Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

So,

June 4th, 2026 Planning Commission hearing. I will call the hearing to order at 1 p.m. Ms. Carman, can we please have roll call?

Thank you, Chair Boss. I'll begin with Chair Boss.

Present.

Vice Chair DeLuccio.

Here.

Commissioner Bauke.

Here.

Commissioner Wardlow.

Here.

Commissioner Wiscombe.

Here.

And Commissioner Peterson. Here. Thank you.

Moving on to requests for continuances, withdrawals, postponements, or addition of ex-agenda items. I know we have one later on in the agenda, but we'll get started with these preliminary matters. Do we have any other requests?

Thank you, Chair Boss. No, none in addition to the Edgewater Way project later on. And any announcements and appeals? Yes. We do have one for your commission and the public. Just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that the VicTrace Reservoir Project draft environmental impact report will be available for public review starting June 8th. Since we don't have a hearing next week, I wanted to let you know that it will be posted publicly online on the Planning Environmental Review website. And then your commission will be holding the environmental review hearing on July 9th for that same draft EIR.

Great. Thank you. Moving on to item C, comments from members of the public pertaining to items that are not on today's agenda. Ms. Carmen, do we have anyone in person or remote who would like to give public comment on items that are not on today's agenda?

Thank you, Chair Boss. At this time, I don't have any speaker slips for in-person public comment, but anyone in the room that would like to speak under general can approach the podium at this time. but I'm not seeing any movement towards the podium, and I would just like to remind the audience that if you want to speak under an item on today's agenda, you can fill out a speaker slip at the back of the room and bring it up to me. I will call your name under that item, but we don't have anybody online with us either, so I'll just acknowledge that we received written correspondence from Ben Romo and give it back to you.

