Op-Ed: Santa Barbara Can’t Afford a $96 Million State Street Experiment

On eve of crucial City Council vote, a prominent local architect details the reasons why approval of the Master Plan would be a major policy blunder - and makes a plea for common sense.

By Cassandra Ensberg /FAIA Architect, LEED AP

With the city of Santa Barbara facing depleted reserves, persistent budget pressures and an increasingly expensive vision for State Street, the City Council has a choice: double down on a costly plan the city cannot afford or embrace a simpler path toward financial recovery, downtown revitalization, and much-needed housing.

Yes, there is a way out of this mess - it is easier than one might imagine - the Deus Ex Machina Moment!

Before the easy answer – let us start with a few key points:

1. A healthy balanced budget is not just a good idea, it is vital! And, yet, in this year’s budget review hearings, all except three elected officials (Mayor Randy Rowse and Councilmen Eric Friedman and Mike Jordan) somehow “went blank” and approved reserves to be used to balance the budget. The entire contingency reserve was depleted and $6 million of emergency reserves were tapped into. So now is time we all pray that El Niño shows up late and treats us kindly.

2. Affordable housing is, and must be, a top priority – but, with insufficient funds, it is pretty hard to justify contributions to the Local Housing Trust Fund, even though it is needed.

3. Possibly interesting, but the nonessential State Street Master Plan studies to change our once amazing Central Business District / El Pueblo Viejo has cost somewhere north of $2 million for consultants, experiments, and years of time by staff, council, and others. And an additional $92,000 was just recently approved to cover a Master Plan cost overrun (another split council vote).

4. Temporary closure of our main street is one thing, multi-year “lock down” is something else and has resulted in a dysfunctional Public Right of Way as follows:

a. Loss of customers = Loss of sales for businesses and tax revenue for the city.

b. Altered flow limited customer visibility and access that benefitted some businesses at the expense of others

c. Access for all was reduced without proper Americans with Disabilities Act compliant accessible public transit, i.e. municipal buses

d. Loss of community parades, loss of overall attractiveness and quality, drop in property values, and general degradation of the cherished El Pueblo Viejo Historic District.

e. Broad community frustration by citizens and businesses feeling ignored, sidelined, and abandoned by a majority of city leaders who could not or would not consider or recognize that prompt reopening of the street is the simplest cost- effective solution to restore essential access for use of the Public Right of Way and for businesses to recover from six years of shut down. Adding to the frustration is that there is no opposition to possible changes to State Street once fully designed, funded and approved.

‘City Council will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 1) with the ninth agenda item being the adoption of the final State Street Master Plan and an amendment of Title 31 of the Municipal Code. City administrator Kelly McAdoo and city master planner Tess Harris are recommending, essentially to:

• Approve changes to State Street estimated to cost $96 million. Could it be more?

• Remove the sunset clause in Title 31 section of the city ordinance to make the temporary conditions of State Street permanent.

This is time and cost we cannot afford right now.

A common sense proposal. I believe the ridiculously simple solution and responsible action that would make (almost) everyone grateful and able to breathe again, is to pass over the (directed by council) staff recommendations and move swiftly to restore and recover:

• Allow Title 31 to lapse and promptly reopen State Street as the most fair and best option for the city and our businesses financial recovery. Graciously accept and thank the community member who previously offered to cover the cost to slurry and stripe the street.

• Focus on realization of housing in the Central Business District - direct Master Plan work to focus exclusively on a simple less costly Storm Water Management solution and identify and develop a plan for utility upgrade requirements.

Cass Ensberg is a Santa Barbara architect, artist and co-founder of Ensberg Jacobs Design, a full service architectural firm. She serves on the city's Historic Landmarks Commission and founded the Kids Draw Architecture youth program.