The future home of a new Santa Barbara County Fire Department station in western Goleta received generally positive feedback from the city’s Design Review Board on Tuesday.
Fire Station 10 is a single-story building planed for 7952 Hollister Ave., and it’s located on a city-owned parcel across the street from Sandpiper Golf Course and adjacent to the Hideaway Bungalows residential development.
The proposed station will meet the National Fire Protection Association guidelines for emergency response time in western Goleta.
Tuesday’s continued advisory review included changes to respond to the DRB’s comments in 2017, as well as several comments received on the draft environmental impact report and during public outreach.
“I was not on the board when it came up last time — this is the first time that I’ve seen it. Overall, I think it looks great,” board member Jennifer Fullerton said.
Landscape professional Karis Clinton gave mostly positive feedback.
“This is great,” Clinton told the applicant. “You did a great job responding to the comments.”
Some revisions include the drainage plan and revising the color palette to a range of dark earth tones and warm grays.
“The gray color is not my favorite, but you probably had to negotiate with a lot of people about that,” Clinton said.
The applicant — Goleta’s Neighborhood Services and Public Safety Department in partnership with the County Fire Department — proposes building an 11,600-square-foot building that includes three apparatus bays, a public parking lot with seven spaces near Hollister Avenue, nine spaces for employee parking, and a community and training room with a 30-person capacity.
Board member Bill Shelor, a western Goleta resident, stressed the importance of the project’s location in relation to the city’s General Plan, and said the project is “near and dear” to him.
“It talks about this being a gateway to Goleta and a scenic corridor,” Shelor said of the General Plan. “Just because this is a city project, doesn’t mean it should be receiving any less scrutiny than any other project that is coming forward in a scenic corridor or a gateway to Goleta.
“I’m appreciative of the simulations provided, because we have had times when we have just gone with somebody’s word and sometimes been unpleasantly surprised,” Shelor continued.
The site houses a bifurcated above-ground fuel tank (250-gallon gasoline and 1,000-gallon diesel), an emergency generator, outside hose drying racks and a soldier pile wall at the mid-slope of the northern property line, according to a report by Vyto Adomaitis, neighborhood services and public safety director.
The building’s exterior is mostly stucco and vertical siding, with vertical metal seam roofing.
The average building height is about 23 feet high, with a nearly 32- foot-high entry “tower” and a small “lantern” feature above the apparatus bay extending to nearly 38 feet.
“It has been a collaborative process,” Adomaitis said of Fire Station 10. “It’s an important project for the city. We are pleased with the comments received.”
Project plans also include relocating the fuel station and generator further west of the property to save some trees from being cut down.
Although existing eucalyptus trees will be removed, “extensive new landscaping” is planned along with a landscape buffer between the 1.25-acre property and the adjacent residential development to the east, according to Adomaitis’ report.
The plant palette is revised to include more native species and drought-tolerant landscape design.
During public comment, Goleta resident Barbara Massey said she supports the new fire station, but she’s “disappointed with the landscape plan.”
“It’s essential to the public safety of western Goleta,” Massey said of the new station. “It is good to see some of the eucalyptus trees could be saved.”
Fire Station 10 is deemed a “high priority” project by the City Council and is listed in Goleta’s General Plan and Capital Improvement Program.
Following Tuesday’s advisory review, the city will proceed with the planning process, including review and approval of a development plan and General Plan amendment by the City Council, and a coastal development permit by the California Coastal Commission.
City staff completed preliminary reports, programming concepts and community outreach in 2016 and early-2017 before the Design Review Board first reviewed the project last year.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
