School District Inches Closer to Absorbing Armory

The mostly vacant 28,000-square-foot National Guard Armory and its nearly five-acre lot are moving closer to becoming part of the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Assemblymember Das Williams’s AB 2247 has reached the full Assembly after passing the Senate by a 79-0 vote. The bill would give the district first dibs on purchasing the property, located at 700 East Canon Perdido, before July 1, 2017, at fair market value. To help pay for it ​— ​estimates call for a $10 million acquisition and another $10 million for renovations ​— ​the district plans to put a bond measure on the November ballot.