But 15 parklets remain out of compliance
Sarah Clark
State Street fared well during the latest rainstorms, despite the fact that 15 out of 50 outdoor dining parklets remain out of compliance with the city’s new stormwater runoff requirements.
“State Street has done well so far!” Sarah Clark, downtown plaza parking manager, told the News-Press Thursday. “Maintenance staff reported that stormwater was flowing quite well during the rain, and we didn’t see much debris deposited.”
City staff has not yet reinspected the 15 delinquent parkets to see if the required adjustments have been made to allow stormwater to flow underneath them, Ms. Clark said.
“The facilities that remain non-compliant were issued administrative citations that gave a Jan. 6 compliance deadline, so we’ll likely re-inspect the week of the 9th,” she said.
Each administrative citation carries a fine of $100.
Water from Tuesday’s rain flows freely under a lower State Street parklet, which recently underwent a modification to meet the city of Santa Barbara’s requirements for drainage.
“After we re-inspect, we’ll do another round of administrative citations for any that remain noncompliant,” she said. “If a business receives two admin citations and fails to remedy the violation by the compliance date on the second citation, they will have their right-of-way operation privileges suspended and will have to remove their facilities.”
Ms. Clark said only one parklet appeared to have problems coping with the recent rain — and that one already had installed a drainage channel to allow the water to flow beneath the parklet.
“The only place staff reported seeing any blockage was at one of the ramps on the 1200 block,” she said. “The backup was minor. As I understand it, the business is working on modifying the ramp to have a larger drainage channel.”
City workers did not have to move any parklets because of impeding water flow down State Street, she said.
The Santa Barbara City Council set a Dec. 1 deadline for making the necessary improvements to the parklets so stormwater would flow freely down State Street instead of being allowed to accumulate and flood storefronts and sidewalks.
The first round of inspections revealed only 17 of the 50 parklets between the 400 and 1200 blocks of State Street had made the adjustments. A second round showed 12 parklets were noncompliant, with four more left to be inspected. Three of those four remained delinquent, bringing the total to 15.”
“Several of these businesses have contacted us and are working to bring their facilities into compliance,” Ms. Clark said at the time.
In most cases, restaurants have cut drainage channels, using a steel diamond plate to bridge the gap. Others have pulled their parklets away from the curb and made them more narrow. A few have removed platforms and switched to portable, at-grade designs.
email: nhartsteinnewspress@gmail.com
