Santa Barbara board grants project design approval for Mountain Avenue house amid neighbor privacy and tree‑removal concerns

The Single‑Family Design Board on Oct. 6 granted project design approval for a proposed two‑story, 1,897‑square‑foot home behind 1911 Mountain Avenue, after hearing public objections about privacy, driveway placement and removal of mature trees.

Staff read the project description into the record: the proposal includes a 1,897‑square‑foot two‑story house with an attached 538‑square‑foot garage on a 7,638‑square‑foot vacant parcel; a future accessory dwelling unit (731 sq. ft.) and associated garage (249 sq. ft.) were provided as a reference plan set but are not under the board’s review. Staff said the main house equates to roughly 83 percent of the maximum required floor‑area ratio for the lot, and that the full combined FAR, including the ADU, exceeds 100 percent but that the ADU cannot trigger additional land‑use approvals because state law allows one ADU per single‑family parcel.

Staff also said the project qualifies for an exemption from further CEQA review under CEQA Guidelines §15303 (new construction) and advised the board that two native trees — a coastal live oak and a black walnut — are proposed for removal along with other mature nonnative trees; the single‑family…