On Tuesday, Santa Barbara’s Planning Division of the Community Development Department will recommend city council make amendments to the city’s Zoning Ordinance in order to be consistent with state law.
Amendments are being proposed for both the Inland Zoning Ordinance for accessory dwelling units and the Coastal Zoning Ordinance.
The proposed amendments for the Inland Zoning Ordinance will replace the Interim Urgency Ordinance, which was adopted to buy more time to respond to significant changes in the state ADU laws.
The ordinance temporarily prohibited ADUs and junior accessory dwelling units in the Foothill and Extreme Foothill High Fire Hazard areas, and prohibited ADUs on a property containing or immediately adjacent to a historic resource.
Because of the new state requirements, the city must amend its current standards to match it. Amendments include limiting the size of ADUs to 50% of the size of the existing primary residential unit and allowing at least an 850-square-foot detached ADU.
The state reduced the permit processing time for a complete application from 120 days to 60; expanded allowed conversions of space to JADUs to include any room of a proposed or existing residential unit including an attached garage; eliminated parking requirements; reduced interior setbacks; and prohibited owner-occupancy requirements on applications submitted after Jan. 1, 2020 until Dec. 31, 2025.
According to the staff report, further amendments are “proposed based on staff experience reviewing ADU permit applications and common constraints that, if relieved or removed, would allow for more ADU construction.”
These amendments include: “allowing existing buildings that are nonconforming to current setbacks to be converted to ADUs and allowing conforming additions to those buildings; allowing demolition of nonconforming buildings and rebuilding as an ADU in the same location and dimensions, plus a conforming 150-square-foot addition; and allowing demolition and rebuild of an existing nonconforming garage in the same location and a new ADU above.”
In other business, the Housing and Human Services Division of the Community Development Department will recommend the council establish a funding commitment for Fiscal Year 2022 from the general fund for $726,150 for the Human Services Program.
It will also recommend the council approve the proposed application-review process and provide direction to the Community Development and Human Services Committee on funding criteria and priorities and authorize staff to solicit proposals for the CDHSC Block grants for FY 2022.
“Each year, council allocates City Human Services funds to augment CDBG Public Service funds, which are awarded to local agencies that provide essential social services to City of Santa Barbara residents,” the staff report reads. “Both CDBG and Human Service funds are awarded concurrently using a single application.”
CDHSC priorities for the funding include programs that help meet basic human needs, specifically food, shelter/housing, medical (physical and mental), and proposals that reduce the impact of violence and/or are preventive in nature and/or promote the highest degree of functioning the individual is capable of achieving.
Finally, city staff will recommend that council continue using Community Development Block Grant funds for COVID-19 rental assistance, “due to the continued high demand for rental assistance.”
The city’s additional allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in FY 2021 will be $1,032,243. Staff is requesting 2% ($20,000) for administration, and hope to allocate the remaining $1,012,243 to the United Way, with $57,265 to program delivery costs and $954,978 to direct rental assistance.
The meeting can be viewed at www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CAP or on Channel 18 at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
email: gmccormick@newspress.com
