Our police station is a busy place. Currently, it takes four separate buildings to house operations. Today’s facilities have not been earthquake retrofitted (as required by California’s Essential Services Buildings Seismic Safety Act of 1986) and the infrastructure in the main police building is antiquated. There are insufficient bathrooms for the 26 female officers, cramped interview rooms that are too close to witness areas, and storage constraints that result in a waste of significant time merely getting to equipment.
Santa Barbara Police strive to be a mix of highly skilled officers and effective community partners to help us maintain safe neighborhoods and beach-town charm. In 2017, with the passage of Measure C, Santa Barbarans chose to create a new police station to address the current inadequacies and to support both the special equipment necessities and everyday patrol needs.
The first step in the process was site selection. Key considerations include size, parking, zoning, access to high call areas, conflicts inherent to each site, and the costs associated if the site is not already owned by the City. The colored map below shows the concentration of calls in a particular area, downtown having the majority of the calls. Additionally, the chart below is a snapshot comparison of the sites studied.
SANTA BARBARA POLICE STATION MAIN CALL AREAS
Site Needs: 72K Square Feet, 252 Secure Parking Spaces
Sears (Vacant) La Cumbre Mall |
Earl Warren |
Louise Lowry |
Existing |
Cota St |
|
Size & Lot Shape |
flexible |
flexible |
fits |
too small |
fits |
Parking |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
Zoning |
commercial |
recreation |
parks & recreation |
office restricted |
manufact./commercial |
Height Limits |
60′ (community benefit) |
60′ (community benefit) |
60′ |
45′ |
60′ (community benefit) |
Access |
La Cumbre & Calle Real |
Las Positas & Calle Real |
Victoria, Chapala, De La Vina, Anapamu |
Figueroa & Anapamu |
Santa Barbara & Cota |
High Call Area |
no |
no |
yes |
yes |
yes |
Court Proximity |
drive only |
drive only |
walkable |
walkable |
walkable |
Conflicts ($$ = added costs) |
non-City-owned, $$, active fault zone, owner interested in rental housing |
non-City-owned, $$, annexation required, freeway congestion & zoning change |
lawn bowling, teen center, 2 historic/merit structures, public vote to change use |
hazardous materials clean-up, relocation requires 2nd police station, $$ |
Farmers’ Market, commuter parking |
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORTS
PRESENTATIONS
Planning Commission Presentation, Courtesy Update, (Nov. 8, 2018)
2018 Public Meeting Schedule / Horario de Reuniones Publicas 2018
MEETING MATERIALS
EVALUATIONS OF POTENTIAL SITES
Facility Space Needs Assessment Validation Narrative (Cearnal Collective LLC, 2018
Needs Assessment Study, Final Report (Leach Mounce Architects, 2012)
Building Assessment Study (Paul Poirier & Associates, 2010)
Seismic Retrofit Study (Coffman Engineers, 2010)