Application to Build Eight Stories Behind Santa Barbara Mission Is Nearing Completion. What’s Next?

Builder’s Remedy Housing Project Won’t Need to Make Any Concessions When It Comes to Style or Fit. But It Also Can’t Pose Unavoidable Risk to Health and Safety

Old Mission Santa Barbara | Credit: Adobestock

This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

[Updated: Thu., June 26, 2025, 2:42pm]

The application proposing to build big behind the Santa Barbara Mission is nearing completion. The project’s developers, going by the name The Mission LLC, are proposing a 270-unit, eight-story building with three levels of underground parking. The project, which would include 54 low-income housing units, would be one of the tallest buildings in the city.

The developers told the Independent that the project will bring much-needed housing to the area. But many locals are alarmed at its scale and location, raising questions on how the building will affect everything from evacuation routes to historic resources. Most recently, a group of more than 56 local architects, planners and designers signed a letter publicly opposing it, as well as another project on Grand Avenue.

“These two proposals clearly conflict with the City’s General Plan, community vision, environmental goals, and design standards,” the group wrote, adding that the projects’ locations raise serious public safety concerns.

Both projects share the same manager, real-estate advisor Ben Eilenberg, and both invoke “builder’s remedy,” a housing provision that restricts the city’s ability to deny the projects unless they have a significant, unavoidable impact to the public’s health or safety. In short, ruining a view or the character of an area can’t stop a builder’s remedy project.

Where does that leave the city when it comes to the proposed building? Here’s a breakdown of what happens once the application is complete.

What’s Next: The Consistency Evaluation

For nearly a year, The Mission LLC’s applications have been deemed incomplete by the city because they lacked information or clarity the city said it needed. That has included things like base flood elevation information, grading plan information, and missing floor plan details, among other things. But in May, the developers had only a few small issues with the application.

Once the application is complete, the city must conduct a consistency evaluation. That report will show how consistent the project is with the city’s objective standards and policies. While developers do not have to adhere to local zoning laws with builder’s remedy, this kind of review does serve to make the developers aware of how their plan differs from the city’s standards.

The city will also determine whether the project is exempt from evaluation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Some affordable housing projects are CEQA exempt, based on laws that streamline them. These projects must be in urban areas, must not be in environmentally sensitive habitat, and must not demolish historic resources like buildings. The Mission LLC’s proposed development is unlikely to be exempt based on its location, the City of Santa Barbara said.

And Then: The CEQA Studies

If the project is not deemed CEQA exempt, experts will review the project’s environmental impact through studies. These studies will look at everything from how development may impact traffic to the historical resources on the property itself. Geological studies and biological studies could be conducted.

The property is in an area with a high erosion and landslide potential, and is near a high-fire-hazard area. It’s also near Mission Creek and the historic Mission Creek Bridge that connects East Los Olivos Street to Mission Canyon Road, as well as the fault line underneath the bridge. City documents also state the property has multiple archaeological resources, both from before and after Spanish colonists arrived in the area.

After the CEQA analysis, the project will move to the city’s design review board, which will make a decision on it, says the City Attorney’s Office. That decision can be appealed to the Planning Commission and City Council, the office said.

If studies find the project poses an unmitigable health or safety impact, the project can go before the City Council, which can decide whether to override the CEQA findings and develop the project anyway or not override it, in which case the project would not move forward.

Why Does the Project’s Builder’s Remedy Status Matter?

The reason The Mission LLC can propose a project much larger and denser than what’s around it is because of a section of housing law that dates back 35 years.

In 1990, lawmakers voted for what at the time was called Senate Bill 2011. If a developer was willing to build a housing project with at least 20 percent low-income units in a city or county that did not have a state-certified housing plan (called a housing element), it could bypass local zoning restrictions. SB 2011 became what today we call builder’s remedy.

Coverage of the bill of the time highlighted the power it would take from local governments. An L.A. Times article by Ray Tessler from August 1990 said it “comes close to realizing local government’s worst fear.” But articles from this time also state the bill saw support from the California Chamber of Commerce, developers and those working to alleviate poverty and homelessness.

Despite some of the concerns voiced in 1990, builder’s remedy doesn’t seem to have made its way into the courts until fairly recently. Because the provision doesn’t have an extensive legal history, the city doesn’t have much to go on when it comes to interpreting it. In trial cases, including cases involving the City of Goleta and the City of La Cañada Flintridge, the courts have ruled in favor of the developers. Neither of these cases involved arguments on the unmitigable health or safety impacts identified in CEQA analysis.

The Mission LLC has already filed two legal actions against the city regarding this property. Both are writs of mandate alleging the city has violated state housing laws in regard to builder’s remedy. The first case, filed last October, was never served to the city and dismissed without prejudice in April. The second, filed in May, states the city’s reasons for finding the application are not required under Builder’s Remedy.

Who Is The Mission LLC?

The Mission LLC said in a statement to the Independent last fall that the plan to build behind the Mission is the result of “many thoughtful conversations with the Community of Santa Barbara.”

Currently, candid conversations may be more difficult with the owners. The owner’s names are not on the paperwork, and The Mission LLC does not have a website. Ben Eilenberg is listed on application paperwork as the property’s manager.

Eilenberg is linked to the builder’s remedy project on Grand Avenue, which is owned by Industrial Partners Group. Steph and Craig Martin Smith are listed as the founding principals of the group on its website. Eilenberg is also listed as the manager of two properties in Isla Vista, including the proposed builder’s remedy project on Madrid Ave, in the county’s records.

The Independent has reached out to Eilenberg several times since the start of covering this story, but has received no phone responses and limited email interactions. The Independent has received answers to specific questions about 505 East Los Olivos Street twice via email but never received answers to follow-up questions. No architect has signed the building’s plans, but Bildsten is listed as the architect in the city’s software program, Accela.

Whether the developers and architects are more transparent going forward remains to be seen. The city will determine whether this latest application is complete by July 7.

Editor’s Note: The story was updated to clarify that The Mission LLC’s first writ of mandate was never served to the city and to correct the spelling of the architect Bildsten.