Santa Barbara City Council approves consultant contract for State Street Master Plan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-The Santa Barbara City Council received an update on the work of the State Street Advisory Committee and State Street Master Plan's consultant selection process and then voted unanimously to award a contract.

The city approved a $709,156 contact, plus extra expenditures, with MIG, Inc.

The consultant has worked with many other California cities including Pasadena and Berkeley.

Councilmember Eric Friedman said he hopes the result welcomes public input and finds a past and future balance for the famous Santa Barbara street.

Before the vote, Mayor Randy Rowse made it clear he wants businesses with parklets to put public safety and cleanliness first.

He is concerned the parklets without portability are hard to keep storm drains clean. He said those platforms could have issues hiding underneath and a some businesses still are in violation of Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.

"Frankly, I am a little disturbed with the lack of cooperation."

He said the city has been working on that for months.

Rowse said "I don't think portability and the promenade are mutually exclusive like is said, we can have both, what I have seen is a colossal lack of cooperation."

The former restaurant owner said he knows the business and understands it is about to get harder with labor, supply issues and a potential recession."

"We have a duty to provide for the health and public safety of our citizens, that is not a question , a theory or ideology, that is what we have to do,"said Rowse.

The council will take up the issue again in September and October.