Santa Barbara homeowners looking to make changes to their properties soon could have an easier time getting approval.
Proposed amendments that would reduce the number of minor projects that go to the Single Family Design Board and streamline the approval process for homeowners are headed to the Santa Barbara City Council, following an Ordinance Committee vote on Tuesday.
The committee — which consists of council members Kristen Sneddon, Oscar Gutierrez and Mike Jordan — unanimously approved sending the proposed amendments to the full council for approval.
Jordan said the amendments can hopefully help homeowners make changes to their homes quicker to meet ever-changing family needs.
“There’s all kinds of stuff that just changes in life so much faster than it did in the ’50s and ’60s and ’70s,” Jordan said. “We could say, ‘That’s really challenging,’ but I think the correct answer would be, how do we rise to that challenge of addressing those demographic or societal or use changes while still hanging on to — as hard as we can — the look and feel of Santa Barbara?”
Under the proposed changes, a project wouldn’t have to go to the Single Family Design Board if there’s no new floor area. The project’s materials and architectural details also must match or be cohesive with the existing style.
The amendments also would expand the staff’s ability to approve minor projects by increasing the size limits that can be approved at the staff level.
For example, staff can currently administratively approve an accessory building up to 500 square feet. With the amendments, they could approve one up to 800 square feet, according to the city staff report.
There are also proposed zoning standards for the size of common home improvements, such as balconies, decks, fences and porches.
Ted Hamilton-Rolle, a city design review supervisor, said the changes would maintain aesthetic oversight while reducing review hearings. Exemptions or modifications can be addressed by the Single Family Design Board.
One design standard change that raised concern was the increase in the allowed maximum porch size in the Coastal Zone from 16 feet by 6 feet to 16 feet by 10 feet.
Hamilton-Rolle said the limit is to prevent excessive massing on the front of a home.
During public comment, Timothy Bolton, a city employee speaking as a homeowner, said he’s trying to build a porch that would exceed the maximum standards. If he tried to build a smaller porch, he said, it wouldn’t work with the structure of his home.
He asked that the standards allow porches to be the full width of the building.
“Please help our community build better porches with less process,” Bolton said.
Jordan recommended that staff review the proposed porch standard before the amendments go to the full council.
“I kind of like prioritizing outdoor living rather than just saying you can’t have a porch because we’re only going to make it so big,” Jordan said.
If the new rules are adopted, Hamilton-Rolle said staff expect a 24% reduction in the number of projects that have to go to the Single Family Design Board.
About 221 projects a year require Single Family Design Board review. Under the proposed changes, 54 of those projects could be approved at the staff level.
“We think this is a reasonable reduction for now as we wanted this project to take a measured approach so that the proposed ordinance will strike a balance between streamlining and maintaining reasonable aesthetic oversight of single-family projects,” Hamilton-Rolle said.
The proposed amendments also include adding an emergency permits procedure. That would allow the community development director to approve temporary emergency permits for projects meant to stabilize a structure or property when there is a threat to life, the environment or property.
The amendments are set to go to the Santa Barbara City Council on April 14. If approved, they would go into effect May 28.