Some things scream Santa Barbara.

McConnell’s Ice Cream. Hendry’s Beach. The Chromatic Gate rainbow arch.

But don’t count the plan for the Sears property in La Cumbre Plaza as one of those things.

“It doesn’t feel like Santa Barbara,” said Planning Commissioner John Baucke. “It doesn’t have Santa Barbara traits to it. It is very, very big and bulky.”

And that’s only half the story.

Baucke joins journalist Josh Molina in the latest episode of the podcast Santa Barbara Talks to talk about the two big housing developments proposed for La Cumbre Plaza.

“How that is going to work with the Taylor project, and the mall, is where this is really concerning,” Baucke said.

The planning commissioner breaks down both projects, which combined would create 1,127 units of new housing. Two separate developers have come forward with plans to develop the area.

The Taylor family wants to build 684 apartments on the Macy’s side of La Cumbre Plaza. Riviera Dairy, along with Orange County developer Kennedy Wilson, want to build 443 units. The developers, as of now, aren’t working together on the projects, which is creating serious headache for city planners.

Read all about how former chair of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Das Williams sabotaged plans for a Specific Plan, which would have allowed the city to design both projects jointly and create more affordable housing, by clicking here.

Baucke in the podcast talks about some of the challenges of the two proposals, offers his views on a Specific Plan, and ways the city can move forward to make the housing projects work for Santa Barbara.

“I see the possibility of this not working,” Baucke.

He also shares his views about creating a new redevelopment agency-like mechanism in Santa Barbara that collects property tax increment to fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Santa Barbara is never going to be able to build enough housing to make the city affordable, he said, but the Santa Barbara Housing Authority can make a difference.

“We need to go back to that,” Baucke said. “To me that’s the best answer this community has.”

Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.