Plans for revamped transit center move forward

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The Metropolitan Transit District’s current transit center is the most suitable site to erect a new, revamped mixed-use “transit village” that will serve the South County for up to 50 years, according to a report presented to the Santa Barbara City Council last night by the City’s Redevelopment Agency.
“Analysis concludes that the most appropriate location for the MTD transit center is its current location,” an agenda report by prepared by the Redevelopment Agency says. “Comments from the majority of the advisory bodies, decision-makers, and the public support this conclusion.”


The seven member city council and five member MTD Board voted unanimously after hearing the presentation to seek “requests for qualifications” from developers, who they hope will submit their visions of the project in the months to come.
Though the future project is still in the earliest of preliminary stages, Mayor Marty Blum said the unanimous vote goes a long way to show the need and support for such a project.
“It’s amazing that we all agreed this is a good idea,” Blum said. “It’s not easy but we think there’s some good possibilities.”
Blum said the numerous scenarios that were discussed in the feasibility report will bump the number of bays for buses from its current number of five to 18. She said the future center will hopefully have spaces for shared cars and a bike shop.
“We’re looking at all the alternatives to transportation as we become more crowded downtown,” Blum said.
The second big finding in the feasibility report, according to Renee Brooke, a redevelopment specialist for the City’s Redevelopment Agency, is that any future transit center will require public subsidies that range from $18.7 million to $28.4 million.
The agenda report says the element of the project with the most variability is the housing component, which could accommodate nearly 100 units if the building was three stories, with a stepped back fourth story.
Councilman Das Williams said one of the important things he thinks the transit center will provide is workforce housing as well as well as affordable.
However, Blum and Williams said the No. 1 priority right now and into the future is ensuring that an efficient bus system is up and running.
“I absolutely think it’s a must,” Williams said. “We need to have a modern transit center. We have a great transit system right now and we need something that will do a better job by bus riders and need people who are currently driving to use the buses and we don’t have that right now.”
The controversial issue of height, which Blum said downtown area standards say can reach 60-feet, will also be a hot point of discussion. However, Blum said the city is urging developers and architects who will be submitting plans to restrict the height of the transit center to 50-feet.
Another element of the transit center could include a 6,000-squre-foot child care facility, with an accompanying outdoor space of the same size. The agenda report says this element of the plan would require a subsidy of $2.2 million.
But the agenda report also says opinions presented during public meetings were largely negative when it came to providing child care near a transit center and establishments that serve alcohol.
Brooke emphasized the preliminary nature of the project and said a best case scenario for those in favor of the project, would be breaking ground on the center in three to five years.
“The important thing to note is we don’t have a definite project on the table yet to discuss,” Brooke said.
Williams emphasized the need to use redevelopment funds now while they still exist. He said the redevelopment agency exists as a result of portions of property taxes that remain in the city in order fund redevelopment projects.
But the money will start flowing back to the state at the end of the decade, according to Williams, who added that a project of this scale needs to get underway before that occurs.
After proposals are submitted to the city, the agenda report says the city will enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement to develop the site, which is estimated to occur during the spring of 2008.