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Experts at Santa Barbara symposium urge housing, faster permits and street-level fixes to revive State Street
Summary
Panelists at a Santa Barbara City Council symposium on Jan. 29 urged the council to pair housing near downtown with faster permitting, concierge planning services, safety investments and temporary activations (pop-ups) to revive State Street's retail mix.
Santa Barbara — At a special City Council symposium on Jan. 29, three retail experts told council members and staff that housing, streamlined permitting and targeted street-level investments are the most practical levers to revive downtown retail on State Street.
"Housing, when retailers look to come and invest… it really is housing," said Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of the California Retailers Association, during a morning panel that the city convened as part of its State Street master planning work. Michelin said regulatory complexity and compliance costs at the state and local level were deterring investment and urged local officials to press Sacramento for coordination.
The day’s presentations supplied local context and concrete proposals. Mark Ingalls, asset and general manager for Camino Real Marketplace, said State Street should be treated as a neighborhood and that adding housing above…
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