Goleta’s Design Review Board on Tuesday approved the proposed design for the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District’s plans to rebuild its Overpass Road facility.  

Project architect Will Todd came back to the Design Review Board for a preliminary final review after getting feedback from the board in a conceptual review meeting in October. 

SBMTD plans to demolish and rebuild its Goleta bus operations and maintenance building at 5353 Overpass Road into a two-story facility.

The current building is too small for operations, Todd told the board in the previous review meeting.

“It is a big building, but I think it’s perfectly compatible with the neighborhood and it is going to be the biggest building there,” board member Dennis Whelan said during Tuesday’s meeting. “But if we are going to have a big building, that is the perfect place to put it.”

The project architects made several design changes based on previous Design Review Board feedback, one of which was to find a new color for the building after board members said the original color was too white. 

“I appreciate the change to the natural color, and I think it is going to be cost savings in addition, instead of the white cement,” board member Martha Degasis said. 

It also incorporates breeze blocks, a type of concrete block with decorative gaps after receiving feedback from the board to do so. However, Todd said the breeze blocks were aesthetically challenging to incorporate in some areas, but they put some in the employee patio.

“I appreciate your thoughtful responses to all of our comments, and I regret that you couldn’t feature that breeze block a little more,” Whelan said. 

Another piece of feedback Todd tried to incorporate was to rotate positioning of the elevator and stair area.

“But it actually hurts us because it blocks some of our views out to where the bus yard and parking is, and we felt like that was compromising on functionality more than we liked to,” he said. 

The board had logistic questions regarding materials and what the windows would look like at the new building. 

Todd clarified that the windows will have frames protruding from the building and the small ones on the first floor in the break room will have frosted glass.

Board member Cecilia Brown said the new building will be a shock to a lot of people because it will not be like anything that already exists in that area of the city.

“We love MTD, and it’s going to be a nice home for them and a nice fresh approach to their operations,” Brown said.

The building will serve as an addition to the SBMTD building in downtown Santa Barbara at 550 Olive St.