To their own considerable surprise and relief, members of the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously in favor of a major planning document that will guide future growth and development within city limits during the next 20 years, despite seemingly intractable differences over housing densities and affordability that have taken nearly six years, millions of dollars, and more than 40 meetings to sort of resolve. The vote on the compromise plan came during a special council meeting held last Thursday, and the historic nature of the occasion was lost on no one. Before Mayor Helene Schneider bestowed her blessing on the deal — “This is a good thing,” she proclaimed — she invoked the spirit of Saint Barbara herself, whose feast day was observed this past Sunday. “She was known to protect us from imminent doom,” the mayor said of the city’s sanctified namesake. Doom, in this case, would have entailed further gridlock and interminable debate.
To all involved, the debate certainly seemed interminable. Councilmember Bendy White suggested the warring factions over growth and development began flexing their muscles and drawing lines in the sand back in “the Pleistocene” era. And certainly, the process by which compromise was eventually exacted proved both exhaustive and exhausting. Longtime council observer and commentator Lee Moldaver noted that the Civil War and Revolutionary War both were fought in less time than it took to craft the new blueprint for new growth. Councilmember Randy Rowse, responding to comments likening the General Plan to a city’s constitution, noted that the American Constitution was written in less time than the new General Plan.
On one side of the debate were the so-called smart-growthers, who, among other things, argued that housing densities should be increased and parking requirements decreased to make it more economically possible for developers to build housing that’s genuinely affordable to Santa Barbara’s ever-endangered middle class. Among their ranks were Councilmembers Grant House, Bendy White, and Mayor Schneider, the council’s more liberal bloc. Among their supporters were affordable-housing advocates like Mickey Flacks, architects, and developers. On the other side were those worried that increased densities meant increased congestion, increased crime, and a loss of Santa Barbara’s historic character. Among their ranks were Councilmembers Dale Francisco, Michael Self, Frank Hotchkiss, and Randy Rowse, the council conservatives. Backing them were old-school no-growthers like former Mayor Sheila Lodge, now a planning commissioner.