Thank you. We'll close general public comment and move on to new item 3A, 901 State Street. The purpose of this hearing is to consider an exception to height limitations pursuant to municipal code to allow community benefit projects to exceed the 45-foot height limit in the CG zone. We have staff here to provide a presentation who will introduce themselves during the presentation. Ms. Earnest, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chair Bausen. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Carly Earnest. I'm the case planner for the project at 901 State Street for Music Academy of the West. The required action today is to consider an exception to the height limitation pursuant to Santa Barbara Municipal Code Section 30.140.100 to allow a community benefit project to exceed the 45-foot height limit in the commercial general zone. Starting with a vicinity map here, the project site is located at the corner of State Street and West Cannon Perdido Street downtown. Some site photos. This is the front elevation, so looking at the entrance of the building from State Street. This is a view of the corner elevation from the corner of State Street and Cannon Perdido. Here is a view of the side elevation, so looking at the building from Cannon Perdido, and the rear elevation looking at the building from the city-owned Paseo. This pergola and planters here are located on a separate smaller lot that would be merged as part of the project. For some background before getting into the project plans and height exception request, the project was designated an economic development project by city council on December 16, 2025. And the project was allocated new non-residential floor area from the community benefit category. Projects with a community benefit designation may request an exception to the height limitation and propose buildings up to 60 feet in height if the required findings can be made by the Planning Commission. So as proposed, the project requires an exception to the height limitation to allow the proposed tower elements to exceed the 45-foot height limit in the CG zone. Getting into the project description, the project proposes to redevelop the existing commercial building to create a three-story music education center with a basement and rooftop venue. The facility would provide new performance halls, dressing rooms, offices, practice rooms, teaching studios, a non-commercial kitchen, a lounge, and a rooftop event space. There would be an addition of 2,995 square feet of new non-residential floor area. There would be a height increase for a new stair and elevator tower at the rear, as well as extending the existing stair tower at the front. And there would be a voluntary lot merger of two lots to create one. Now getting into the project plans and to get into the details of the height exception request. Here is this proposed site plan. So the building footprint would remain the same except for this area outlined here in red, which is where the pergola and planters currently exist. But that portion would be infilled with the tower addition that would provide the rear stairway and elevator tower, which would serve more as a service entrance and with the public still entering off State Street through the main entrance. Then we can skim through the floor plans and go back to any if needed, but here's the basement plan that includes some program spaces and restrooms. The first floor plan includes the central performance space and some back of house functions at the rear and again where the public would enter off of State Street. The second floor plan here, there's a partial infill of the second floor happening to create the lounge area and where some of that new floor area is proposed. But it would remain open to the below central performance space there. The third floor plan again just provides some teaching studios and an office space. Then the roof plan, this is the new rooftop event space. So the tower elements I have outlined here in blue. And these are triggering the need for the height exception request to exceed the 45 foot height limit. And I do want to clarify that certain architectural elements are excluded from building height and how we measure that under the zoning ordinance. But these towers do not meet that allowance because there is additional floor area beyond that required for minimum egress for the stairway and elevator tower. And so those areas of extra floor area are outlined here in red. The southwest tower in the bottom left corner there includes a janitor's closet, an elevator lobby, and then the northeast tower there includes restrooms. And I do want to point out in the staff report the northeast tower was improperly identified as northwest, but the top right there is the northeast. Looking at the south elevation, this is probably the best elevation to envision the height of both towers, although if you were standing on Canon Perdido Street, you would not be able to see the northeast one in the background there. But for zoning purposes, the building height is measured as the vertical distance from existing or finished grade, whichever is lower, to the top of the structure directly above. So the new southwest tower has a height of 59 feet 11 inches, and the existing northeast tower would be widened and has a maximum height of 52 feet. And I believe there's maybe other places on the plans or applicant letter that reference a different maximum height, but under the zoning ordinance rules of measurement for building height, these are the maximum heights of both towers. The east elevation here, so this is looking at that front tower that would be extended to include the restrooms and this is the view from State Street. There would be no other significant changes besides extending that existing tower to the State Street facade besides really just a restoration and keeping the existing details to remain. The west elevation, so this is the new tower at the southwest in the rear. Again, it's serving as more as a service entrance to the building and the public would enter off State Street through the primary entrance. For the review procedure, Planning Commission shall review and consider the four required building height findings after conceptual review by the Historic Landmarks Commission and before consideration by the Historic Landmarks Commission for project design approval. So for the record, the project has gone to HLC twice for concept review, the first being on December 3rd, 2025, and the second on December April 8th, 2026. They did receive positive feedback and we do have Historic Landmarks Commissioner Cass Ensberg here to provide some brief comments following my presentation and the minutes for both of those meetings were included in your staff report packet. Getting into the required findings. There are four of them, and finding A is that the applicant has adequately demonstrated a need for the project to exceed 45 feet in height that is related to the project's benefit to the community or due to site constraints or in order to achieve desired architectural qualities. Staff found that the additional height of the towers is necessary to accommodate elevator and stair access to the rooftop while also incorporating functional support spaces including restrooms, elevator lobbies, and building service areas that are essential to the operation of the rooftop event space. Staff therefore finds that the requested height is directly related to the project's community benefit. Finding B is that the project will be exemplary in design. The project was reviewed twice by HLC, who found the tower heights to be appropriate and supportable. Based on the project's high-quality architectural detailing, contextual compatibility, and positive comments from HLC, staff also found that the project demonstrates exemplary design and this finding can be made. Finding C is regarding livability. Because the project does not include residential units, considerations to livability are not applicable, and this finding can be made. Finding D is sensitivity to context in that the project design will complement the setting and character of neighboring properties with sensitivity to adjacent historic resources. The project has undergone extensive design review by HLC, who found the tower design and heights to be compatible with the surrounding architectural context and character of the El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District. There are also no historic resources that are immediately adjacent to the project site. There are historic resources in the surrounding vicinity, with it being in El Pueblo Viejo in downtown, but through the HLC review process, the project was designed to ensure compatibility with these nearby historic resources in broader historic context of downtown Santa Barbara. The applicant also prepared a comparative height analysis at the request of HLC and I have some of those SLIDES HERE, SO JUST TO SHOW YOU THE HEIGHT OF SOME OF THE ADJACENT BUILDINGS, THIS IS THE MARSHALL'S BUILDING, YEAH, DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STATE STREET FROM THE PROJECT SITE, AND SO THERE'S AN ELEVATION AND THEN A PHOTO DEMONSTRATING THAT THE HEIGHT IS APPROXIMATELY 46 AND A HALF FEET, AND AGAIN, THIS IS DIRECTLY ACROSS STATE STREET FROM THE PROJECT SITE. Another building is adjacent or also across State Street from the project site is this five-story commercial building, and there's a photo of it. That's approximately 75 feet and three inches. Another adjacent building is across Cannon Perdido Street. This is the Paseo Nuevo Tower, and that has a height of approximately 56 and a half feet. Let me go back to that slide there. So with the comparative height analysis and with going through the HLC design review process, staff finds that the project is sensitive to its context and complements the character of neighboring properties and that finding D can be made. All right, clicking through again. So with that, staff recommends that the Planning Commission consider the required height findings and grant an exception to the 45-foot height limit in the commercial general zone. And with that, that concludes my presentation, and I'm available for questions. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. And I think we'll turn now to our Historic Landmarks Commission representative, Ms. Zenzberg, for additional comments. Welcome.

