State St. promenade planning session comes with a buffet of ideas and opinions

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -  Based on a lengthy session to look at the future of State St. in Santa Barbara there will be no single solutions to revitalize the area.

Members of the Historic Landmarks Commission and the Santa Barbara City Planning Commission held a joint meeting on the master plan for the area.

It filled the Faulkner Gallery at the main library and was streaming on line.

Many speakers spoke with passion, but not all favored keeping the promenade as it is, or to keep the street closed where it is from Haley St. to Sola St.

Dave Davis is the chair of the State Street Advisory Committee and said, there are many voices about where the promenade future should go, and also economic and other always-evolving factors.
"The biggest conflict  I see is essentially is getting past that and looking forward for a   20 year vision that is very challenging as a community," he said.

Safety , cleanliness and protecting architectural designs were main themes.

Even though power washing is taking place regularly and deep cleaning on a quarterly basis, one tour guide said it wasn't enough.

"It is very embarrassing how dirty the streets are and the smells," said Nancy Palmer.     "I know a lot of people who won't go downtown because of that."

One resident, Steve Paladino said the shared space has many competing interests. "We need to see if we can do it all, can we have public transportation, can we have bikes, can we have pedestrians can we have parklets."

Much of the discussion has come back to doing different concepts in different areas of the promenade, and including the changes that are expected in De la Guerra Plaza, the Paseo Nuevo Mall and the Library Plaza.

When it comes to outside dining, Historic Landmarks Commission member Cass Ensberg said, "I would like to suggest that we immediately put every effort into putting our dining back on to the sidewalk  and make them be as large as possible while we respect the public right of way."

Housing continues to be a high priority for the downtown corridor and several projects are in the planning and development stages.
Planning Commissioner Lesley Wiscomb said., "State Street is a place where we live, work and play.   I know we hear that a lot   but the live part isn't there yet."

One community member said the city should now reopen the street, do its study, then go back and close all or some of the promenade when it has a master plan.

A presentation at the session also included slides of other downtown areas that have had successful designs. They included Boulder, San Antonio and Seattle.

Consultants from MIG are working with the city and have a plan to cover a lot of ground to make the promenade sustainable, experiential, flexible, and be a world class destination.

They also want to include non-traditional groups including the younger generation.

The State Street Master Planner, Tess Harris asked those attending to "close your eyes" and envision the State street they want to see as part of the conversations they will have at future meetings.

Opal restaurant owner Richard Yates says he respects the decisions by the city to have some updated rules on the promenade but urges decision makers to be flexible and creative.

A recurring message was about safety and how to handle either out of control bike riders or vagrants.

Community outreach events will take place several times in the coming weeks including Nov. 3-4.