Short term solutions for downtown Santa Barbara proposed while master plan is worked out

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Waiting for a master plan to reinvent some or all of downtown Santa Barbara is taking years since a pivot on its appearance when the pandemic hit.

Now, work to create options for its future is taking several paths and studies but to date, no final plan has been presented.

Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council will look at both long term plans and short term options.

The ideas come from an immeasurable amount of staff time, public meetings, focus groups, council hearings, and stop-in-the-street conversations about the targeted area between the 500 block and 1300 block of State Street.

It is referred to as the Promenade or the Grand Paseo.

The latest document stretches that out to include the lower State Street's reach to Cabrillo Boulevard at the waterfront.

The city council will be asked to consider, among other things, endorsing a three district zone.

"Whatever we do now will have nothing to do with the eventual master plan (coming up)," said Mayor Randy Rowse. "I want to get reopened and get cleaned up, not for any other reason, but to get back to business because we are in fact still in this zero action time. This is our fifth summer, nothing has happened, lost businesses, rents are down, property values have been hurt."

Since the COVID crisis hit and closed down the street, the promenade's look began with outside seating, some blocks without cars, a blast of bike riders, and an open space feel.

But economically, the area has suffered despite efforts by business owners and groups like the Downtown Organization to have events and welcome customers back.

"I don't know that opening the road is actually the solution, but what we are doing now is evidently and currently not the solution," said Rowse.

He says the Funk Zone and Coast Village Road have not struggled the same way. "It is vital because other districts have recovered nicely," said Rowse.

The plan before the council talks about three districts in the Grand Paseo.

The report states them as:

The Arts District, De La Guerra District, and the Entertainment District. District locations have been updated as follows: Entertainment District (Waterfront to Ortega Street); De La Guerra District
(Ortega to Carrillo Street); and Arts District (Carrillo to Sola Street). Including the 100–
300 blocks in the Entertainment District provides a cohesive flow through the underpass.
Although changes are not proposed for the 100–300 blocks of State Street, their inclusion
in the Entertainment District connects them to other destinations downtown.

Some priorities from community and business meetings included in the staff report are:

• Identification of distinct districts with different needs and identities
• Continued support for limiting private vehicle access on State Street, with at least a portion of the street remaining car-free
• A family-friendly design that includes spaces for public art and performance
• Spaces and design elements suitable for all ages and abilities
• A flat and flexible (curbless) street design that is adaptable and can accommodate different uses in the right-of-way.
• Safety and cleanliness
• Careful consideration of pedestrian safety in spaces that include bicycles
• Slow-moving, experiential transit
• Housing and economic development as a core focus
• Integration of the 400 block into the Promenade as a gateway to the waterfront and a "Grand Paseo"
• Respect for the El Pueblo Viejo Historic District

(more details, video and photos will be added here later today)