At a time when the city of Santa Bárbara faces one of the worst economic challenges in its history, architects made a presentation to the City Council on Thursday to talk about their vision for the city center.
The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects made a presentation outlining ideas for homes, pedestrian paths, a linear park in the center of the city, events, arts, concerts and a general utopia of what Santa Barbara could be like if everyone worked together.
“I think we are all feeling the weight of this moment, the importance of the year to come and all the decisions that we are going to make for our city, and the consequences of this time that we are in,” Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said. “We now have the opportunity to really make transformational changes that will influence the future of our city for generations to come.”
The AIA-SB held a multi-day “charrette”, a French word for an intense collaboration session, where more than 160 volunteers formed teams to study State Street. Different teams studied ideas for squares, walks and open spaces, and even rebuild State Street in a linear park. There is also talk of creating a public-private partnership, like a foundation, that would raise money for events, capital improvements and programming.
The architects produced a 330-page book with their findings.
“These are ideas,” said architect Detty Peikert. “They aim to inspire and encourage people to explore, to define that vision for the future of downtown and State Street.”
The city took no action, mainly at the request of city attorney Ariel Calonne, who reminded the council that only one presentation – not a discussion – was written on the agenda for the special 16:00 council meeting on Thursday.
The city government plans to launch a website soon that will provide information on housing possibilities in the center, which is another goal of the architects.
The group is looking at adaptive reuse of existing buildings, as well as opportunities to build in open parking lots.
Nina Johnson, assistant to the municipal administrator, started the discussion, mixing optimism with the reality of the moment.
“We are coming to you at a time of enormous opportunities and challenges,” said Johnson. “This is a very challenging time because of the pandemic and the order to stay at home. Companies are in a very difficult situation to survive.”
Jim Knell, founder of SIMA Corp. and critical of the city, spoke at the meeting.
“You can’t help but be excited, but at the same time I’m disappointed with where we are now,” said Knell.
He said there are more than 60 construction spaces between Highway 101 and Rua Sola.
“When you talk about a partnership with the city and stakeholders, I think you are jumping on the fly,” he said. “Many homeowners have lost faith in the city and the process, especially when you look at the situation on State Street now.”
Knell said the affordable housing economy doesn’t work in downtown Santa Barbara. He also said that the city may be assuming that it has ownership by the owners, when it does not.
“State Street has changed a lot in the past three years, and most of that has been for the worse,” said Knell.
Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez said she was optimistic.
“As a city, we have to start thinking outside the box and working with nonprofits and private funders to fund an idea like this and future ideas to improve the community,” she said.
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