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Leaders To Discuss Future of Upper State Street |
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By Melissa Evans
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Friday, May 04 2007 |
After a year of intense study, Santa Barbara officials will consider proposals to ease traffic, streamline building size and design and improve the overall planning approach to the upper State Street area.
The Upper State Street Study was commissioned a year ago to look at the often traffic-clogged stretch of State Street between Highway 154 and Alamar Avenue. Leaders wanted to craft a sort of “mini-master plan” for the area before considering a spate of development proposals, including plans for a Whole Foods Market.
“There are a number of pending projects happening, and we wanted to get our arms around the way we look at them,” said Paul Casey, the city’s director of Community Development.
The study, which contains a number of specific and general ideas that could influence planning decisions for years to come, will be discussed at a 6 p.m. hearing Tuesday at City Hall.
One of the biggest complaints from residents and business owners who attended several meetings and a walking tour of the area this year was traffic.
Only two area intersections exceed the city‘s standard for traffic congestion: Las Positas at State Street and Las Positas at Calle Real. But motorists often experience long delays because of a high number of turning lanes, driveways, bus stops and traffic lights along State Street, according to the report.
Traffic at three other State Street intersections approaches the city’s limit on congestion. These include La Cumbre Road, Hope Avenue and Hitchcock Way.
Some of the proposals to solve this problem include traffic signal adjustments, improvements to bicycle and pedestrian pathways and more efficient use of parking through new design regulations.
One of the causes of traffic congestion in this area is that there are no alternate routes aside from State Street, according to the report. Unlike the downtown area, the upper State Street did not develop according to a classic grid system.
The area, a prime connector to the Goleta Valley, was gradually annexed from Santa Barbara County over about 40 years.
“Consequently, there is no one development pattern along the corridor,” according to the report, based on a study by consultants Meyer, Mohaddes Associates.
With an eclectic mix of large shopping centers such as La Cumbre Plaza and Five Points and 1920s-style storefronts, the area does not lend itself to any one type of design pattern, the consultants found.
City leaders can’t change what’s already there, but could consider making sidewalk improvements and more pedestrian-friendly corridors; more accessible bike paths and sidewalks to support other forms of transportation; and require more amenities from future developers.
One of the more contentious suggestions in the study involves requirements for how far buildings must be set back from the road. City planners are proposing a 10-foot set back for one-story buildings, and 20-feet for two- and three-story buildings.
Members of the Planning Commission, which unanimously endorsed the study in mid-April, also suggested including floor-to-lot-area ratio for buildings, mean restrictions how big buildings can be in relation to the lot they occupy.
Other parts of the study include preserving the creeks that run through the area, protecting the views of mountains that characterize that area, and taking into account the residential areas such as San Roque to the north and Samarkand to the south.
The study of Upper State Street comes on the heels of a major retooling of the city’s general plan, called Plan Santa Barbara, which will include possible zoning changes and other planning decisions that affect the entire city. Meetings and public discussion of this larger plan will likely commence in June, Casey said.
“This was a good lead into to the general plan,” he said.
Contact Melissa Evans at
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