City of Santa Barbara - Residents - Community & Neighborhood - Neighborhood Construction Activity

Downtown Neighborhood

Select one of the three buttons above and get up-to-date information on development happening in your neighborhood.

To view a list of building permit (BLD) activity in the neighborhood for the previous six months, click on Recent Building Permit Activity.
To view a list of residential Zoning Information Report (ZIR) applications, click on Recent ZIR Applications.
To view a list of pending and approved projects (MST) in the neighborhood for the previous six months, click on Pending & Approved Projects.

The following information was derived from the original General Plan for the City of Santa Barbara.

Neighborhood Boundary

Area: approx. 169 acres
North: Sola Street
South: Ortega Street
East: Santa Barbara Street
West: De la Vina Street

Schools, Parks and Places of Interest

The Downtown shares with the Laguna neighborhood the site of the old Spanish Presidio. The existing El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park is located in Downtown. The Arlington Theater, Granada Theater, City Hall, Main Library, Courthouse, the Santa Barbara Historical Society Museum, and the Paseo Nuevo Shopping Mall are located Downtown. Parks in the area include Spencer Adams (lawn bowling) and the Cabrillo Recreation Center.

Neighborhood Profile

Since it is the Central Core, the Downtown area is more intensively used than other parts of the City. In addition to its primary function called for in the General Plan as General Commercial and Office Use, the Downtown also houses a small number of City residents. Residences range from cottages and second story apartments to residential hotels and institutions. Plans for redevelopment envision high-density residential development on the periphery of the Downtown district.