Santa Barbara Prepares for Negotiations with La Cumbre Plaza Developers

With the prospect of a 642-unit housing development at La Cumbre Plaza on the horizon, the City of Santa Barbara is hoping to work with the developers — father-and-son duo Jim and Matt Taylor — to reach an agreement that would help ensure the project would provide more affordable housing and community benefits.

Councilmembers Eric Friedman (who represents the northern areas of the city, including La Cumbre Plaza) and Mike Jordan teamed up two weeks ago to file a memo asking the council to discuss a loose set of terms that city staff could then take to begin negotiations with the development team. On Tuesday, City Council members weighed in on the project.

Friedman said the project is “one of the largest in the city’s history,” and will likely impact the city, particularly the Upper State Street and San Roque areas, “for decades to come.”

If the project were to continue as proposed by the developers, Friedman explained, there would likely be only 52 lower-income units — about eight-and-a-half percent of the total units — and nothing as far as community spaces that the city could take advantage of.

During an open house hosted by the developers in January, hundreds of city residents shared concerns over the impacts of hundreds of new neighbors on Hope School District and the affordability of the project.

In response, Friedman and Jordan started brainstorming ways to get some level of community benefit out of the project.

Friedman and Jordan’s plan aims to get the developers to bring the project up to 25 percent below-market-rate housing, specifically asking for 10 percent “Capital-A affordable units” for low-income residents making no more than 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), and a minimum of 15 percent of units of technically affordable moderate-income housing for those making 80 to 200 percent of the AMI. This would also include a community center that the city could use for public events.

While the plan would increase the number of below-market rate units by more than 100, with at least 64 lower-income and 96 moderate-income units, some councilmembers and community members raised concerns that including the middle-class housing — for those making 80 to 200 percent AMI, or up to $214,600 a year — was not truly affordable for many in the city.

“I think this is misleading,” said Dianne Black of the League of Women Voters. “Households in this income bracket can already afford median-market-rate rentals. They can already afford it, and the market’s providing them — in fact, that’s all they’re providing.”

She suggested that the city try and focus on those making less than 80 percent AMI (less than $85,840 a year for a family of four), and ensure that locals would get a chance by applying a preference for people living or working in Santa Barbara.

Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said that she was “a little bit wary” about working with the developers. The project was originally in line for funding for a specific plan before that was “torpedoed” after representatives of the development team spoke at a Santa Barbara County Association Governments meeting, she said, followed by “rumblings of legal proceedings” from the developers.

She offered two “bold asks” from the project: first, that the higher percentage of affordable by “truly affordable” and second, the developer contribute “at least $10 million to 12 million” to the affordable housing trust fund as in-lieu fees. The number, she said, while “staggering,” would be equal to the project’s size and impact on the surrounding areas.

But Councilmember Friedman said the city gets “a lot of market-rate with very few affordable,” adding, “So, it puts us in awkward situations where we have to try to make the most of something when the deck is stacked against us. We know it’s stacked against us, and the developers know that.”

In a unanimous decision, the council decided to direct staff to begin working toward a term sheet with the details outlined in Friedman and Jordan’s memo, and return to the council to weigh in before locking in a development agreement with developers, when the details would all be ironed out.

On Saturday, August 24, at 10 a.m., S.B. Neighbor Walks will be hosting a public event, “What’s Going on with La Cumbre Plaza,” featuring Councilmember Friedman, the Taylor family, and Housing Authority Executive Director Rob Fredericks at the Grace Fisher Inclusive Arts Clubhouse.