The proposed apartment project draws severe criticism from the Architectural Board of Review | Local News

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It’s back to the drawing board, as the cliché says.

A proposal to build 33 apartments at 425 Garden St. in Santa Barbara met with stiff resistance at last week’s meeting of the city’s Architectural Board of Review.

The project was submitted to the board as a pre-demand hearing, and board members criticized the project, saying it was too big and too massive for the site. No formal request was submitted.

“It looks like a diagram, a kind of rulebook, the maximum that could be achieved on a site of this size without any consideration for the local environment and the congestion it creates,” said Richard Six, Member of the Board of Directors. “I find that very unfortunate.”

No parking would be provided on the vacant site, which consists of warehouse buildings in the middle of the block. The project would include a dog park on the fourth floor and a 320 square foot bicycle storage room.

The proposed project, according to architects, Bildstein Architecture and Planning, is intended to meet the demand for more accessible housing in the city’s central business district. It is close to the Funk area and Highway 101, and four blocks from the beach.

The current site of the 33-unit apartment project at 425 Garden Street consists mainly of warehouses. (Photo by Joshua Molina / Noozhawk)

“Tenants will be able to walk to meet all their needs – grocery stores, restaurants, employers and entertainment are all a short walk away,” the architects said in the submitted project description.

The project is being offered as part of the city’s Average Unit Density Incentive Program, which allows developers to benefit from additional density in exchange for the construction of apartments. It is surrounded by other industrial buildings and residential houses, alongside and nearby.

The project would include two moderate-income units and five low-income affordable units. The open space required for the project will go on the roof and an interior courtyard. It would be 48 feet tall, the maximum height currently allowed.

The team of architects showed photos of other large buildings in Santa Barbara with “comparable volume,” including the Canary Hotel and the eight-story Granada Theater, built in 1924.

Architect Ellen Bildstein said the proposal is “what we see as an innovative and exciting project that seeks to provide solutions to the Santa Barbara challenge of affordability, aesthetics, easy access by bike and on foot downtown, the Funk Zone and the beach “.

Board member Leon Olson said “the lack of detail bothers me,” referring to the designs of the balconies overlooking Garden Street. He called the balconies “awkward and unattractive”.

Olson also said that while the number of parking spaces is not the responsibility of the ABR, he said there would be a “big impact” from the lack of parking.

“It doesn’t seem like we need to go over it in silence,” he said.

Six urged the architects to come back with a smaller project.

“I think there are much more imaginative and creative ways to reform this building to relieve the absolutely un-relieved perimeter rises that are totally unacceptable,” Six said.

Board member Lauren Anderson agrees.

“I don’t think the mass is compatible with the environment,” she said, “and I think it can be studied further.”

– Noozhawk Staff Writer Joshua Molina can be reached at. (JavaScript must be enabled to display this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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