Former school board member Kate Ford has been nominated to take over Laura Bridley’s spot on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission as she’s stepping down due to frustrations with state housing laws.
Bridley feels that recent laws have taken authority away from planning review boards, pressuring counties to fast track large housing projects that offer any kind of affordability. After six years on the commission, she’s had enough.
“Sacramento thinks if we just build the hell out of places, it’ll make the prices come down, I’m not sure about that,” Bridley told Noozhawk. “What I am sure about is if we build all this housing, Santa Barbara is not gonna feel like Santa Barbara.”
While Bridley said she supports more housing, she noted that many of the projects being built only offer a small fraction of affordable units.
For example, the last case Bridley reviewed on Wednesday offers three low-income units, three moderate-income units, while the remaining 18 will be market rate.
Bridley, the current commission chair, announced her resignation at the Aug. 27 Planning Commission meeting, calling state mandates a “theft of local discretion.”
“I decided to step down because the kind of planning that I was thinking we were doing is kind of waning in my eyes,” Bridley said.
At Bridley’s last meeting, her fellow commissioners bid her a farewell and thanked her for the experience she brought to the commission.
“I’m very sorry to see you go, as I said before it’s going to be a loss to the commission and a loss to the people you represent in your district,” Commissioner Roy Reed said on Wednesday.
Bridley was commissioner for the county’s second district which is represented by Supervisor Laura Capps.
“I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Laura Bridley for her outstanding contributions over the past six years,” Capps said in a statement to Noozhawk. “Her expertise and leadership helped guide the county through critical challenges, including the complex Housing Element process. Laura was an invaluable member of the commission and a true team player.”
Capps announced her plan to nominate Ford as the next second district planning commissioner.
If Ford’s appointment is confirmed by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, she will begin her role as commissioner on Sept. 24.
Ford, a Santa Barbara native and Santa Barbara High School alum, was elected to the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education in 2018 and served one term. She chose not to run for reelection in 2022.
Capps and Ford served on the school board together.
“Kate and I were in the trenches together during the pandemic as elected school board members, and I saw firsthand her integrity, tenacity, thoughtfulness, and deep commitment to our community,” Capps said. “She consistently approaches complex, often high-stakes decisions with thorough research and intelligence – the epitome of grace under pressure.”
Before her time on the school board, Ford was a teacher for 15 years and a principal for 20 years, most recently working at Peabody Elementary School in Santa Barbara.
She also previously worked as an education senior program officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the LA Area Superintendent for Aspire Public Schools.
Ford currently serves as Vice Chair of the Santa Barbara City Harbor Commission.
