The shortage of housing on the South Coast has the city of Santa Barbara considering policy changes that would allow developers to build housing on top of commercial buildings throughout the city.
The Santa Barbara City Council is set to vote on the Adaptive Use Ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting. With retail struggling, Santa Barbara officials are looking to make it less expensive and quicker for developers to get approval if they build housing on top of retail and office spaces.
Currently, converting nonresidential space into housing requires zoning modifications because the buildings often cannot accommodate the open yard, parking or setbacks that are required for residential development…