Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments board made a mistake by not funding a specific plan for La Cumbre Plaza, but it’s not too late to bring everyone together to build more housing in Santa Barbara.
Sneddon, the District 4 council member, said La Cumbre Plaza needs a specific plan.
“Say it takes a year to make a great specific plan, things that could be in there are preference for the local workforce, preference for teachers (public) safety people, and nurses, and people who are supporting our entire community,” Sneddon said. “The generation of people who could stay, and be supported in our workforce, genuinely, that could be accomplished through a specific plan. We can’t do that if we don’t do a specific plan.”
Sneddon spoke about La Cumbre Plaza, Paseo Nuevo, housing, State Street, Santa Barbara City College, her recent volcanology trip to Hawaii, and more in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina
The city of Santa Barbara is still reeling from the SBCAG board’s denial of $1.1 million in funding for a La Cumbre Plaza specific plan, even though two SBCAG advisory and technical boards recommended the allocation.
Throwing salt into the wound, former Santa Barbara City Councilman and current First District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams criticized planners and design review boards for being too idealistic and slowing down the production of housing.
A specific plan, however, would plan for as many as 2,000 units at La Cumbre Plaza, not just the current 685-unit project currently under consideration.
“It’s in the Housing Element, it was decided years ago, before my time, that a specific plan was necessary to get maximum benefit for everyone, so we would be going against our own housing element if we didn’t do a specific plan,” Sneddon said.
Sneddon also wants to see housing at Paseo Nuevo, and she hopes that the city and potential buyers are able to talk about possibilities.
“We have a lot of bargaining incentive and bargaining power to lead those spaces to what we want them to be,” Sneddon said. “And frankly, I have not been excited about almost any of the things that have been proposed in those spaces other than housing.”
She said between La Cumbre Plaza and Paseo Nuevo, “what an opportunity for housing.”
The wide-ranging, hour-long podcast also goes deep on the future of State Street.
“I am committed to State Street having outdoor dining in some capacity,” Sneddon said.
She also shares her views on mayor Randy Rowse and his leadership style.
Toward the end of the podcast, Sneddon discusses her popular Santa Barbara City College volcanology trip, where students travel to Hawaii for a geology expedition.
“The students are really engaged in a different way because they are out there in the field and seeing it all,” Sneddon said. “Lava erupting is a pretty amazing thing.”
Click on the YouTube link above to watch the full conversation.
Santa Barbara Talks is a podcast created by Joshua Molina to help facilitate community conversation to find solutions to our community’s shared challenges. Consider a contribution to this podcast by clicking here. Subscribe to this podcast by clicking here. Josh Molina has been a journalist in Santa Barbara for 20 years. He also covered City Hall for the San Jose Mercury News. In addition to working as a reporter at Noozhawk, he teaches journalism at Cal State University, Northridge and Santa Barbara City College. Please subscribe to his You Tube channel for more content.