Thank you. Yes, I am Cass Ansberg and I am here as requested to represent the Historic Landmarks Commission and to report on the findings from the HLC Commission regarding the project at 901 State Street for the Music Academy of the West. I would like to say, if I could just take a moment, I guess I should say hello to everyone and thank you for having us here and also hello to everyone here in the audience and to our applicants and to staff for their great work. I could just say yes. Ms. Ernst just said it all. But I did prepare to come here so I will proceed with that. I did want to take one moment to say thank you to you all because I think that the work that you do is so important and I don't think that the public often understands the role and how important it is and how much work is involved and that it is volunteer. So I want to express appreciation and just put that out there for people to understand the very important role of a planning commission. So thank you. Excuse me. With that, I will say that this is a very special project and HLC expressed enthusiastic support for the adaptive reuse of the building, and for the many benefits that having the presence of the Music Academy of the West downtown will bring. The project was reviewed, as was reported already, on December 3rd, 2025, and the two-fold approach was very much appreciated by HLC. And the twofold approach is the very light touch to the exterior, the aesthetic of the building, and then this very working lightly with the exterior, making a few tweaks here and there to make it better. And then the other part is this complete transformational acoustic design to the interiors. It's a very inspired, dynamic performance space. So it's quite an amazing opposition between the interior and the exterior of this building, which we really appreciated as well. The commission gave a number of comments to address and improve the exterior elements and expressed overall appreciation and unanimous support to continue. That was on the December 3rd. And then on April 3rd, the project returned with the revised plans and all of the elements, everything that the HLC had suggested was appreciated and was addressed and incorporated into the new design, which was very much appreciated by the commission. Let's see. The key elements, as have been described, are the roof deck landscaping and then also the additional height required for the new elevator towers. The commission felt that the building was actually improved with the towers. You know, having a tower as a singular element here and there is a benefit and we thought a very positive thing. And then given the examples of other towers that are close by, Um, so the commission gave input regarding the design aesthetic treatment and found the increased height to be supportable. And the commission also asked that any palms on the roof be placed. So it's not to be visible from the street. That was more of a landscape, um, issue. So, um, with that, you know, very, very strong support and appreciation for this project and, uh, the community benefit, uh, findings were, uh, found to be generally supportable. and the in progress review was unanimously approved. Both times that they came it was unanimous. So it was a very good, and the other one thing I wanted to mention is that we did appreciate when the applicant came back the second time after having incorporated all of the elements, they were very appreciative and said that they recognized how the project was improved. and that they appreciated our input. So it was a very great collaboration and we look forward to your approval of it today and also moving forward. Thank you. And I'm here for any questions if I have missed something.

Thank you so much. Thanks for making the time to be here and for your comments. Thank you. We also have applicant representatives who will introduce themselves during the presentation. And I believe you have 10 minutes. 15 minutes, apologies.

Hi, I'm Shawna Quill, I'm the President and CEO of the Music Academy of the West, and I'm here today with my staff as well as some of the members of our team, Heidi Jones from Meraki Consulting, Mike Holliday from DMHA, and the Tynan Group, and we are so grateful to you as well as the HLC for its review of our project. We're so excited about this. We've been dreaming about what it would be to have a bridge to downtown from Montecito and the pace at which the enthusiasm has come to support this project is really wonderful. And so we're just grateful for your time today. And now I will pass it over to people who can talk about the details. But thank you and we look forward to working together with you continually. Thank you.

Madam Chair, members of the Planning Commission, my name is Michael Holliday.

I'll pull this up here.

