The Santa Barbara City Council recently approved the State Street Master Plan. The council did so without ever specifying whether private cars would ever again be allowed on State Street downtown.

From the onset, the closure of State Street has been a story of misdirection by city staff and City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon.

The original 2020 COVID-19 “emergency” closing was to have expired in September of that same year.

Led by Sneddon, the council voted a series of extensions that culminated in the first iteration of Title 31 in September 2023.

Sneddon repeatedly stated, “I’m afraid if we open the street, we’ll never be able to close it again.”

Now, with the acceptance of an amended Title 31 and the State Street Master Plan, the City Council has committed us to a $100 million (more like $200 million) project that, if completed as designed, will preclude ANY return of car traffic to State Street.

Forever.

The just-enacted State Street Master Plan presented by consultant Stefanos Polyzoides and State Street master planner Tess Harris cannot and will not accommodate automobile traffic, per California Code.

Why? Mathematics.

The State Street Master Plan sets the “street” width at 20 feet, curb to curb. California Code requires a minimum of two 10-foot traffic lanes to ensure a 20-foot minimum for “emergency vehicles.” The recommended two-way street width is a minimum of 22 feet to 24 feet.

The master plan provides the bare minimum for two-way auto traffic, and emergency access.

However, State Street is the primary corridor of the state-mandated City Bicycle Master Plan. Thus, a minimum of 10 feet is required for two five-foot bike lanes.

That leaves State Street with a single possible narrow 10-foot automobile traffic lane.

That begs the question: Why is Polyzoides telling us that his plan allows for what he calls a “flex street” — or a street that can be open to cars or closed to cars depending on the time of day?

And why does Harris simply avoid addressing the entire issue of possible automobile traffic on the redesigned State Street?

City staff and Moule & Polyzoides certainly know what a tape measure is.

They both know that a 20-foot street width cannot accommodate automobile traffic AND bicycle traffic.

They both know that even without bicycles a 20-foot roadway on a main thoroughfare would be inadequate.

Santa Barbara planning commissioners and the architects and designers at the Historic Landmarks Commission who were shown this plan are familiar with design/space restrictions in various settings.

Why has not one of them pointed out the above and questioned the city’s master plan assertions?

At 20 feet, the only practical use for State Street will be as a bike path, and emergency and public safety access. Period.

This is the reason why the City Council has never, since the Sept. 23 passage of Title 31, taken a simple vote on cars or no cars on State Street.

It was never the plan to return automobile traffic to State Street.

For those in the community who like to say “we support the master plan, but we’d like State Street to be reopened,” you need to understand that the master plan’s design makes this impossible.

And you need to understand that IS THE PLAN. The design is the policy.

Any support for the State Street Master Plan is support for a massive expenditure of our money on an experiment that has never worked: permanently closing a city’s main street.

And, when it fails — and it will fail — the city will be faced with the bill to reverse the damage done.

You’ve been warned.