Santa Barbara’s Westside soon will be home to an expanded clinic with medical, behavioral health and dental services.

The Santa Barbara Planning Commission voted 5-1 at its recent meeting to approve the project. Chair Roxana Bonderson opposed the project over parking concerns.

In 2019, the existing clinic served 4,502 patients. The new facility, at 621 W. Micheltorena St., would be able to serve 11,200 medical and dental patients annually.

Brian Gough, board chairman for Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, said the expanded clinic would benefit the community.

“As an organization, we could not be more excited about the fact that we have finally reached this particular point,” Gough said. “The project was a big dream five years ago.”

Plans call for the existing two-story, 10,454-square-foot site to be demolished and to build a three-story, 11,149-square-foot medical, behavioral health and dental clinic as well as an on-grade parking garage with 11 spaces. The project was designed by the Cearnal Collective.

About the only point of contention in the meeting was the parking situation, and the proposal by the development team to provide an off-site parking lot with 22 spaces at 21 E. Constance Ave., with a shuttle service to bring employees to and from the project site.

Bonderson said she used to be a patient at the clinic. She shared that she had several knee surgeries in her youth and is not physically capable of riding a bike or walking to the clinic at the level she would like.

“I am someone who would come to your clinic and need parking,” Bonderson said.

She also noted that the clinic is serving families and mothers pushing strollers.

Andrew Hazlett, an attorney representing a nearby service station, also expressed concerns about the parking and the drop-off situation.

“The existing clinic location has no drop-off. It has one parking space; that one parking space is an ADA space,” Hazlett said. “Because this clinic is so severely underparked, what happens is eight to 15 times a day, visitors come, they pass the clinic, there’s nowhere to stop, so they pull into the service station.”

The commission members, however, stressed that under the new plan and configuration, more parking would be available, alleviating the impact on nearby properties.

“This is the A-team of applicants,” Commissioner Jay Higgins said. “Your long history of working with the city and neighborhoods is on display every day.”

He called the building “handsome,” “bold” and a “neighborhood-defining building.”

He said he doesn’t have any problems with the parking deficit.

“We should look at this as an opportunity for people to use their feet, or bicycles, or a shuttle,” Higgins said.

Commissioner Sheila Lodge said she was willing to overlook the parking problems because of the greater good.

“This Westside clinic provides such a vital service to the community, to an underserved community, that I am going to overlook it all,” she said.

Among the supporters of the project was Ron Werft, president and CEO of Cottage Health.

“This project that is before you is a significant lift for the health care of the people of Santa Barbara, particularly for the vulnerable populations that the Westside serves,” Werft said.

He said Cottage Health has a partnership with the Neighborhood Clinics through operational, financial and capital support. The Westside neighborhood clinic also would alleviate some of the patient pressures at Cottage Health.

“This is a win-win partnership for Cottage and the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics,” Werft said.