It’s official.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved ending the state of local emergency declared Jan. 9 by City Administrator Rebecca Bjork when the city was in the midst of being pelted by 5 inches of rain over two days.
The huge winter storm on Jan. 9 and 10 flooded city streets and left motorists trapped in their cars, clogged roads with debris and challenged the city’s infrastructure. Police and firefighters responded to hundreds of calls of storm-related calls.
City Administrator Bjork’s call for a state of emergency was endorsed by the council on Jan. 12, but she reported to the council that the conditions of extreme peril necessitating the declaration of local emergency no longer exist and that the declaration of local emergency may be terminated.
The city, however, will continue to seek to recover costs and may continue to exercise authority under any federal, state or county emergency or disaster declaration arising from or related to the storms and floods that gave rise to the city’s declaration of local emergency.
In a related item, Zabrina Tipton from the Small Business Administration told council members that homeowners and renters can join small businesses in applying for recovery assistance and obtain low-interest loans.
The deadline for applying for help for physical damages is March 16, and the deadline for economic assistance is Oct. 16, she said.
She encouraged people who need assistance to visit one-stop disaster recovery centers set up at Santa Barbara Airport and Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, where they can get information from the city, county and FEMA.
Then it was on to the main item on the council’s agenda: approving Municipal Code amendments regarding zoning regulations for accessory dwelling units to comply with new state requirements and to update local standards.
New state legislation intended to increase production of Accessory Dwelling Units necessitates updating the city’s zoning regulations, staff said. The changes by the state include an increase in the maximum building height limit and a number of technical changes intended to make ADUs easier to build.
Assistant Planner Jillian Ferguson told the council that standard ADUs that are detached from a primary residence can run between 850 and 1,200 square feet and be 25 feet in height. A standard ADU that is attached to a primary home can be half its size and be 17 to 18 feet tall.
The council unanimously approved the amendments, but added one change that would limit the height of ADUs built near main transit centers or in high fire hazard areas to 16 feet, with another 2 feet allowed to add on a roof.
Staff noted that a growing number of property owners have expressed interest in increasing the allowed number of ADUs.
Ms. Ferguson said the city received 200 applications just last year, that 83% of applications are reviewed within 30 days, and 96% meet the state’s 60-day deadline.
Councilmember Eric Friedman pushed hard to add on another change that would allow two-bedroom ADUs to be 1000 square feet. He and other council members noted that the city currently has a shortage of two-bedroom rentals.
After much discussion and going back and forth, he agreed that the council should consider the item at its upcoming retreat with the idea of sending it to the Planning Commission for consideration. Council members also will talk then about holding a future workshop to address other issues related to ADUs.
Councilmember Mike Jordan at first said any such workshop should deal with housing policy as a whole but agreed to limit the conversation to ADUs because that was the item on the agenda being discussed Tuesday.
Ms. Ferguson also noted that Santa Barbara is close to being the top city in the state in the actual production of ADUs.
“We’re doing a fantastic job producing ADUs within the city,” she said. “My understanding is that we’re near the top.”
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said she heard the city was No. 1.
“I would say we’re close to No. 1,” Principal Planner Daniel Gullet said.
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