Modular Sidewalks Get Green Light on State Street

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City Council gave the green light to modular sidewalks on a portion of State Street.

A Santa Barbara City Council majority approved the $528,000 purchase on Tuesday.

Mayor Randy Rowse was the lone no vote.

The sidewalks will be installed on both sides of the 500 block of State St.

It's a block where parklets have helped businesses weather COVID financially.

But it has not been easy for pedestrians, e-bikes, bicycles, and emergency vehicles to share the open road.

State Street Master Planner, Tess Harris, calls them "pedlets."

"So the pedlet would be an 8-foot sidewalk extension," said Harris. "It will allow businesses to move their outdoor dining furniture up against the building frontage making it easier to businesses to go from inside to outside to serve patrons."

Sandbar General Manager, Brandon Stilwell, said the popular business loves the outdoor dining space and the restaurant and bar appears ready to roll with sidewalk change.

"We are really excited," said Stilwell, "hope people feel more safe and don't have to worry about the bikes or anything."

Santa Barbara Public Works Manager, Sarah Clark, said they bought enough to be flexible.

"We have also purchased an extra segment they are modular units so they can be moved around and re-positioned so in the future if we want to use them at a different location, we can do that," said Clark.

The "pedlets" are made by Modstreet out of Colorado.

Carpinteria bought parklets made by the same and leases them to businesses unless they choose to buy them.

Pedlets are the company's latest offering and Santa Barbara is ready to give them a try.

The extensions should be installed by July.