A team of local architects has created new sketches of State Street that will be presented for the first time at a meeting on Monday.

The State Street Advisory Committee will meet at 4 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery to talk about the latest plans.

“We are focused on the development and refining of the local Santa Barbara character of the urban space,” said Anthony Grumbine, principal architect at Harrison Design.

“And the biggest factor I am very excited about is a strong integration of the paseo system.”

Grumbine was recruited by Dave Davis, the committee chairman, to develop new sketches after renderings from Berkeley-based consultant MIG frustrated many of those in attendance at an Oct. 23 meeting.

Working with City of Santa Barbara staff, Grumbine, who chairs the Historic Landmarks Commission, pulled together architects who were involved with the 2020 AIA design charrette to create sketches, renderings and a plan for paseos that “resonate visually with the Santa Barbara community.”

The new architects include Grumbine, Qing Xue and Alexis Stypa from Harrison Design; Marc Appleton and John Margolis from Appleton Partners; Fred Sweeney; Thomas Sekula from DMHA; and Justin Manuel from Arcadia Studios.

The architects are volunteering their time.

The City Council in 2022 approved a $780,000 contract with MIG to oversee the State Street Master Plan process. MIG’s previous renderings were not popular with the public.

Tess Harris, the city’s State Street master planner, said the city still has an active contract with MIG and that she meets with the company weekly. So far, the city has paid $378,000, not quite half of the contract.

“They are currently working with the city on technical studies, economic conditions, stormwater management and infrastructure, multimodal circulation, utilities, street sections, and drafting the Master Plan, including the implementation plan,” Harris said.

She said the effort has taken more time than the original timeline “given the magnitude and complexity of the Create State Master Plan.”

“I do think we are on the right track though, and I am confident that the public will get an opportunity to provide feedback on the draft plan this Summer,” Harris said.

Harris noted the vast amount of engagement with the public. The project’s website has received 21,000 hits, nearly 7,000 people filled out a survey, and the project has 2,000 email subscribers.

“This dream project has been discussed for decades,” she said. “I truly believe that this is the time to make it happen.”

The city closed nine blocks of State Street — between Haley and Sola streets — to cars in May 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic erupted.

City officials wanted to help restaurants provide outdoor dining after Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down indoor seating.

Nearly four years later, the city is still grappling with how to design State Street, with the public having strong views about bikes, pedestrians, outdoor dining structures, and the overall look and circulation on the street.

The city created the advisory committee, and the group has been working on a master plan ever since.

Graphic elements, the paseo network and “high-level considerations” for the master plan will be presented at Monday’s meeting.

From April to July, small working groups will review the plan. By summer, Harris said, a draft of the master plan will be presented.

City staff expects the public to review the draft plan from August to October, before final review by the Advisory Commitee in December. The City Council is expected to vote on the final master plan by early 2025.

Monday’s meeting will focus on three State Street blocks that are intended to give an idea of the variety of experiences that could take place along that stretch of street.

“The drawings are also intended to be more clearly in the Santa Barbara style,” Harris said. “The team will also discuss paseos, due to their unique Santa Barbara characteristics, and will show a paseo analysis of strong, weak and potential paseos.”

Davis said he is excited to see the local architects’ presentation on Monday.

“I hope the public basically expresses support for the direction that we are going,” he said.