Back when Nick Welsh wrote a column urging downtown businesses to buy in to the proposed Santa Barbara Community Benefit Improvement District (CBID), he clearly did not give much thought to its implications for the homeowners in the area.
As noncommercial property owners, we have little or nothing to gain from the “services” that are proposed, which are largely geared toward businesses and other commercial interests. (Our condominium already pays to have our streets cleaned each morning.)
When the CBID vote was taken and approved by Santa Barbara City Council at its June 25 meeting, the council clearly recognized that homeowners should be exempt from the district assessment plan and excluded single-family owner-occupied properties from the assessment scheme. To the shock of those of us who are condominium homeowners, however, that exemption was not extended to owner-occupied condominium residences even though our situation is exactly the same as that of the excluded dwellings (even more so since most of us do not reside at street level).
I brought my objections to the City Council meeting on July 23but was overruled by the city attorney who decided that it is too late to revise the plan before it is submitted to the County Assessor’s Office (even though it has not yet been submitted). I am delivering a letter to all the condominium homeowners in the district describing our situation. Only about 25 of us at present fall within the district, but this has implications for the development and purchase of residential units in the business district in future, where we should be encouraging owner-occupied residences as well as more rental properties.