We are the local architects for the project, along with Brooke Scarpa Huber out of Los Angeles, who specialize in these kind of projects. And I'm just going to briefly cover some of the architectural aspects. Some of this was already covered in Carly's presentation. You're familiar with the building. Fortunately, all we're doing is eliminating that little opening on the lower right side, repainting, refinishing, and basically leaving the building as it is on State Street, so very minimal. We are slightly modifying the stair tower for exiting for the roof deck. And this just gives you a sense for what it's going to look like when it's done, just a kind of refreshed version of what it currently looks like along State Street. Here's on the rear of the building, and it's been an interesting, you know, sort of how do we work with the existing Paseo and the adjacent structure. These are the elevations that we presented to HLC, which they were appreciative of. We think it's actually improved the building, having this tower element, as Cass was suggesting. And you know, very simple. very much consistent with El Pueblo Viejo design guidelines. Here's the corner of the building looking at the south-facing facade, which is probably going to be kind of changing the most. The upper drawings here represent sort of the Revit drawings, and our hand-drawn elevations show what we've developed to kind of add that additional tower element. You can see how nice it looks. It kind of complements the rest of the building. And this is what it'll look like with all the landscaping. We think it's going to be a handsome addition to the downtown and really be a great venue for the Music Academy of the West. Here's that corner element just to show what it looks like right now. And here's a computer render version of it. Overall, very much supported by HLC and with minor refinements that we haven't reflected yet in this. This is basically what it'll look like. I don't need to walk you through the plans because that's already been done, but this is the lower level down here with primarily all the service aspects, restrooms, other structures. This is the main level, and all the entrance is to the front, by the way. So although we're adding this stairway and a rear entry, that's just for staff. So all the entry ADA access is off of State Street where they want it. And the large sort of pre-function space is going to be right off the front there, and then The large performance space is a sort of large central area. And as we say, we've opened up the building to the third floor, and we're kind of the Aurora space, as we're calling it. actually has a skylight all the way up at the rooftop. So this is a tremendous improvement, we think, to the building. This is going to be the roof deck, and this is our rendered view of what it's gonna look like looking down on that roof deck. We think it's probably gonna be one of the nicest roof decks in town to be able to do different functions with. So this just gives you a sense for a skylight that lets natural light sort of permeate all the way down into the building. This is a computer rendered image that shows what it would look like, a photo imposed on the exact view, mountain views of Santa Barbara. So we sort of set the roof deck right in on the exact view that you'll see from up above. And here's a view looking over the skylight, which again won't project much light up, but lets a lot of light down in the daytime. So subtle improvements to the structures to provide access to that upper area, but overall we think it's gonna be a great additional community benefit for the downtown. Here's a couple sections. This is a pretty dramatic section, but you can see we carved out this upper floors to allow that natural light to come down in to the space, and that's because the acoustical volumetrics are set up for a 95-piece orchestra. So whether it's a quartet that might be performing, it can be fine-tuned or it can be that volume of space can be able to complement a large space. We've actually received interest from people to record music videos in the space because it's going to be such a dynamic space for you know any kind of performance. Couple other little sections there to show you. And then here's where it really gets exciting. The interior's gonna be completely transformed, kind of a musical chorus, if you will. Because all of the acoustics happen behind the screens, these wood elements are actually, there's the Aurora space, are gonna kind of conceal all the mechanics of what happens behind the sort of screen that we've dropped in there. which is acoustically transparent, but still visually, you can see how it's gonna really create this beautiful interior space that will be visible from the exterior. One of the things Cass asked, please let us see all of that cool architecture that you're gonna do on the interior. And it will be during the daytime. Even at night could be lit up. But the windows will be clear. You'll be able to look inside and see what it looks like on the interior. And there's how that space will be utilized with a full orchestra. Again, it's sort of an amorphic space, but we think it's going to be dynamic and very interesting. So that concludes my presentation, and we're available to answer any questions that you might have.

Great. Thank you. That takes us to comments from members of the public pertaining to this specific item. Ms. Carmen, do we have anyone in person or remote who would like to give a public comment?

Thank you, Chair Boss. At this time, I don't have any speaker slips for in-person public comment. If anyone would like to speak, you can approach the podium at this time, but otherwise I'll move to virtual participation. But not seeing any movement towards the podium, so I will move to virtual participation. If anyone online would like to speak, you can raise your hand at this time. but I'm not seeing any raised hands, and we didn't receive any written correspondence for this item, so I'll give it back to you.

Okay, thank you. I'll open it up to my fellow commissioners for questions. Who would like to go first? I have Commissioner Bauke.

Madam Chair, I've just got two questions. One is to staff, is to process. Does this Project F, if we approve it, go back to HLC for final approval?

