Carpinteria panel OKs 72-room hotel

By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The city of Carpinteria has stepped closer to a change in its near future: a brand new 72-room hotel.

This hotel was proposed by applicant Kush Nathu from RAM hotels, based in Amarillo, Texas, and it recently won approval from the Carpinteria Planning Commission after a nearly decade-long effort.

The hotel, which would be on Via Real, would be a modern addition to Carpinteria, with fancy amenities such as a fitness center, business center, breakfast area, meeting room, outdoor pool and outdoor garden patio.

Additionally, 77 parking spaces would be constructed next to the building.

This hotel has been in the works for almost 10 years. There were two conceptual reviews that first took place in 2013 and 2014, then a formal project submission in 2016. The city’s Architectural Review Board gave preliminary approval for the project back in March 2017 if the owners changed some designs. Then, in 2019, the ARB officially agreed to the hotel. Now, more progress has been solidified within the city. Nick Bobhoff, the principal planner of the Community

Please see HOTEL on A4

Santa Barbara City Council to review solid waste franchise

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara City Council today will hold a public hearing regarding a proposed exclusive franchise for citywide solid waste collection and disposal services to MarBorg Industries that will feature a 2025 switch to curbside cart collection.

Staff is asking the council to subsequently adopt an ordinance granting the exclusive franchise to MarBorg.

to the elimination of the Solid Waste UUT charge, which was previously 6%.

By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

When Kelly Brown announced last fall that he intended to close the downtown location of The Natural Cafe, he came up with a unique, nostalgic way to celebrate the restaurant’s three decades of operating on lower State Street.

He told the News-Press he would cut the Santa Barbara eatery’s prices at the end of March, the restaurant’s final week in business, to what they were 30 years ago.

The best laid plans, however, sometimes don’t come to fruition.

Contacted to find out how the last week was going, and whether customers, both old-timers and newcomers, were flocking to The Natural Cafe to take advantage of the lower prices, Mr. Brown texted that it didn’t quite work out the way he envisioned.

“When all the press came out last fall re: closing, most assumed we already had,” he texted the News-Press. “Sales dropped 20% the week after the article and continued down from there.

“We closed quietly on Jan. 1 and have not looked back. So happy to be off State St. My other stores are thriving!”

Mr. Brown told the News-Press last fall that while his complaints about conditions on State Street drew most of the media attention, the bottom line reason he was shutting down the restaurant was that he couldn’t afford to keep it open after the lunch crowd dried up during the pandemic and people began working remotely.

He said the only reason he was able to stay open as long as he had was because he was “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” staying afloat via profits from his restaurants’ other locations on Hitchcock Way in Santa Barbara and in Goleta.

After receiving his text, the News-Press reached out to see if he wanted to publicly reflect back on his fond memories of better days.

He responded with two voicemails that reflected instead on his bitterness at his final months downtown, his continued criticism of conditions on State Street and his disapproval of the way city leaders have dealt, or in his estimation, not dealt with the issues.

“All of the issues downtown.

It’s nothing new,” he said. “It’s all the same stuff. No one is working downtown. The fix was in with the $800,000 they spent on the company they hired to do the study (in conjunction with the State Street Master Plan).”

He conceded that a poll of people downtown showed a lot of people “actually liking what’s going on.” Mr. Brown, however, was undeterred by the survey results.

“It’s a s - - - show,” he said.

“Nothing’s changed. My profitable restaurants were paying for State Street to stay open. Everybody is getting their asses kicked on State Street.

It’s been raining all winter. The parklets are empty.”

He said what’s happening on State Street is “stupid,” and he’s critical of the city’s handling of the downtown area. “They’re just convinced the parklets are the way to go.”

However, a visitor on State Street noted throngs of people walking recently on the promenade after the recent rains, and many others were eating at downtown parklets.

When Mr. Brown told his landlord last fall that he was leaving at the end of March, he went public with his list of complaints: aggressive homeless people who panhandled, used his restrooms to wash up, urinated in his planters and drank and used drugs in public; rats feeding off of dropped food from the outdoor dining parklets; the parklets themselves; and speeding bicyclists who posed constant risks to pedestrians walking the downtown promenade.

City officials reacted by noting they already had a program in place to catch rodents, were working on ways to separate bicyclists and pedestrians, and were providing services to the city’s homeless people on State

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

The city already has negotiated a proposed solid water franchise hauler agreement in preparation for the expiration of its current agreement with MarBorg on June 7.

Staff conducted an online survey of solid waste customers from June to September 2022, “which indicated that a majority of customers are satisfied or very satisfied with MarBorg’s services,” staff said.

Respondents to the survey provided feedback regarding priorities for enhanced service offerings, which were pursued during the negotiation process, in addition to new and enhanced programs and services recommended by staff.

New and enhanced programs and services resulting from negotiations include: enhancements to a variety of neighborhood collection services; compliance with new state legislative mandates; and terms and conditions reflecting current industry standards in a variety of areas.

Negotiated terms include a 15year agreement with the city’s option for a five-year extension; transitioning small residential collection service to a curbside cart collection program; and keeping MarBorg’s base compensation flat in Fiscal Year 2024 and again in 2025, except for a one-time adjustment for change in fuel costs in that year due to substantial market volatility.

“The Franchise Fee paid by MarBorg to the city will also be adjusted to align with best practices around the state and better reflect the impact of the solid waste service on municipal infrastructure,” staff said.

“However, changes to the Franchise Fee will not result in a substantive change on the ratepayer’s overall utility bill due

“It is important to note that although approval of a new agreement with these proposed terms will not result in increased compensation to MarBorg in FY24, the city’s overall solid waste rates are anticipated to increase in the coming year due to changes in the cost of post-collection processing and costs associated with landfill operations, and other activities under the city’s Waste Delivery Agreement with the county.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

Those costs will not be part of the New Agreement with MarBorg, but these costs will be passed through to solid waste customers by way of the solid waste rates.

Beginning in FY 2025, MarBorg will implement the same small residential curbside cart collection program that has already been implemented in all other MarBorg service areas.

Via this program, all small residential customers (comprising one to four residential units) will be expected to roll wheeled solid waste containers (“carts”) to the curb for weekly emptying by MarBorg.

Customers requiring accommodation because of disability or other physical limitation will be provided “onpremises” service at no additional cost, and customers voluntarily opting in to “on-premises” service will pay an additional rate on their utility bills.

Earlier today, the city council’s Finance Committee will be asked to approve a request from Transition House for loan forgiveness on property located at 434 E. Ortega St., which is operating as a family homeless shelter.

Staff is recommending the committee ask the council to adopt an ordinance approving a second amendment to the covenants, conditions and restrictions imposed on Transition House to restart a new 90-year term of use as a homeless families shelter.

The committee also will be asked to recommend the council approve an increase in FY23 expenditures in the Affordable Housing Fund in the amount of $460,000 to cover the loan forgiveness.