Supervisors adopt ordinance package to streamline permits and update housing rules, with Montecito modifications

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors adopted on Jan. 27 a multi-part ordinance package intended to streamline permitting procedures and update residential and commercial zoning to implement the county’s housing element.

Planning staff summarized key revisions: allow concurrent processing of variances with associated permits, provide a pathway for appeals directly to the Board of Supervisors in limited circumstances, set substantive conformity allowances with a 10% square-footage change bounded by a minimum (500 sq ft) and maximum (5,000 sq ft), and revise multifamily open-space requirements (increasing required common open space in lower-density zones to 300 sq ft per unit and to 150 sq ft per unit in higher-density zones, with a minimum 50-by-50-foot contiguous common area). The package also reduces maximum allowed residential density in several small commercial zones and establishes minimum commercial depth requirements to keep ground-floor space viable.

Planning commissioners for Montecito and the County Planning Commission differed on several recommendations. The Montecito Planning Commission proposed specific exemptions and changes for its land-use code (including accessory-structure exemptions and director review thresholds); after board discussion the supervisors agreed to carry forward Montecito-specific modifications for that code area while keeping procedural items countywide. The board also approved a small wording change to require commercial frontage on the 'primary' street in neighborhood-commercial zones to avoid forcing commercial uses on every street frontage of through-lots.

Supporters argued the package will reduce time and cost for applicants and help the county implement state housing mandates; critics and civic groups at public comment urged transparency and cautioned that streamlining should not reduce meaningful public participation. The board approved staff recommendations with the described amendments (voice vote recorded 4–0; Supervisor Cap absent). Staff indicated Phase 3 of the streamlining work — more ministerial permits and online on-demand permits for common home- and business-improvement work — will return for briefings this spring with an adoption package expected later in the year.