Santa Barbara City Council votes to expand emergency access on State Street during closure

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously in favor or a staff recommendation to improve emergency access during the closure created by the city to help restaurants offer outdoor dining areas during the pandemic.

The fire access lane is part of passage of the Economic Recovery Extension and Transition Ordinance or ERETO.

Santa Barbara Fire Marshal Ryan DiGuilio said fire trucks need 20 feet down the center of State Street to meet California Fire Codes. He said a straight line, rather than a serpentine line, offers better visibility during emergencies.

"We were all under the impression that COVID would be short term so we thought the 3 month time frame was doable fast forward to almost two years later our comfortability factor of that 14 and half foot of fire lane has run out and the liability we are taking to have anything less than 20 feet is a real concern for us," said DiGuilio.

The first emergency order allowing the closure of State Street was approved in May of 2020 and extended twice under and Emergency Economic Recovery Ordinance (EERO)and set to expire in March 2022.

Mayor Randy Rowse said, "Nobody anticipated that Omicron would come along and bring us another wave of people that may or may not want to eat inside."

The council heard more than an hour of public comments before voting in favor of a March 8, 2022 deadline to clear the middle of the road for emergency access.

About 25 businesses will have to pull back a portion of their outdoor dining areas to comply.

The Fire Marshal said the Granada, the Balboa building, and a property at 820 State St. needs full access for a fire trucks and first responders.

Council members are also considering master plan changes that welcome outdoor dining without hindering safety.

One council member said the city received more than 100 letters to keep the promenade and it appears there is a will to do so.

The Santa Barbara City Council will consider a staff recommendation that would require future parklets to be portable at a later date.

Portable parklets could be removed within 24 hours to allow parades to return to State Street when the pandemic is no longer hindering gatherings.

City staff calls those areas "furniture zones."

The staff recommended allowing outdoor business areas and parklets citywide until Dec. 31, 2023 while the city works a State Street Master Plan and updates its General Plan.

There are currently about 200 outdoor dining areas, but the Santa Barbara is seeking to close some areas that have impacted traffic along Victoria and in the Funk Zone.

"Give the time to our committees to come up with a final plan that is going to have community input," said Rowse, " It is going to have the right findings and go through all the processes that we do, here in Santa Barbara, to plan things."

The council will received input from an ad hoc committee before implementing further changes.