Former Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge was first elected to the City Council in 1975.
“At that time, the current police station was 17 years old and it was already scarily inadequate,” Lodge said. “There are just so many things wrong with it. It is holding so many more people than it was designed to hold.”
Lodge made her comments during Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting about the new police station proposed for the corner of Santa Barbara and Cota streets.
The planning commissioner said she’s thrilled that the city has reached this point in the process.
“We’re finally on our way to getting a building that will contain all of the police services,” Lodge said. “I hope, I assume it’s been designed to accommodate any increases that are needed in the staff and services.”
The city staff at Thursday’s hearing presented their environmental findings on construction of the new police station and determined that all environmental impacts are “less than significant or can be mitigated to less than significant levels.”
Comments regarding the draft mitigated negative declaration can be emailed to project planner Kathleen Kennedy at kkennedy@santabarbaraca.gov.
The project still needs to pass through several stages for approval, including the City Council, back to the Planning Commission for approval of a devlopment plan, and then to the Architectural Board of Review for design review.
Once approved, construction is expected to take 28 months, including three months for the earthwork phase and 25 months for the construction phase.
The current police station at 215 E. Figueroa St. needs a seismic upgrade, has soil contamination in the parking lot, and multiple plumbing and electrical infrastructure deficiencies. The city has been struggling for more than two decades to figure out a way to build a new police station. A bond measure for that purpose was rejected by voters in 1999.
The department also works out of the Police Station Annex at 222 E. Anapamu St.; the Dispatch Center at 1200 Anacapa St.; and Animal Control at 415 E. Sola St. All operations would be consolidated at the new project site.
The project has had many start-stops since then, but the passage of Measure C, a 1% sales tax increase, also created a revenue stream to help build the facility. The $80 million headquarters project calls for a four-story main building, with three levels above ground and another below. The highest portion of the main building would reach 53 feet. The highest portion of a parking structure would reach 37.5 feet. The parking garage would have 236 spaces — 128 for fleet and 108 for employees. There would be eight visitor parking spaces.
In addition, emergency service antennas would be installed on the roof of the parking structure. About 35 trees on the interior of the property would be removed, but the city would replace them and add more.
The site is currently home to a monthly parking permit program for downtown employees. It provides 221 parking spaces for permit holders and city employees. The project would remove those spaces from the Downtown Parking Program.
“The relocation of these permit holders would be a priority, and adequate notice would be provided to permit holders prior to construction on the project site,” according to the city’s environmental review. “There are multiple parking lots nearby with available capacity.”
The project site is also part of the Safe Parking Program, which provides safe overnight parking to individuals and families living in their vehicles.
In addition, the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market holds its Saturday market at the site. The organization has proposed relocating the market to the public right-of-way along Carrillo Street between Chapala and Anacapa streets, and along State Street between Canon Perdido and Figueroa streets. The application is under review by the city, according to the draft environmental report.
To review the 80-page draft mitigated negative declaration, click here.
All of the commissioners were in support of the police station project and did not challenge the draft of the report.
Commissioner John Baucke, however, suggested that when the Architectural Board of Review looks at the project again that it pay close attention to the tower.
“I have yet to see in Santa Barbara or even on a Google search a tower such as shown in this project that has such a blank facade,” Baucke said. “It lacks articulation. A big, blank facade like that does not seem to be at Santa Barbara standards.”
— 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.