Back to Downtown Development Activity
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. 330 acres
North: Sola, Olive, and Micheltorena streets
South: Cota Street
East: Milpas and Canon Perdido streets, and the eastern boundary of Santa Barbara Junior High School
West: Santa Barbara Street
Schools, Parks and Places of Interest
Laguna contains Santa Barbara High School, Santa Barbara Junior High School, the National Guard Armory, and Ortega Park.
Neighborhood Profile
Laguna is presently developed as a residential area in its eastern and northern portions with single-family dwellings, duplexes, and higher-density multiple units interspersed throughout the neighborhood. On the west, as it merges into downtown, mixed residential and commercial uses appear.
Because it is within walking distance to both the Central Core and the industrial area, which compose the City's major employment center, Laguna's conversion into duplex and multiple dwellings is appropriate. To enable such development, the General Plan calls for twelve dwelling units to the acre throughout the entire neighborhood. Since such a large amount of the multiple family (R-3) zoned area in the neighborhood is currently being used for single-family houses, the development potential of Laguna is great. As a result, the gradual reuse of the area for apartments is now in progress. A small area above Victoria Street and northeast of Olive Street, where the General Plan calls for duplex development, is zoned R-2.
One of the problems in this area is the C-2 zoning in the southern portion. Although this commercial zoning has been on the land since 1925, very few commercial developments have taken place. The General Plan proposes the development of this area for residential uses. This would be in the best interest of the City as a whole, and also in the best interests of the individual property owners in the area. The present zoning for the area works against the owners' best interests because little demand exists for commercial activities in this location, and there is danger of poor commercial facilities coming onto the land on a lot-by-lot, scattered basis.