At a time when the city of Santa Barbara is facing one of the worst economic challenges in its history, architects made a presentation to City Hall on Thursday to talk about their vision for the city center.
The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presented a presentation describing ideas for housing, walkways, a downtown linear park, events, arts, concerts, and a general utopia. about what Santa Barbara might be like if they all worked together.
“I think we feel all kinds of the weight of this moment, the importance of next year and all the decisions we will make for our city and the consequence of this moment in which we find ourselves,” Councilor Va dir Meagan Harmon. “We now have the opportunity to truly enact a transformative change that will influence the future of our city for future generations.”
The AIA-SB held a multi-day “charrette,” a French word for an intense collaboration session, where more than 160 volunteers formed teams to study State Street. Different teams studied ideas for squares, walkways and open spaces, and even rebuilt State Street into a linear park. There is also talk of creating a public-private partnership as a foundation, raising money for events, capital improvements and programming.
The architects have produced a 330-page book of their discoveries.
“They’re ideas,” said architect Detty Peikert. “They’re meant to inspire and encourage people to explore, to define that vision for the future of downtown and State Street.”
The city did not take any action, mainly at the request of city attorney Ariel Calonne, who reminded the town hall that only a presentation, not a discussion, was written on the agenda of Thursday’s special meeting. at 4 p.m.
The city plans to soon launch a website that will provide information on housing possibilities in the center, which is another of the goals of the architects.
The group is studying the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, as well as opportunities to build in open car parks.
Nina Johnson, assistant to the city administrator, started the discussion, mixing optimism with the reality of the moment.
“We come to you at a time of great opportunities and challenges,” Johnson said. “It’s a very difficult time because of the pandemic order and staying at home. Businesses are in a very difficult place to get to both ends.”
Jim Knell, founder of SIMA Corp. and city critic, spoke at the meeting.
“You can’t help but feel excited, but at the same time I’m disappointed with where we are now,” Knell said.
He said there are more than 60 vacancies between Highway 101 and Sola Street.
“When you talk about a partnership with the city and stakeholders, I think you’re jumping,” he said. “Many homeowners have lost faith in the city and the process, especially when looking at the state of State Street now.”
Knell said the economy of affordable housing does not work in downtown Santa Barbara. He also said the city could be assuming it owns property when it doesn’t.
“State Street has changed a lot in the last three years, and most are for the worse,” Knell said.
Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez said she is optimistic.
“As a city, we need to start thinking outside the box and working with nonprofits and private funders to fund an idea like this and future ideas to improve the community,” he said.
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