Water Commission recommends private submetering for eligible adaptive reuse projects

The Santa Barbara City Water Commission on April 17 voted to recommend allowing private submetering for eligible adaptive reuse projects as proposed in Community Development's draft adaptive reuse ordinance.

City staff presented three options for metering adaptive reuse projects and recommended aligning water policy with Community Development's eligibility criteria. Staff described adaptive reuse as retrofitting and repurposing an existing building to create new residential units where commercial use changes to residential within the existing building shell. The draft ordinance's incentives apply when a project meets one of four criteria: converting a hotel, converting a historic resource, creating at least 50% affordable units, or locating within the priority housing overlay.

Katie Munster, a water resources specialist, told the commission staff had researched other jurisdictions and reached out to developers, property managers and tenants. She said the City of Los Angeles and the City of San Luis Obispo allow private submetering for certain multifamily or adaptive reuse conversions, and that state law governs installation, maintenance, reading and billing of submeters.

Munster summarized outreach findings: property managers reported generally positive experiences with different submeter vendors but noted operational issues (for example, dead batteries and slow vendor responses). Tenants said bills were deliverable via paper or online portals; one tenant reported an initial confusion when a bill arrived from a third-party vendor. Staff noted the County of Santa Barbara Weights and Measures Division inspects submeters when installed, every 10 years, and when there are complaints.

Staff presented three options: (1) allow private submetering for adaptive reuse projects that meet Community Development's four eligibility criteria (aligns with Planning Commission's draft); (2) allow private submetering for the three conversion-based criteria but limit geography to the Central Business District rather than the broader priority housing overlay; or (3) make no change and continue to authorize private submetering only where right-of-way constraints make city meters infeasible. Staff emphasized other water-efficiency requirements would remain in place regardless of the option chosen.

Commission discussion focused on the trade-offs between developer certainty and ensuring long-term tenant protections and information flow. Munster said the chief cost savings for developers often comes from plumbing complexity rather than the meter hardware itself: submetering can allow use of existing internal plumbing rather than running individual service lines from the curb. Commissioners asked about customer notification and whether property owners would be required to pass utility program or rebate information to tenants; staff said that remains under discussion.

Commissioner Cooney moved and a colleague seconded a motion recommending Option 1'the option that aligns with Community Development's eligibility requirements. The motion passed with recorded "yes" votes from Commissioner Cooney, Vice Chair Keller and Chair Snyder; no recorded nays or abstentions were entered on the record. The commission asked staff to forward the commission's feedback to Planning Commission, where Community Development plans to discuss the adaptive reuse ordinance on May 8, with City Council expected to consider the ordinance later in 2025.

There was no public comment on the item.