Santa Barbara outlines State Street 'flat and flexible' plan; shuttle pilot shows strong ridership and notable ADA use

Tess Harris, the State Street master planner in the city administrator’s office, told the Access Advisory Committee that staff has shifted consultants and is speeding toward a public draft of the State Street master plan in 2026 focused on a three‑block city‑center between Ortega and Carrillo streets.

Harris said the city hired Stefanos Palozhoides to help advance a design that emphasizes a “flat and flexible” street — removing curbs on those central blocks so the street surface reads from building frontage to building frontage and can be used flexibly for events, circulation and pedestrian space.

The plan also includes a concurrent feasibility analysis of stormwater capture for those blocks because that section currently lacks a storm‑drain system. Harris said staff is studying in‑street stormwater capture and an in‑lieu fund that would allow…