California State Government Code §65300, requires that every city adopt a General Plan, sometimes referred to as a City’s blueprint for growth and development. Santa Barbara’s General Plan originally adopted in 1964 is comprised of nine elements, seven of which are mandated by state law.
“The General Plan outlines a rational order of progress through which Santa Barbara can grow and maintain its economical and environmental integrity. It suggests opportunities for growth and change which will enhance the natural beauty of our setting. Changes in our economy and technology will exert pressures and the Plan will take advantage of them, maturing and growing with the years. But the very foundation underlying the Plan, the principles responsible for its creation, must never change. For all foreseeable time, those principles will be as valid as they are today, and should be the bases for judgment of all efforts to reshape and alter the Plan.”
Source: Section III - The General Plan
City of Santa Barbara General Plan Elements:
Volume 1. Land Use*
Parks & Recreation, Open Space & Scenic Highways Elements
Volume 2. Housing Element *
Volume 3. Circulation Element *
Volume 4. Conservation Element
Volume 5. Noise Element *
Volume 6. Seismic Safety Element *
* mandated by State Law
Local Coastal Plan
Coastal Plan: Airport and Goleta Slough
Land Use Element
The Land Use Element designates the type, intensity, and general distribution of different land uses such as housing, commercial, industrial, open space, education, public buildings, public distribution facilities, and other categories of public and private uses. It also identifies goals and implementation strategies for future development with the ultimate goal of “living within our resources”.
“The Land Use Element examines various influential facets of the community – its history, culture, economy, population, and basic physical background. All of these have interacted through the years, and at any point in time these have influenced our activities.”
“We build structures on it for our practical or aesthetic use. We modify it, we cultivate it, we create it from the sea, despoil it, beautify it, or abandon the use of it as our needs dictate. We have seen how architectural control imposed on the construction of buildings is a manifestation of our history and culture, and how this type of architecture is derived from a period of our history wherein climate and the building materials provided by the land were of primary influence. The intensity and location of commercial and industrial development and use of land is mostly controlled by economic factors, modified to varying degrees by history, culture, attitudes, and topographical features. In a similar manner, all land use is the result of a balance of these factors, a complex physical record combining expressions of all the community is or has been.”
Source: Land Use Element
Adopted July 1964
Last Amended February 1995
Parks and Recreation Element
“The City of Santa Barbara, being primarily a residential community and a center of tourist activity, must consider Parks and Recreation as one of the most important elements of the General Plan. Some of the General Plan proposals relative to parks and recreation facilities are far-fetched ones which involve, in some cases, the acquisition of land that is now developed for private use. The General Plan makes such recommendations because of the prime importance of the element in the environment. At one time, in the nineteenth Century, the City of Santa Barbara owned virtually all of the land in the basin. As time passed the land was gradually sold and otherwise disposed of to the extent that the City now retains much less is needed for orderly growth. The time to revise the process is now as public officials and citizens recognize the ultimate need for additional lands to devote to the public use and welfare. Steps must be taken to regain some of this precious and irreplaceable asset.”
Source: Parks and Recreation Element
Adopted July 1964
Last Amended February 1995
Open Space Element
“The purpose of the Open Space Element and the goal it seeks to attain is elemental. It is to protect the character of Santa Barbara, as defined in the section of this report on principles and goals, by conserving and providing significant open and natural landforms through and around the community.”
“There are many overlaps between open space and other community features which share the goal of conserving the Santa Barbara character. The protection of mature trees on private property, the landscaping of major developments, the policies on architectural and sign control, and many other subjects in the General Plan serve a function parallel wit that of the Open Space. Only those segments of open space meeting the criteria of citywide significance as discussed here.”
Source: Open Space Element
Adopted July 1964
Last Amended February 1995
Scenic Highways Element
The Scenic Highways Element of the General Plan is concerned with the development and protection of scenic highways. The Element describes state highways, scenic highways, and local highways of scenic significance.
Adopted July 1964
Last Amended February 1995
V2. Housing Element
The Housing Element is a comprehensive assessment of current and projected housing needs for all segments of the community. This is the only element required to be updated every five-years and certified by the State. The City's Housing Element has been recently updated to comply with State Law and to address local and regional housing.
“The 2003 Housing Element has been prepared to comply with State law and to address both Santa Barbara and regional South Coast housing and community planning issues. The Housing Element is comprised of seven detailed chapters that comprehensively review and evaluate community housing issues. While the public discussion leading up to the 2003 Housing Element began in earnest in 2001 preparation and review of the draft chapters began in 2003.”
Source: Housing Element
Adopted February 2004
State Certified August 10, 2004
V3. Circulation Element
The Circulation Element addresses the transportation needs of the community and presents a comprehensive plan to meet those needs. It also contains goals and policies for transportation systems, availability of transit, bicycling, walking and other paths of travel.
“While sustaining or increasing economic vitality and quality of life, Santa Barbara should be a city in which alternative forms of transportation and mobility are so available and so attractive that use of an automobile is a choice, not a necessity. To meet this challenge, the City is rethinking its transportation goals and land use policies, and focusing its resources on developing balanced mobility solutions. The language presented here, when taken together, will move the City in the direction of achieving the Vision”.
Source: Circulation Element
Adopted November 1997
V4. Conservation Element
“As a mandated part of the General Plan, the Conservation Element is intended to serve as the City’s official policy guide in public and private development matters related to the preservation and enhancement of natural resources. The basic goal of this element is to outline a comprehensive program to achieve and maintain a healthful natural environment which reflects a balance between human activities and natural processes. The intent of this Conservation Element is to identify, evaluate, and analyze the natural and cultural resources present in the City and establish which are responsive to the need to preserve the City’s resources for future generations. This Element has been prepared in a manner which reflects the relationship between Conservation and the Land Use, Open Space, Safety, and Circulation Elements of the General Plan.”
Source: Conservation Element
Adopted August 1979
Last Amended July 1994
V5. Noise Element
“As a mandated part of the General Plan, the Noise Element is intended to serve as the local government’s guide to public and private development matters related to outdoor noise. The basic goal of the Element is to outline a comprehensive plan to achieve and maintain a noise environment that is compatible with a variety of human activities in different land uses. To achieve this goal, the Element provides a quantitative estimate of noise exposures, land use noise standards, and policies and implementation measures for controlling noise. This information is intended for use in conjunction with other adopted policies of the General Plan, particularly those of the Circulation, Land Use, and Housing Elements.”
Source: Noise Element
Adopted August 1979
Last Amended November 1983
V6. Seismic Safety-Safety Element
The Seismic Safety-Safety Element is concerned with public safety related hazards such as fire, flood, earthquake, seacliff retreat, and dam safety and establishes the policies and programs to protect the community from risks.
“The goal of the Seismic Safety and Safety Element provide a link between the identified problems and issues and implementation measures which follow. They provide basic guidelines for City decisions related to natural hazards and assets as they affect land use planning and development standards. The following are recommended major goals for adoption: To protect life, property and public well-being from seismic and other geologic hazards. To reduce or avoid adverse economic, social, and environmental impacts caused by geologic conditions.”
Source: Seismic and Safety Element
Adopted August 1979
Current General Plan Projects
The City of Santa Barbara Adopted General Plan is currently undergoing review see Santa Barbara 2030 (formerly General Plan Update). For more information on General Plan Elements or the SB2030 effort contact John Ledbetter in the City Planning Division by email (JLedbetter@SantaBarbaraCA.gov) or telephone (805) 564-5470.