On April 24, Stefanos Polyzoides of Moule & Polyzoides — the architectural firm engaged by the City of Santa Barbara to lead the State Street Master Plan — and Tess Harris, the city’s State Street master planner, presented a preview of the draft to the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project (EFP) Board of Directors, although not all were present.
Following a substantive Q&A with Polyzoides and Harris and review of the materials, I write on behalf of EFP to express strong support. The plan is a serious, well-documented response to what is, at bottom, an economic question: how to sustain and grow the vitality of downtown Santa Barbara in an era of structural change in retail and urban commerce.
First, the diagnosis behind the plan is correct. National retail has been reshaped by e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences. Successful downtowns are no longer simply places to buy goods; they are places to experience goods, services and community.
The plan’s emphasis on a pedestrian-oriented promenade, generous sidewalks, outdoor dining and three differentiated sub-districts — Entertainment, Civic and Commercial, and Arts — reflects what the empirical urban-economics literature consistently finds drives downtown success: density, walkability and a mix of uses.
Second, the modular street design — retractable bollards permitting flexible vehicle access during defined hours — is a thoughtful response to genuine uncertainty and to the legitimate concerns on both sides of the cars-versus-no-cars debate.
Permanent infrastructure decisions are costly to reverse, and the plan’s flexibility lowers the cost of learning by doing. That is good economic design.
Third, the plan resolves a long-standing infrastructure problem at no incremental cost. By sloping the street toward the center, where runoff is collected and stored in a cistern, the project becomes a stormwater-management investment as well as a streetscape investment.
This kind of dual-purpose infrastructure — addressing two municipal needs with a single capital outlay — is precisely the efficiency that good public spending should achieve.
Fourth, the design accentuates Santa Barbara’s natural beauty through its pavement materials and landscaping.
The visual character of downtown is not a sentimental matter; it is a core economic
asset. Tourism, retail foot traffic and property values all rest on Santa Barbara’s identity as a uniquely beautiful place, and a streetscape that reinforces that identity strengthens the asset.
Fifth, the plan rests on an unusually strong evidentiary foundation. Current pedestrian counts of 8,000 to 11,000 per intersection per day already approach pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, and the visioning process drew input from nearly 6,000 community members — roughly twice what is typical of larger cities.
Few municipal proposals of this scale arrive at the City Council with comparable public
engagement behind them.
We at EFP offer two constructive suggestions.
First, given the projected cost of $6 million to $8 million per block, EFP encourages the City Council to commit, from the outset, to ongoing and transparent measurement
of outcomes — sales tax receipts, ground-floor vacancy, assessed property values, pedestrian and cyclist counts, transit ridership, and housing permits issued within the district and surrounding area — tracked block by block as phases are completed.
Housing in particular deserves explicit attention: As Polyzoides noted in his presentation, on the order of 2,000 to 3,000 new residential units within and adjacent to the district will be necessary for the revitalization to succeed.
One approach worth the council’s consideration is a short-term “emergency ordinance” allowing the increased densities (for example, 120 units per acre) necessary to make such projects viable, with a sunset period of three to four years.
A temporary incentive of this kind would create urgency and encourage smaller property owners to collaborate with neighbors, enabling larger and more feasible developments.
A rigorous, publicly available data record will let the council and community refine
the plan as it is built and demonstrate the return on the public investment. EFP would welcome the opportunity to contribute to that effort.
Second, we urge the council to move the plan forward expeditiously. Every year of delay is another year of vacant storefronts, foregone sales tax revenue and deferred private investment.
The case for action is clear; the case for waiting is not. While there are varying opinions on details, it is clear that everyone believes it is time to get moving.
Downtown Santa Barbara is the economic heart of the South Coast. The State Street Master Plan is a credible, evidence-informed path to keeping it strong for the next generation, and we urge the council to move it forward.Sincerely,
Peter Rupert
UCSB Economic Forecast Project executive director
Board Members
Ed Edick, chairman
Village Properties
Chad Hine, vice chairman
Sansum Clinic / Sutter Health
Darren Caesar
Hub International Insurance Services
Francois DeJohn
Hayes Commercial Group
Janet Garufis
Montecito Bank & Trust
Michael Holliday
DMHA Architecture + Interior Design
Peter Lewis
Soltara Santa Barbara
Scott Lochridge
Deckers Brands
Kristen Miller
Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce
Lisa Moore
Cottage Health
Kathy Odell
Cadense
Tom Patton
Ramada by Wyndham Santa Barbara
Michael Pfau
Reicker, Pfau, Pyle & McRoy LLP
Bob Tuler
Radius Commercial Real Estate
Sherry Villanueva
Acme Hospitality
Board affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not imply institutional endorsement.