Commissioner Bauke, through the Chair, yes, it will return to HLC. for project design approval, as well as development plan approval. HLC is the decision maker of the development plan. The planning commission typically is if it's over 3,000 square feet of new non-residential floor area. But because it's less than 3,000, HLC will be approving the development plan and granting project design approval following this hearing today.

Okay. And the other question I have is for Cass Innsburg. And if we could get the image that, Michael, if you could put up the image of the Cannon Perdido Tower from sort of where the parking structure is. I just had like one question. Yeah, that'd be good. Since I haven't watched the two meetings. And sometimes we do that before we see this. Was there any discussion, because you've got these two narrow palms in the box adjacent to the entrance into that parking area. Was there any discussion of if those palms don't grow? to that kind of scale, any concern about the flat nature of that one long dimension and whether anybody thought about maybe an inset and a mural or something else to give it some more articulation if those palms don't grow that way. I was just wondering if there was any conversation about that, because that's about the only thing. From my point of view, it seems just not quite there, but that's the only comment I have. I definitely support the project.

Thank you, and thank you for the question. I don't recall us getting into that level at this point, and it certainly could come up later as the project moves through, and I think you've made a really good point for us to keep our eye on. I think we felt primarily just the The prominent elevation here that you see, we talked a lot about this. This is a new window that you see with the ocular above. And just how improved, as you can recall how it was before, how much improved this is, and how much we actually like this tower here, and how it spoke to the one over at the former Nordstrom's building. So I think that was more of the focus, but I'm glad you brought it up. Certainly, it can be something that we'll pay attention to as it moves through.

Okay, thank you. The scale's great. It's just on that one facade.

Yes, and there are, of course, you can see there are other elements. This arch over here onto the left. So when you put it all together with all the other components, you know, maybe it's not But we didn't talk about a mural or anything like that and so I'm glad you bring it up And we'll just you know be sure to be watching for that. Okay. Okay.

Thank you Thank You Commissioner Peterson Thank You madam chair.

I have a question for the music academy. Would you be willing to engage in this? This is an economic development project which will have I think a wonderful community benefit absolutely agree with that I'm showing my cards and But speaking of economic development, one of the economic issues of State Street is, and I think what can only be considered as dead space, especially after 5 p.m., especially with your neighbor across the street, i.e. banks. Can you talk a little bit about the services and programming that you may offer in this space? Is it just gonna be for performances? Will it be classes, students? Just curious how you conceptualize this.

Sure, so we are, thank you for the question. We are still working on this now, but it is a music education space and we're saying from zero to 100, right? So Mommy and Me classes up to the VISTAs lectures. We're looking at ways to have artists create residencies here so that they can try new projects in a safe space amongst a safe community. That would be our teaching artists and our alumni, but also local ones, local high school students. I have a lot of ideas. I'm talking to arts organizations like the Santa Barbara Symphony, hoping they take all of their youth symphony rehearsals here. So the hope is, with the exception of some holidays, that we're really activating the space year-round. We're also looking at models of how to use the roof, how to operate the roof, and on what schedule. So it's still very much in development, but this is the work that my team is actively pursuing now.

One follow-up to that, because there's been a lot of talk about bringing people to State Street, has there been any consideration on how there's public engagement, like walk-in engagement in the space, or just programmatic engagement?

Well, that's one of the reasons, actually, that we're trying not to cover the windows. We're hopeful that if people can see in, then they want to come in and engage. One of the the days of the week that I'm super excited about is Saturdays mornings because that's when the farmers market is active and it technically goes to that 900 block but I haven't seen it you know like populate all the way to our building. So we typically have our sing which is our free choral program for students meet on Saturday mornings at the music academy so I have this dream that we open up the doors and people come in. And I'm also like, what is the, is there yoga with live music? I want it to be, especially at the times when State Street already has activity, that we're coordinated and that the music is not just going to be classical, that it's going to span genres. that during Fiesta we can have different things going on. So it's like there's so many possibilities. So it's almost too hard, right, to narrow it down. We have a heat map of every room in the building and we're trying to see if this is going on, can this go on? But each of the spaces is gonna be sound isolated from each other so that you can have an event on the roof and it won't affect what's going on downstairs and in the teaching rooms or in the main performance space. So these are key elements in the design that will really help us be able to do more than one thing on one day at one time.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Commissioner Wardlow.

Thank you so much.

And one more question for you as well. We're very excited about this project. I just wanted to see if there is going to be plans to ensure that there are free events for the public. Absolutely. Okay, wonderful. Yes, yes, yes. And so there will be free access for folks to go up to the roof at times and then to participate in some level of free programming.

