The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will be prioritizing affordability in housing projects when considering rezoning related to the 2023-31 Housing Element, as set out in the criteria the board discussed during its meeting on Tuesday.
The state is mandating that the county identify sites that could accommodate a total of 5,664 new housing units in unincorporated areas of the county.
The county has a shortfall of 2,151 lower-income units throughout the county and 857 moderate-income units in the South Coast region, based on current projections before rezoning.
“As you well know, our county is an increasingly expensive place to live, and the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria region has the fifth-highest housing cost in California, which leaves most of our community members precariously housed,” Jackie Carrera, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara Foundation, said during public comment. “We continue to face this housing shortage, which creates hardships for our workforce, and to address this, we know we have to protect, preserve and produce affordable workforce housing.”
The board adopted the county’s Housing Element Update — which is required by the state every eight years — on Dec. 5. Part of the county’s plan to meet its regional housing needs allocation is to rezone several properties to allow for housing to be built.
The county’s housing inventory is laid out in the Housing Element, along with potential sites to be rezoned. Within this list of potential sites for rezoning are nine county-owned sites and 36 other sites throughout the county — 18 on the South Coast and 18 in the North County.
To help guide the board in making rezoning decisions this spring, the county supervisors discussed the criteria and their priorities.
Each of the board members emphasized prioritizing housing projects that would be affordable to households with lower or moderate income, as well as those showing preference to local residents and the local workforce.
The board also agreed that it should prioritize rezoning sites that would allow for housing projects that include other public benefits, such as on-site child care, public parks, trails and open space, and other public recreation.
“Much of what we’ve been talking about today has been the message we’re giving to developers and considering what benefits accrue to the community from these projects,” public commenter Kevin Snow said. “My concern is and always has been the inclusion of trails in these projects and the importance of recognizing — as county policy clearly and unequivocally states — that trails and public access are fundamental to public health and welfare in our community.”
In addition, Supervisors Laura Capps and Joan Hartmann suggested including incentivizing projects with public-private partnerships that will assure the board of what exactly will be built and that encourage more affordable housing.
In addition to the criteria, the board will be considering, when rezoning sites, whether each request is in the interests of the general community welfare; is consistent with the county’s Comprehensive Plan, Development Code, and state planning and zoning laws; and that it is consistent with good zoning and planning practices.
“Top of my list is an existing project that might satisfy lower-moderate that are still in the process,” Supervisor Bob Nelson said. “So if an existing project has been proposed [that would provide lower- or moderate-income housing], that would be my highest priority for rezone.”
During the public comment period, when more than a dozen people spoke, Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, and other representatives talked about how the chamber is looking into an employer-sponsored housing consortium.
“The employer-sponsored housing consortium is an innovative solution to several of our region’s housing challenges, in which multiple employers will enter into a partnership to acquire property, which they can then provide to local employees,” Miller said. “We’re trying to create a statewide example of how employers and their employees can benefit while also playing an important role in solving our local housing crisis.”
The county Planning Commission is set to hold hearings to begin considering and making recommendations of which sites to rezone early this year, and the Board of Supervisors is set to make final decisions on rezones in the spring. According to the county’s Housing Element Update webpage, the board will likely begin these hearings in March.
The Housing Element Update webpage also includes links to Balancing Act simulation tools that allow people to select from potential sites to create their own housing plan, which can also be submitted for county staff to review and present to the board during the rezoning hearings.