A proposal to transform one of Santa Barbara’s gateway corners into the home of a Whole Foods Market or similar upscale grocery store has triggered concerns about the the project’s impact on the environment, views, traffic and parking.
The Wright family has proposed a two-story, 44,398-square-foot commercial building on property it owns at the corner of Garden and Yanonali streets near the Funk Zone. The first floor would include smaller stores, such as a coffee shop, and the second floor would house the market.
The site would include outdoor seating and 193 parking spaces.
The Wrights, represented by Suzanne Elledge Planning & Permitting Services and architect Brian Cearnal, recently took their project to the Santa Barbara Planning Commission for a concept review to get some feedback before submitting a formal application.
Officials are hopeful that a vibrant grocery and retail development would help activate and energize what is now an industrial area, but they have concerns about the project impact on the nearby Laguna Creek channel.
The project would be 25 feet from the top of the creek bank, raising concerns about the potential impact on the tidewater goby, Pacific (Western) pond turtle and sensitive species in the channel.
The development team believes the combination of a grocery store and assorted retail shops would be a great fit in the larger context of the nearby Funk Zone a few blocks to the west.
“We feel that this is such a prominent location in our city that this use really makes sense here, retail sense, in this gateway to the waterfront,” said Trish Allen, a planner with Suzanne Elledge.
“The fact that it is adjacent to the Funk Zone, there is a lot happening in this part of the city.”
Some of the planning commissioners also raised concerns about the design, which includes the building pushed to the corner of Garden and Yanonali, and parking snaking around the structure in an L-shape.
It was not as walkable as they like, and they wondered if there were too many parking spaces.
Commissioner Deborah Schwartz expressed concern about the parking layout based on her observations about other grocery store lots.
“We have very narrow parking spaces and it is just the state of our society today,” she said.
“We have many large vehicles that people are buying and driving and they do not fit safely into these parking spaces, sandwiched in one right next to each other.”
As the project architect, Cearnal acknowledged some significant site constraints with the property. For instance, the only option to access the site is from Yanonali Street, which will make it a tight squeeze for delivery trucks.
He must create a design that accommodates turning circles for large trucks, but also provides enough parking for shoppers — all without encroaching too far into the creek setback.
For the most part, Cearnal said, customers are going to drive to the site.
“We can’t deny the fact that Yanonali changes dramatically at Garden Street,” he said. “It is not a walking neighborhood.
“This is just not a high-pedestrian nor will it ever be a high-pedestrian neighborhood.”
Cearnal said he had considered underground parking but prospective grocery store chains didn’t like it. In addition, engineers hit significant water about 7 feet below the property, which would require difficult and expensive construction to protect the project.
“It is our goal to get as many parking spaces as possible,” he said.
The developers plan to restore the Laguna Creek channel, which everyone agreed was severely degraded. The channel is adjacent to piles of dirt and rubble, Highway 101 and the nearby El Estero Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“The current site is devoid of ecological value,” acknowledged Greg McGowan, an ecologist with Arcadis, one of the consultants hired for the project.
“Functionally, it is quite isolated. Right now it is weeds and palm trees, and just not good native stuff, but what we would be looking to do is create a strong, healthy riparian habitat.”
Some of the planning commissioners don’t like the the project’s proximity to the creek, and municipal staff members said they wanted a larger setback.
“For now I would say 25 (feet) looks pretty minimal … for this sized lot and the flexibility of your design,” commissioner June Pujo said.
She noted there are some developments where more than 25 feet is not possible because of site constraints, but at this location there is plenty of room to develop farther away from the creek bank.
Commission chairman Addison Thompson disagreed, saying a larger setback defies “common sense.”
He said 25 feet from the creek is adequate because of the surrounding industrial areas.
“Talking about hundreds of feet of setbacks in this location to me doesn’t pass the common-sense test,” Thompson said.
“It is kind of pointless. You could make this a beautiful park and have a nice open space in there, and the channel is impacted upstream and downstream and it is not going to be of any real benefit.”
The Planning Commission took no formal action since the day’s discussion was a concept review. Such sessions are typically used as starting points for developers to test the review boards’ boundaries on a proposal before a formal application is submitted.
— 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.