Yes, we're considering... the operator of, yes, all the things. There's a lot to be developed.

Thank you so much.

Other questions? I just have a couple. One around accessibility and thinking about the image that showed the interior. We've talked a lot about accessibility and the State Street redesign and revitalization. Can you talk about accessibility for folks who may not be fast walkers?

Sure, Madam Chair, members of the commission, I'll go back to the floor plan here. Main accessibility is right off State Street, so it's going to be compliant. We're working with everything that we have as far as the existing building. And essentially, the sidewalks that go down Cannon Perdino and then right up State Street there are all going to be immediately accessible. And that's why the building slopes a little bit. So the rear area there is going to be stairs that go up. That's why that's not a primary entry. So the entire facility, including the roof deck and all the levels will be fully accessible. Even the restrooms up on the, which is part of the reason we need to do the exception, it'll be accessible restrooms up on the roof deck.

That's wonderful, thank you, I appreciate it. And then another question for Music Academy leadership. I'm also supportive of this as an economic development project under the community benefit definition. Um, and especially under, um, providing new cultural opportunities for residents of the city and South coast. Um, can you talk a little bit about the number of employees and volunteers that might be engaged? Maybe it was in there and I just missed it. Sorry.

No, sure. So again, this is also part of our development as we consider what the programming would be to properly staff it. So we will have to add, um, approximately five new full-time employees. And then we're going to be adding part-time employees for, you know, stage crew backstage the rooftop you know so there's it's still based on what is going to be ultimately the programming but yes there will be definitely new full-time and part-time staff involved and we always have volunteer ushers so okay great thank you so much any other questions okay um then i'll open it up for any commissioner deliberations or comments it looks like we have vice chair delugio thank you um i'm very supportive of the project obviously it's a

It's very inviting. In fact, I went to the first Thursday. Yeah, so I'm glad you had that so you could all, a lot of people there were envisioning what it's going to look like and etc. I think we can make the findings, obviously. And I like the way you're tying the two towers together. I did do, I walked, I walked the site myself yesterday. I couldn't even really find the first tower on Cannabidio. It really needs some work, and so what you're proposing to tie it all together is going to be very inviting. So I am supportive of it. And one request is you have yogurt on the roof. Yogurt on the roof.

You got it.

Yogurt on the roof.

OK. We'll go to Commissioner Wiscombe.

I'm not sure I can top that. No, I'm very supportive of the project. The Music Academy does a wonderful job. My husband and I were comp peers there one year and we just had a ball. It's just a great, great program. So I definitely can make the findings and I'm very excited about the project. I think this is just another way that we're going to enliven State Street and get a lot of activity there. I love the tower designs. I think HLC did a great job on that. They really do complement the building. So I will be fully supporting the project. Thank you. Commissioner Wardle.

Thank you. I want to echo my fellow commissioner's comments. I'm so excited for this project. I think this is a really great complement to the broader goals of what we're trying to do with State Street, and I just really appreciate the work that you've done, especially from the architecture perspective. This looks amazing and really beautiful, and I love that you're making sure that you can see the amazing design that's inside from the exterior, because I think that contributes to really ensuring that this is a contributing back to the liveliness of State Street. I hope that there can be a lot of lighting so that at night, even if you're not having performances, that it's still kind of interactive and known for the architectural beauty that you guys are putting into this. And I love that this can also serve free public events. I think that's going to be important as we really work on our revitalization of State Street. And I'm very excited to support this project. I can definitely make the findings. I view this as a real, true community benefit project, and I just appreciate the work that you all have done to bring this to State Street. So thank you.

Commissioner Peterson.

I also support the project very much. I recently attended a concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and there are elements of that design in this, and a little mini one on State Street compared to that sounds great. I'd be willing to make the motion if... folks want.

I think we have one more comment and then we'll go back to you for the motion. Commissioner Bauke.

I definitely support the project. I could definitely make the findings and I definitely want to commend the entire applicant team because we've had these big spaces that were vacated on State Street and the big challenge has always been what to do with them. And I'm very, very happy to see yourselves and other we'll call institutions of Santa Barbara, committing to downtown, because those spaces are going to be very, very hard to adjust to, and we're going to probably have a conversation, I think, with the council about how we deal with those very deep spaces. I had a nice little chat with some folks up in San Luis Obispo about their issues. They have the same issues of deep spaces, and the adaptive reuse of this project at that space is just outstanding, in my opinion, and I definitely fully support it and thank HLC for getting it and the architects, two architects, and it's very, very, these projects are very, very complicated, especially with all the acoustic stuff that's involved, so kudos to all of you, and I will definitely vote for a motion to support, and I'll second it if you make such motions. Thank you.

