service portico for the Porsche Building, and the demolition and reconstruction of a 347-square-foot trash enclosure.
“The board overall is happy with the direction of the proposed project,” board chair Kevin Moore said.
Most of the feedback on Tuesday was centered on aesthetics and design, including color, detailing and the size of a portico over the Porsche building expansion.
The project goes back to 2016, with subsequent meetings in 2018, 2020 and 2021 as the project changed and was modified. Since several of the board members are new, the board spent a good portion of the meeting reviewing minutes so that the board could get up to speed.
In addition to the new portico for the Porsche building, the developers want to widen the entrance on Calle Real from 12 feet to 24 feet.
“It’s going to be a display area and a new vehicle area where they take the people who have purchased new vehicles and go over all the details of the vehicle,” said Mike Ramsey, planning manager for Santa Barbara Auto Group.
The purpose of the additions is to comply with new corporate specifications from the automobile manufacturers at the site. The City Council approved a Community Benefit allocation of nonresidential floor area for the project in 2016.
Much of the discussion centered on the 30-foot length of the portico for the new Porsche service bay, to allow more width between the lanes.
“When you look at the elevations, that span is excessive and jarring in the architecture,” board member Richard Six said.
The panel voted 6-1 to send the project to the Planning Commission, but also to reduce the length of the Porsche span.
Board member Dennis Whalen voted no.
“I don’t support changes to the service portico,” Whalen said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
