Santa Barbara residents move to lower allowable building heights

“smart growth” — Kelowna in 50 years

 

At a time when building height restrictions seem to mean nothing in Kelowna and government bodies such as City Council and the Advisory Planning Commission are only too happy to comply with developers’ requests for taller and taller buildings, there is a movement underway in one North American city to go in the opposite direction and to reduce some already modest building height standards.

 

For decades Santa Barbara, CA (pop. 90,000) has had a 60 foot height restriction in place, but recently, following the construction of numerous buildings in the downtown that have pushed the limits of those heights, residents have decided to take action. A group by the name of Save El Pueblo Viejo, a term for their historic downtown meaning “the old village,” has been organized in an attempt to preserve the heritage of the downtown, its aesthetics, and the small town atmosphere of the city which residents see as being threatened by allowing buildings that are even 60 feet tall. And the group has met with considerable success having gotten 4,000 signatures on a petition to reduce those buildings heights to 40 feet downtown and 45 feet elsewhere and the support of some city councillors.

 

Are Santa Barbara residents a bunch of radicals who are out of touch with modern urban realities? No, they just are just dedicated citizens who appreciate their beautiful city nestled between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean and the Spanish architecture found in their historic downtown, the value of which was being compromised by the large, bulky buildings going up there. What a contrast to Kelowna where money is the only thing that seems to matter and people who care about their city character are said to be obstructing “progress” and are labeled as NIMBYs!

 

I think that Kelowna residents might have something to learn from what is happening in Santa Barbara, hopefully being inspired to renew their appreciation of our own considerable assets in terms of Kelowna’s natural beauty and community character and to take action before what makes our city unique is gone forever.