Council debates transit lane on upper State Street

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

After cropping up during discussions of congestion and building density on upper State Street, the notion of adding lanes dedicated solely to public transportation came up again at the Santa Barbara City Council today, with city leaders split on whether or not to move forward with a comprehensive study of the concept.

Some councilmembers argued for a visionary, forward-looking strategy that included exploring dedicated transit lanes on State Street between Highway 101 and Calle Laureles.
“What we’re talking about here today is looking on down into the future, past the time when any of us sitting up here now will be in these seats,” Councilmember Roger Horton said. “…If we don’t take the time now to look at this, I feel that some time out in the future … people will be looking back at this time and wishing we had taken a look at it.”
Others called the price tag of such a study too hefty for the current economic climate and voted against moving forward with a request for proposals (RFP), a process to identify potential consultants to perform the study.
“To me, any practical implementation of the idea of dedicated transit lanes is going to be astonishingly expensive,” Councilmember Dale Francisco said. “…This would not be the time to be spending upwards of half a million dollars that we don’t have.”
Ultimately, Councilmember Iya Falcone joined Francisco in casting dissenting votes, with the other five leaders giving staff the go-ahead to develop and release an RFP.
Budget concerns seemed the largest issue for Falcone and Francisco, who focused on possible cuts in state funding, shortages in the local bed tax, and uncertainty surrounding Measure D, a sales tax that funds transportation projects and will expire unless renewed by voters in November.
City transportation planner Rob Dayton told the council estimating the cost of a transit lane study is difficult at this point in the process, explaining that such an exploration is not a frequent undertaking by communities similar to Santa Barbara. He did give a broad range of $200,000 to $500,000.
“This is a giant, giant study at a point in time when I can’t support spending that kind of money,” Falcone said. “…Do we need this now, when we aren’t sure what’s going on with our finances, when we have all these potential hits? I don’t think so.”
However, Councilmember Helene Schneider said worrying about spending money at this point is a bit premature.
“We don’t even know if this is feasible, which is the point of today’s scope of work,” she said. “…If it’s not feasible, then we’re done.”
In addition, she said, the city can reduce the breadth of the study later in the RFP process based on budget issues.
“I’m concerned that if we stop now … everything we’ve done up to now will just stop,” Schneider said, referring to a comprehensive plan to develop long-term design and planning guidelines for the upper State Street corridor.
Community development director Paul Casey also confirmed that the city is not required to accept a bid through the RFP process and can therefore decide not to continue with a study later if cost issues prove unfavorable.
As currently drafted, the scope of work on a transit lane study includes evaluating the feasibility of the proposal and potential lane alignments, estimating the cost and effort of construction, and developing a strategy to deal with property and land-use issues.
While staff expects the study to be completed by December, if a bid is approved, Dayton said actually building a dedicated transit lane would likely take several decades.
Most of the councilmembers seemed in agreement that traffic is a major issue along that portion of State Street that will only worsen as populations grow.
“All you have to do is drive up there and you’ll realize it doesn’t work very well,” Councilmember Das Williams said, describing buses constantly weaving in and out of turnouts, stalling entire lanes of traffic.
He said after witnessing recent acrimony over roundabouts and other traffic projects, he wants to find a solution that handles congestion problems without being punitive toward automobile drivers.
“This is exactly that kind of move,” Williams said. “That’s a win-win for everyone if we proceed with a dedicated transit lane on upper State Street without removing a car lane.”
Several community members who weighed in during the public comment period disagreed, urging the council not to go forward with the RFP process.
“I think it’s just a waste of money,” Jim Westby said, arguing that the funds would be better spent on supporting law enforcement and preventing gang violence. “…It shouldn’t go to a transportation study for some in-the-sky place when Rome is burning. It should go to the police department.”
Santa Barbara resident Frank Hotchkiss said he called several businesses on upper State Street who didn’t know anything about the transit lane proposal.
“I think the city has an enormous task before it to get the business owners on its side if it wants this to go forward,” he said.