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T H U R S DAY, D E C E M B E R 9, 2 0 21
City Council advances rent control measures Rent cap, registry to be established in Santa Barbara By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
A Christmas tree and its assorted prizes is among the 25 trees being offered during this Sunday’s drawing at the Carpinteria Lions Club’s Festival of Trees.
Festival of Trees
Nearing midnight Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council voted 4-3 in favor of establishing Mayor Cathy Murillo’s 11th-hour proposal to tighten rent control. The near-split decision directs city staff to create an interim ordinance restricting rent raise above 2% plus the consumer price index, begin a rental registry and launch a study into long-term rent-control ordinances the council could pass in around a year. Mayor Murillo and Mayor Pro Tem Oscar Gutierrez filed the tenant-protection memorandum less than two weeks after the mayor’s loss in the city election. Mr. Gutierrez told the NewsPress that they both have wanted to bring forth a rent cap for years. Statewide, landlords are restricted from raising rent beyond 5% plus inflation, per Assembly Bill 1482. Mayor Murillo, who has one more regular meeting remaining, led the discussion Tuesday with a sense of urgency. Her impatience may come from her mere weeks left in office or conversations with renters and advocacy groups.
“I just feel like it’s so critical right now,” she said. “Renters that I’m talking to, they’re getting increases where they can’t find a place to live.” Council members offered skepticism — not of rent control or the intentions behind it, but the lack of information presented by the duo. Councilmember Mike Jordan said he saw a memorandum that promised information and heard a plea instead of data. The mayor said tenantadvocacy groups sent information, buried in the approximately 1,000 emails they received. Mayor Pro Tem Gutierrez later shared data from the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors website, showing a booming housing market. He argued the landlords’ investments are resilient. Councilmember Eric Friedman, whose family moved to Lompoc in the ’80s for affordability, was worried about losing rental housing stock if landlords sell their properties. This concern was voiced by Santa Barbara Association of Realtors President Brian Johnson in local news articles. Please see RENT CAP on A3
Foothills excluded from Senate Bill 9
Carpinteria Lions Club to announce winners Sunday
Santa Barbara City Council passes ordinances to customize lot-split bill By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
At left, the festival is popular for the trees’ prizes and themes. At right, the Carpinteria High School Class of 1978 is among the organizations that are sponsoring trees.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
If you want to feel the heartbeat of America during Christmas, look no farther than Carpinteria. That’s where the holiday spirit is alive and well with the annual Festival of Trees. This year the Carpinteria Lions Club will host what’s billed as the 10th and final festival, but the event’s chairman is hoping that another festival might become possible. Each year the event’s finale is a raffle of the Christmas trees. And
the winner of each tree receives not only the tree, but all the prizes underneath it. This year’s festival started Nov. 26, and the drawing will take place at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the festival, located in a downtown building at 700 Linden Ave. In the past 11 years, the festival has raised more than $150,000 in total to help the community. This is the first festival of trees since 2019, due to COVID-19, The last event raised more than $38,000. “We hope to surpass our 2019 achievements in terms of
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fundraising,” Festival Chairman Mike Dawson told the NewsPress Wednesday. The money raised from this year’s festival will go toward building the Carpinteria Skate Park. Supporters have been working on this project for 11 years. They now have a building permit in hand, and the project is out for competitive bid. Funds from previous year’s festivals have gone to support local nonprofits such as the Carpinteria High School Culinary Arts Club and the high
school’s FFA club. This year’s festival has 25 trees, which have all been donated by the Big Red Crane Co. Mr. Dawson is not only the festival chairman, but he is the owner of the Big Red Crane Co. He has also donated all the marketing for this year’s festival. Each tree is sponsored by a local group or individual and is fully decorated with lights and ornaments. Each tree has a theme as well. The trees include the man’s dream garage, which features Please see FESTIVAL on A2
Santa Barbara City Council narrowed Senate Bill 9 — which will allow urban lot splits statewide beginning Jan. 1 — to the unique geography and concerns of its city Tuesday. Some have lamented the impending end to single-family zoning, and Santa Barbara traditionalists have wondered if the state’s broad brush might stain the fabric of neighborhoods they cherish. SB 9 doesn’t supersede the Coastal Act, and municipalities can enact ordinances to further restrict the state law. The city did just that while keeping a watchful eye on legality. State law allows cities to restrict SB-9 development in extreme fire hazard zones, unless there are building standards that mitigate the risk of wildfire. Santa Barbara has such a code, so city staff justified the exclusion of the “foothill” and “extreme foothill” areas in the interest for the health and safety
of residents. City staff and the council separated the forest-adjacent high-fire areas from the zones of concern near the coast, citing the treacherous exit routes in the foothills. Councilmember Kristen Sneddon, whose district encompasses the foothill area, read from the Community Wildfire Protection Plan and called on Fire Marshal Ryan DiGuilio to speak about risks. “The elements are there for another fire to occur in our community, so we’re trying to keep especially those extreme and foothill zones as safe as possible for residents,” he said. Community members shared stories about evacuations in the foothill area, riddled with dead-end streets, during public comment. Mayor Pro Tem Oscar Gutierrez paused and braced for pushback: “Is there anything we can do as a governmental body to try to regulate the age of people or the health conditions to try to regulate where they live out of their safety? Is that something Please see SB9 on A3
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 8-3-9-2
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 1-7-40-43-68 Meganumber: 1
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 2-8-14-31-39
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-11-07 Time: 1:49.82
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: N/A Meganumber:N/A
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Wednesday’s DAILY 3: 3-4-6 / Wednesday’s Midday 8-4-5