The Santa Barbara City Council voted Tuesday to approve a proposed “State Street Master Plan” with some minor changes.
Council member Eric Friedman rejected a point in the plan that would have opened parts of the street to vehicle traffic from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m
“ It just seems odd,” Friedman said. "It's not something that needs to be in a design plan, that's operational.”
In 2020, part of lower State Street was converted to a promenade — accessible only to pedestrians and cyclists — at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, in order to increase space for outdoor dining. Since the closure, the number of collisions and injuries has fallen.
Supervisor Meagan Harmon also rejected the 10 p.m. to 10 a.m compromise between drivers and pedestrians.
“ There's simply just not enough information to make a call about whether those hours should be open to private vehicles, whether those are the right hours,” Harmon said.
The current draft of the proposed plan would redesign the street layout to prioritize pedestrians, create an arts district and build infrastructure for outdoor events.
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said the project was necessary, partly because of the closure of major retailers like Nordstrom and Macy's nearby.
“We lost people working physically downtown,” Sneddon said. “There were people who went to lunch every day, went and got coffee.”
Sneddon said she hoped the State Street refresh will mean more spaces for people to meet and gather in downtown Santa Barbara.
The council voted to approve the plan with the exception of the hourly restrictions on vehicle access.
The city will move forward with installing partitions barring cars at the end of each block, from Haley Street to Victoria street. The partitions, also called bollards, would automatically retract for emergency vehicles.
In the future, the city will have the option to choose if they should retract during certain times of the day for vehicle access, as part of a flexible street design model.