We'll turn it back to Commissioner Peterson to make a motion.

Yeah, I'd like to make a motion that we make the findings A through D in the staff packet and that we grant an exception to the 45-foot height limit in the CG zone. I'll second.

All right. Ms. Carman, can we please have a roll call vote?

Thank you, Chair Boss. I'll begin with Commissioner Wiscombe.

Yes.

Commissioner Peterson. Yes. Commissioner Bauke. Yes. Commissioner Wardlow. Yes. Vice Chair DiLuccio.

Yes.

And Chair Baas. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. And I believe this action is appealable for up to 10 days. Okay. But thank you so much and looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.

Thank you very much.

Moving on new item 3b 3 2 4 5 cliff drive has your boss.

Sorry a quick interruption The action is not appealable.

It's not appealable. Okay. Thank you for that correction. I appreciate that Moving on to new item 3b 3 2 4 5 cliff drive.

It has been postponed indefinitely I don't know if we have any further updates on that You chair boss that's correct the project will be renoticed for Planning Commission review in the near future

Great. We'll close those items and move on to the administrative portion of our agenda, first committee and liaison reports. Do we have any from our staff hearing officer liaison?

I have a leftover one. The last meeting was on May 13th, and next week there will be another meeting of HSO, staff hearing officer. At the 513 meeting, real briefly, 23 East Carrillo Boulevard, that's the Happy Cats Eats? They're going to remove their two parking spaces to expand the outdoor dining, and that was approved by the staff hearing officer, Tess Harris. And then another familiar one did come before them also, 2501, 2509 Medcliff Road. That had come before us. There was this four lots on the piece of property. They're developing one of the lots right now. but they need a lot line adjustment to allow the property line between two of the properties to be relocated. So they did get a Coastal Development Committee and CEQA exemption on that, and they transferred 3,200 square feet between the two lots because the lot they're building on, they're going to put a pool back there, and they need more space. So that was granted. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other committee or liaison reports?

Okay.

We'll move on to discussion on subcommittees and workshops. And I know we haven't had much time to talk about this in the most recent meetings. So a reminder that the intent of this agenda item was to make space for discussion about active work products such as programs and policies, so not specific housing projects, but others that are under the purview of the Planning Commission that must be agendized. So to that end, a reminder that commissioners can request information for future items for discussion immediately prior to adjournment. I did also want to call your attention to we are planning for a joint meeting with City Council, and that may include some of the items that we've discussed previously or requested previously, including changing zoning to increase housing downtown, studying city-owned property beyond just parking lots for housing, but also specifically studying using city parking lots. Are there other items that we wanted to make sure that we include under this subject? Commissioner Wiscombe.

I'M NOT ADDING ANY ITEM. I THINK IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT MEASURE A-2026 PASSED, I THINK WE REALLY SHOULD CONCENTRATE ON THE CITY-OWNED PROPERTIES. I THINK THAT'S ESSENTIAL THAT WE GET THAT MOVING SINCE WE HAVE SOME MOMENTUM ON THAT. THANK YOU.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS ON THIS ITEM?

I do think that at some point we should have a conversation about how, if we're looking at increasing density when we're talking about bringing in 1,000 to 2,000 units downtown, how that intersects with state law and what our opportunities are to really meaningfully address that, because I know there's concerns as how those would interplay. So I don't know if this is the forum for that, that maybe we could have that as a policy discussion as part of this.

And I think that's a good clarification to talk about the interaction of our... POSSIBLE GOALS OF CHANGING ZONING TO INCREASE HOUSING DOWNTOWN AND HOW THEY INTERACT WITH STATE LEGISLATION. THAT'S SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE INCLUDED IN DETAIL IN THE JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. ANY OTHER ITEMS? OKAY. WELL, IT IS NOW 1.45 P.M. THAT CONCLUDES OUR JUNE 4, 2026 PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING AND OUR NEXT MEETING IS TENTIVELY SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, LATE JULY. July 2nd, apologies. So thank you very much and have a good rest of your afternoon.

BELL RINGS