After some back-and-forth on the scope of previous actions taken on rent control measures, the Santa Barbara City Council opted to move forward with a rent control economic analysis.
Staff had suggested up to $200,000 would be needed for the consultant-contracted study, a figure Mayor Randy Rowse called “merely a down payment.”
During its proceedings Tuesday evening, the council also directed staff to submit a proposal regarding the scope of work needed for the study.
Mayor Rowse, along with Councilmembers Mike Jordan and Eric Friedman, voted against the measure.
“What we’re talking about today is whether we want to take the first steps toward determining what is right for us in our community, what’s necessary to stabilize our community here in Santa Barbara with Santa Barbara data and with Santa Barbara numbers,” Councilmember Meagan Harmon said. “If we hope to solve the housing crisis in any meaningful way for today’s residents, we cannot ignore regulatory reform either.”
But others on the council expressed concerns about the state of Santa Barbara’s budget — and if the city could afford this analysis both monetarily or with staff’s time.
“It’s a difficult situation that we’re in as a community. As a city, we also have responsibilities for a lot of other things that we fund as well, and our budget is not in the most healthy terms going forward,” Mr. Friedman said.
Mr. Rowse criticized the reliance on anecdotes rather than data.
“Now, what we do is we’re going to say let’s hire a consultant with money; frankly, we haven’t identified which is merely a downpayment on what the program is going to go forward with,” the mayor said. “We do need to have a sustainable community, but we cannot control everything. The market is a cruel taskmaster, and like water, it will always find its level. The supply and demand is important.”
The rent control kerfuffle follows a December vote by the city council, with then-Mayor Cathy Murillo in office, to create an interim ordinance temporarily restricting rent increases to 2 percent plus the consumer price index — down from California’s mandated 5 percent. The council also approved the creation of a rental registry and the commencement of a long-term economic analysis at that time.
During Tuesday’s agenda meeting, councilmembers were at loggerheads on whether the economic analysis should run concurrently with the interim ordinance. There was also some angst about how much the study would cost, and if funds would be further stripped from other much-needed services, such as libraries or parks.
A previous motion approving the study failed before Councilmember Kristen Sneddon proposed the pared-down version that ultimately passed 4-3.
“I was very comfortable in having this study made,” Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez said. “I can’t vote on something if I don’t have the data, and I’m not going to go off of data from another city because Santa Barbara is not another city.”
“I need to be informed in order to create an ordinance, and I need the public to understand why we’re creating an ordinance, and why it’s looking that way,” she continued.
According to data from 2019 presented to the council Tuesday, Santa Barbara has 22,153 units of occupied rental inventory with a median rent of $1,786. Rental properties have a 1.7% vacancy rate.
The data also showed Santa Barbara has 15,180 homeownership units with a median mortgage of $3,193 and a 0.6 percent vacancy rate.
Before the council vote, multiple members of the public implored the council for help with rent prices, saying Santa Barbara has become almost untenable to live in due to skyrocketing rental costs. Others, however, balked at the consultant fee.
In other business Tuesday, the city council agreed to set a March 1 hearing date to consider a public nuisance declaration regarding the State Street Chick-fil-A’s drive-through, during its agenda meeting. The resolution, agreed to unanimously, established a procedural framework for the hearing as well.
Mr. Rowse stipulated support for the resolution wasn’t necessarily condemnation for Chick-fil-A but rather a “continuation of the conversation.” He restricted public comments to support or oppose the commencement of a hearing — not on the issue of whether the fast-food restaurant is a public nuisance.
Attorneys for Chick-fil-A and the property owners both implored the council to “just push pause,” saying they should have more time to implement traffic control measures — some of which are already in the works, they said — before a hearing is set.
However, members kept the staff-recommended March 1 date for the hearing.
The commission also established an ad hoc committee to consider a conceptual design project of pedestrian and bicycle paths across the historic Mission Canyon Bridge. Last year, the city council rejected a proposed rehabilitation plan for the bridge and directed the Public Works Department to consider pedestrian path options.
For now, the committee includes two council members, Mr. Friedman and Ms. Sneddon, with the option to add to its makeup later this year. The bridge is located in Ms. Sneddon’s district.
“I think there is some room up there for improvements while maintaining the historic character of the bridge in that area,” Mr. Friedman said. “But there are definitely improvements that can be made for mobility for pedestrians, bicycles, etc.”
“This is the perfect way forward to ensure that what comes out, what results is something everyone can be excited about and proud of, and really it’s an opportunity for us as a city to show what we can do when we come together and put our heads together despite some earlier disagreements,” Ms. Harmon said.
The council’s agenda originally included a measure to authorize the finance director to enact a five-year agreement with OpenGov Inc., totaling more than $647,000, to move the city’s budget to an online format. That measure was tabled.
email: kschallhorn@newspress.com
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Santa Barbara City Council OKs rent control analysis - Santa Barbara News-Press
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