Some Micheltorena Street business owners and residents are strongly opposed to a city of Santa Barbara proposal to remove parking and create bicycle lanes.
However, the city Planning Commission voted 5-1 last week to support the plan, which ultimately must be approved by the City Council.
Former Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge opposed the plan, saying it would have too much impact on business owners. Commissioner June Pujo recused herself because she owns a home near the the area.
The business owners and residents who spoke at last week’s meeting opposed the plan since it would remove on-street parking spots, but most of the commissioners supported the proposal.
“When a business owner or a tenant of someone who owns commercial property sets up a commercial business in an area that has highly constrained parking, I would just I say I hope they went into that with eyes wide open,” Commissioner Deborah Schwartz said.
“We all share the public space. We’re going to have to find it within ourselves to say it doesn’t belong to me. It’s the public’s. It’s public right of way. It is public space. It is shared by the public,” she said.
Resident Cameron Clark, who said he and his wife are cyclists and young professionals in town, spoke in favor of the plan. He said Micheltorena Street is the only “midtown” connector that is safe.
“Our city streets are an intended to move people and vehicles, not serve as free parking lots,” Clark said. “I am outraged how many residents and business owners consider their street parking to be some inalienable right.”
Eight city planners and 10 consultants from Melendrez, a Los Angeles-based planning firm put together the 85-page plan and marketing document for the Bicycle Master Plan proposal.
The city agreed to spend $219,000 on the project and proposes to paint bicycle lanes and remove 85 parking spaces on both sides of Micheltorena Street between Castillo and State streets.
In its Bicycle Master Plan, Santa Barbara is attempting to “close the gaps” in bicycle lane connections all over town, including painting green lanes on State and Haley streets, as well as shared bicycle and car lanes on Canon Perdido and Cacique streets.
The Micheltorena Street changes, however, have drawn the most opposition. Several of the residents and nearby business owners claimed that the city never notified them about the proposed changes.
“To remove the parking there would be very devastating,” said Micheltorena Street resident Ron Glover. “I think we missed the human factor. The parking, to take it all away from Micheltorena, would be disastrous.”
Jennifer Larsen, a psychotherapist with a business on Micheltorena Street, said she has many clients, some of them who are disabled, who would suffer from the loss of parking.
“I am concerned about clients not wanting to utilize our business because there is no available public parking,” she said.
David Singh, owner of La Bamba Market on Micheltorena, protested the removal of parking on the street in front of his business. Singh said he has been a resident of Santa Barbara for 30 years and owner of the market for 17 years.
He said the county didn’t remove any parking when it added bicycle lanes in Isla Vista, and that community has learned how to have cars and bicycles co-exist. He said Santa Barbara’s proposal to remove parking for bicyclists hurts parking and is not progressive.
“If you take away parking from that market the whole idea of convenience will be killed,” Singh said.
Lodge agreed.
“I can’t support taking the parking off Micheltorena,” she said. “The parking is needed in front of the businesses.”
Lodge and many of the others suggested that Sola Street, one block away, would be a better place for designated bicycle lanes, but city staff scoffed at that proposal saying that it would need to install traffic lights, whereas they don’t have to do that on Micheltorena Street.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
