Santa Barbara County is looking toward the future of its Calle Real campus, but the massive plan to reimagine and rebuild the area may take awhile to get started.

The county hopes to update the 100-year-old Calle Real site and modernize its buildings and layout, eventually turning the campus into a one-stop location for its services.

The concept, called the Calle Real Campus Master Plan, includes 18 projects spread out over seven phases and about 30 years.

The master plan was originally proposed to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was projected to cost at least $402 million. General Services provided an update to the Board of Supervisors during its Tuesday meeting.

Kirk Lagerquist, the director of General Services, said the plan will move all of the county’s services to one location and make it easier for the public.

“Now, so if you need an (agriculture) permit, right over here,” Lagerquist told Noozhawk during a visit to the Calle Real campus. “If you need to go see the treasurer-tax collector, it’s downtown. Elections is over here. Planning and Development is downtown. Public Works is downtown. So, (we are) trying to combine as many functions as we can into like a service stop.”

The plan also calls for creating “precincts” on the campus to make services smoother for residents and employees. 

County staff also plan to look at what buildings are being underused and examining uses for the site’s undeveloped land. The entire campus covers 300 acres of land.

The master plan includes a range of building types, from traditional office buildings and health care offices to workforce housing. The plan calls for mixed-use buildings, which means buildings that feature a mix of housing, commercial or even warehouses.

In his comments to the board, Lagerquist shared that the county did not receive any funding for the project from the State of California during the last round of grant applications. However, he said General Services was not looking for funding from the board.

“I recognize the state of the budget and the outlook for the next few years, but this is a road map for the future of what we can do for the campus,” he said.

During the board’s questions, Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson expressed concerns about funding for the project and the county’s priorities. He brought up the cost of construction of the county’s new Probation Department building, the jail expansion and buildings in the North County that need renovations.

Nelson added that he supported the master plan but did not think it was the county’s highest priority.

Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann asked County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato what the county can do to move the project forward until it can secure funding, and what staff learned from the last round of applications.

Miyasato said county staff is looking for grants and other funding for the first phase, which includes the Behavioral Wellness building.

“I don’t want to say there’s nothing that we can do because now that we have a plan, we can, like we said, we know what we want. We know that we’re concentrating on this first phase, and so that does help us,” Miyasato said.

She added that the county is monitoring the current buildings and doing maintenance to keep them operational. However, she acknowledged there may be a tipping point in the investment of repairing the older buildings.

Second District Supervisor Laura Capps asked whether there are models from other counties that have leased out their land to commercial entities. She added that the land could be used for projects such as housing.  

“I’m happy that the goal is maximizing because while we don’t need it to be an urban dense center, we do need to maximalize it. (It’s) underutilized,” Capps said.

Lagerquist responded that it is something the county could look into with a consultant experienced with that type of project.

The board voted to accept the report in a 5-0 vote.