City Council to consider making State Street Parkway a landmark

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara City Council today will consider a staff recommendation to adopt a resolution designating the State Street Parkway between Mission Street and Constance Avenue as a city landmark.

The council will meet in chambers, 735 Anacapa St., starting at 2 p.m.

“State Street Parkway is worthy of joining the elite list of Landmarks, which are considered the most important resources contributing to the City’s unique historical and architectural repertoire,” staff said in their report. “There is sufficient evidence on record supporting the qualifications for Landmark status and for the adoption of a resolution designating it accordingly.”

Designation as a landmark confers honor and recognition on structures contributing to the city’s unique historical and architectural traditions, staff said.

The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission has the authority and duty to recommend that certain structures, natural features, sites or areas having historical, architectural, archaeological, cultural or aesthetic significance be designated a landmark.

The determining factors of a landmark designation are the importance of the resource to the community, the level of integrity of the resource, and its degree of rarity. Landmarks are often associated with an important architect and person in addition to being an important example of architecture, staff said.

The Upper East Association submitted a nomination for the State Street Parkway to be designated as a Landmark in June 2022. The HLC reviewed the nomination and determined that December that the resource qualifies for two of the five criteria to be a landmark.

“The State Street Parkway has been a cultural landscape for over 100 years, representing an established and familiar visual feature of the

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