In an effort to encourage the redevelopment of underused buildings downtown, the Santa Barbara City Council adopted a new policy for adaptive reuse projects, without the usual requirement for inclusionary affordable housing for certain projects in the Central Business District.
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved the ordinance, which allows a pathway for the conversion of commercial and retail buildings into housing. According to the new policy, projects proposed in the downtown area will not be required to include any affordable housing unless they have more than 40 rental units. Projects with 40 or more units would require at least 10 percent of units to be set aside as moderate-income affordable.
Councilmember Mike Jordan said the adaptive reuse ordinance should be viewed not as a housing policy, but as more of an “economic stimulation ordinance,” meant to encourage developers to build housing downtown in buildings that are often underused…