Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone soon will have a new hotel.

The City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve a 250-room hotel at 101 Garden St., across the street from the ocean.

“The chant of housing over hotels, to me, is a choice the developer gets to make, not a choice you place upon the development just because you like that,” Councilman Mike Jordan said, speaking remotely from Hawaii.

Critics of the project said the hotel would wreck the charm of the Funk Zone and displace businesses on the site. They say housing, not hotels, are needed in Santa Barbara.

The developers, the Wright family, said the city had no right to deny the project because it approved a specific plan with the family in 1983, which allowed for either housing or a hotel.

In 2008, the Wright family proposed 91 residential condominiums, of which 20 would be for-sale affordable, but they withdrew that project because they said it would not be profitable.

Then, in 2019, a new hotel project by the Wright family went before the Planning Commission and received mostly favorable comments during a concept review.

The project then returned to the Planning Commission in 2023 and was eventually approved in a 4-2 vote earlier this year.

Attorney Marc Chytilo, on behalf of the organization Keep the Funk, and two other groups appealed the project to the City Council.

Councilman Oscar Gutierrez and Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon opposed the project.

“After talking to several community members, residents of the city, I have yet to meet one who is not directly benefiting from this project who is for this project,” Gutierrez said. “As a public representative of the will of the people in this community, I will vote to uphold the appeal, even if a majority of my colleagues don’t.”

The developer has agreed to give $1 million to the city’s Housing Trust Fund to assist with the need for housing.

The project also calls for an underground garage that would force the removal of contaminated groundwater sentiment, which could spill into Laguna Creek.

Tuesday’s hearing was a continuation of a meeting on Oct. 1. The council heard public comment at that meeting and then moved to deliberations, without new public comment, at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Wiscomb, Peterson Appointed to Planning Commission

In other action Tuesday, the City Council appointed Lesley Wiscomb to another term on the Santa Barbara Planning Commission. She has served for eight years on the panel. Joining her on the board is Benjamin Peterson, a staffer for state Sen. Monique Limón.

Longtime Planning Commissioner Sheila Lodge, a former mayor of Santa Barbara, served for 12 years and did not seek re-appointment.

In other key boards, Jen Lemberger and Dave Tabor were both re-appointed to the Metropolitan Transit District Board. Lemberger has served for four years, and Tabor has served for 12.

The City Council also appointed Sarah Siedschlag and Ian Baucke to the Transportation & Circulation Committee. Siedschlag is the incumbent, and Baucke is new to the board.

Ed Lenvik and Anthony Grumbine were re-appointed to the Historic Landmarks Commission. Both have served for seven years. They are joined by newcomer Thomas Sekula, an architect.

Lauren Anderson, David Black, Steve Nuhn and Richard Six were all re-appointed the Architectural Board of Review.