To Mayor Rowse and the Santa Barbara City Council:
The issue of development of 505 East Los Olivos Street is clearly setting up as the defining community issue of our time. Will our generation fail the past and future by allowing incompatible development on this site?
A potentially important issue that I have not seen previously raised by the city is that any changes to Mission Historical Park — which extends from the walls in front of 505 East Los Olivos Street and encompasses the pathways on both sides of 505 East Los Olivos Street — could not be implemented without a vote of the people.
The potential use of part of Mission Historical Park for redesigned roadway or redesigned driveway purposes, as well as possible widening of East Los Olivos Street in this area — all of which would appear to be necessary for development at 505 East Los Olivos Street — would require a vote of the people of the City of Santa Barbara.
Section 520 of the Charter of the City of Santa Barbara, “Disposition of Real Property or a Public Utility”, states: “No land acquired by the City for or dedicated to public park or recreation purposes … shall be sold, leased or otherwise transferred, encumbered or disposed of unless authorized by the affirmative votes of at least a majority of the total membership of the City Council and by the affirmative votes of at least a majority of the electors voting on such proposition at a general or special election at which such proposition is submitted.”
Courts have applied a standard of broad construction to this section of the City Charter. In 2008, the Santa Barbara Superior Court ruled that the proposed Veronica Meadows housing development required a city election because access to the project would have crossed a small portion of undeveloped city-owned parkland comprising approximately 400 square feet. At that time, the court specifically ruled that use of the parkland for road purposes was “not compatible with or accessory to the use of the property as a parkland” — a fact pattern almost identical to the proposed housing development at 505 East Los Olivos Street. As with 505 East Los Olivos Street, parkland would have been used for non-park purposes. The developer subsequently withdrew the project.
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue, which I believe should be incorporated in future city discussions.
