Two bills working their way through the California State Legislature could have profound effects on housing in Santa Barbara.
Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10 would make it easier for homeowners and developers to get permits to build duplexes and apartments.
Senate Bill 9 would allow up to six studios as units of housing on land currently zoned for single-family homes.
“We generally support streamlining housing production, but we want it to be the housing we truly need,” said Renee Brooke, senior planner with the City of Santa Barbara. “There are no affordability requirements on these theoretical six units, and we would prefer to retain some local control and be able to identify areas where that type of housing is best suited.”
As drafted, SB 9 would allow up to six housing units on a lot otherwise zoned for a single unit. The city would be allowed under state law to provide discretionary review — in other words, not lengthy design hearings. Approval technically could be over the counter.
The City of Santa Barbara has a reputation for having a slow planning and permitting process. Even after the state in 2016 forced cities to allow accessory dwelling units, or “granny flats,” as long as builders completed a checklist, and without discretionary review, the process still gets tangled in bureaucracy. Although the state says that cities cannot “delay” or “deny” a permit if it meets building requirements, homeowners often complain that their ADU applications are deemed “incomplete,” which can effectively be a denial for someone who doesn’t have thousands of dollars to work with the city planning department.
In addition, the state recently allocated about 8,000 units to Santa Barbara — so planners have to zone to build that many units by 2031.
Santa Barbara is not alone. Because elected officials in coastal communities throughout the state have been reluctant to build housing, largely pressured by advocates and activists, California still struggles with a housing shortage for middle-income workers.
With the latest bills, lawmakers are essentially saying that if the local jurisdictions are fighting housing that the state is going to have to intervene.
It’s a sad situation, said Ed St. George, who is Santa Barbara’s most prolific housing developer. He said he doesn’t think the bill will ever get passed in the legislature, and he’s not a fan of state interference anyway. He wishes Santa Barbara would just drop the attitude toward housing.
“I’m not for the bill as it could devastate areas like the upper Eastside,” St. George told Noozhawk. “I am for building more housing in downtown corridors where the infrastructure is already in place and would help revitalization. I am also of the opinion that if the city would just begin to issue permits in a professional and timely fashion, these types of Senate bills would not be put forth by politicians.”
The other bill, SB 10, would require local governments such as the City of Santa Barbara to allow up to 10 housing units on a single-family parcel as long as it is in an area that is considered “a transit-rich area, a jobs-rich area or an urban infill site.”
SB 9 was introduced by a platoon of lawmakers: Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, and Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park. Weiner introduced SB 10. Both bills are working their way through the legislature.
“I’m following these bills closely, and I am interested to see how they will be amended as they wind their way through the legislative process,” City Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said.
She, too, said she’s wary of one-size-fits-all legislation that limits the city’s ability to craft housing solutions that meet the needs of the community.
“At the same time, these laws aren’t being proposed in a vacuum,” Harmon said. “They are in response to our failure to meet our community’s housing need, not the future or projected need, but our failure to meet the need as it currently exists today. So I appreciate the spirit and creativity that drives these bills, and I share that same sense of urgency and commitment with regard to easing our residents’ housing burden.
“To achieve truly sustainable, affordable housing production that meets our city’s need, however, housing legislation should seek to partner with local jurisdictions like ours rather than to dictate solutions that may not be appropriate or achievable in our community.”
Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon was more blunt in her assessment of the bills. She said SB 9 and 10 are not the answer.
“They have the potential to rapidly destroy the neighborhood fabric of Santa Barbara,” Sneddon said. “These bills take away local control and act as a blunt tool to hammer us without consideration of our extreme high fire risks, aging infrastructure or the fact that families will be priced out of first-time buying opportunities. Automatic approval to replace any single housing unit with up to 10 rental units will not bring us the housing we need for the missing middle. We need a solution, but this isn’t it.”
— 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.
