Program

The current program for Cottage Health's redevelopment of St. Francis
Medical Center calls for 89-115 units. These would include both 2 and 3-bedroom townhouses and duplexes. A further 2-3 sub-plots would be sold off for single family housing.

The existing underground parking structure would be reused as well as additional surface parking lots and two driveways that would run along large terrace levels on the side of the hill. Curb cuts to the surrounding streets would be limited.

This program could easily be modified to provide a richer human environment that would not displace the current social amenities of senior care, religious life, and public access gardens.

If managed in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner this urban infil could be a showcase for the city proving that increased density could be a neighborhood improvement.

A new plan could include 20-30 studios for seniors and nuns to maintain the retirement housing component. Meanwhile the single detached housing sub-plots are not required to balance the development costs nor is there a lack of such housing in the area. These plots could be eliminated in favor of additional program elements such as retail and civic amenities.

New Program

Housing
30 2-bedroom apartments
50 2-bedroom townhouses
20 3-bedroom duplexes
30 1-bedroom studio/suites

Retail
20 townhouses with retail ready amenities
3 cafes - including a coffee house, a pub, and a restaurant
1 grocery with post and bank amenities
1 "spa" with hair, nail, and skin care
1 anchor tenant (home decor, clothing, etc)

Civic
1 500-seat auditorium
4 30-seat classrooms with combinations
1 public plaza for gatherings such as concerts and public markets

Medical
1 3-doctor clinic with pharmacy

Religious
1 30-seat chapel
1 library with both secular and religious texts
1 30-seat communal space for gatherings

Site Description

The Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart were established in Germany in 1866. Political problems led them to relocated to Illinois in 1883. Today the Sisters run many health care facilities through out the Americas.

Their hospital in Santa Barbara was originally known as Quisisana Sanitarium in 1907. Current buildings date from around the time of the 1925 earthquake (adobe and redbrick), but with major (concrete) additions in the 1950’s.

The site is roughly 7.5 acres, south facing, with a 12% grade. It is approached from State Street roughly 5 blocks on Michael Torena Ave. The SW faces medical offices and appartments while the North and East face smaller Bungalow style single family homes.

Due to its small size the hospital had run a deficit of $12 million from 1999-2003. It also facecd nearly $15 million in sesimic retrofits. In 2003 the old hospital was purchased by Cottage Health Systems for $18 million.

Cottage is interested in demolishing the hospital and building new housing for its own hospital employees on a "subsidized" and limited basis. The exisiting convent is to be closed, but the related senior housing center has received a pledge to either save it or provide similar accomodations in the area.

The Lower Riviera

309 acres
1,100 dwellings per acre

The Lower Riviera includes the hills below Alameda Padre Serra Blvd. between Old Mission and Canon Perdido streets. It is primarily residential, mostly single family, at around 3 units per acre, but with pockets of more intensive duplex and multifamily housing up to 12 units per acre in some places.

The area around Grand Avenue developed as university housing when UCSB occupied a small teaching collage above Alameda Padra Serra (where I attended kindergarten as a private Christian school). In this section single family homes were converted to multiple unit apartments. Due to the narrow streets and limited off-street parking (intended for single families) traffic is now problematic.

The city's current plan for Grand Ave is to leave the housing structured as it is, but to increase inspection to elliminate any off-the-books subdivisions. Additionally the city will encourage more off-street parking facilities such as underground garages for new developments.

The Lower Riviera is served by Roosevelt Elementary, Hillside (Orpet) Park, the County Bowl, and St. Francis Medical Center (closed since 2003).

Political Context

The redevelopment of the St. Francis Medical Center has become a hot-button issue in local Santa Barbara politics. A neighborhood advocacy group sprouted to challenge the current plans and the city has held multiple public hearings and inquiries into the matter. Construction has been delayed for nearly 4 years.

The neighbors' main concerns are the loss of the historic hospital. The site has been in continuous use as a medical facility for more than a century. Many local people have been born and died in this building over the years.

In addition, the site holds a social role as a source of non-corporate care. My own father was treated at the hospital back in the 60's and reports that it was one of the most positive medical experiences of his life. The religious source of the facility may have helped focus treatment on the patients instead of the profits.

However, the small size and personal focus of the hospital may have also contributed to its financial problems. The hospital was unable to secure large government and private health care contracts such as university and county employees. They were also unable to secure many specialists or to attract a large endowment. When the buildings came due for more seismic retrofits in 2000 the nuns began to look for a partner or a buyer and eventually sold the property to the successful and growing chain of Cottage Health Systems.

Accepting that the medical uses will be lost the neighbors still have concerns about the loss of public access to a lush site with great views of the city and the ocean. Neighbors have been allowed to park on the site, walk their dogs, and cut plant clippings. The prospect of the site being developed into private housing is a net loss for the community.

As a last gasp to hold up development the neighbors have settled on the possible historic nature of the buildings and the potential for environmental damage due to demolition and removal of debris. They have challenged both the historic and the environmental impact studies conducted by Cottage Health and the city. The neighbors have even hired outside architects and lawyers to review redevelopment of the old buildings as a potential alternative.

Cottage Health Systems argues that the building has been remodeled so extensively over the years that it does not represent a particularly good example of its period architecture (Hispanic) and in a city filled with Hispanic structures it is not a unique example of its style. They have also noted that the proposed future residents, hospital workers, have already rejected the notion of living in a building that even remotely reminds them work.

The remaining concerns regarding environmental impact from redevelopment remain an issue. However, any plans for the hospital grounds will require significant work and will have similar impacts to demolition and rebuilding. A successful alternative would need to address both the environmental and social concerns for the larger Riviera community.

Local Planning

Starting around 1975 residents of Santa Barbara planned to contain and limit growth. A stable population of 85,000 was set as the goal and residential properties were then "down-zoned" decrease density.

In 1989 the city re-examined its planning goals. Commercial development, which had not been "down-zoned", had outstripped residential growth. Local defense industries and medical services were strong draws to Southern Californians. Thus the city was pulled into the development orbit of the Los Angeles area in spite of its resistance.

Real estate prices forced lower income and younger age groups out of the city while existing residents retired out of the workforce. Many current workers now live outside the city (in areas such as Santa Rosa and Ventura) and commute in. This causes periodic transportation problems and threatens future productivity and competitiveness of the city.

Today the city recognizes that its economic and cultural health rely on increased affordable housing. With the natural geographic limitations of the hills and the ocean this increase in housing will require an increase in housing density and new types of living arraignments.

Significant infill has already pushed multiple homes into existing single family lots surrounding downtown. The house my family lived in on West Islay Street was a duplex when we lived there in the 70's. Today three additional units have been built into a new building in what was once our backyard.

The redevelopment of St. Francis Medical Center into housing is an opportunity to showcase a possible model for future infill and redevelopment for the city. An environmentally and socially sustainable project could reset local attitudes towards the kind of increased density and mixed-use development that will be required to manage the growth that Santa Barbara now realizes is inevitable and even desirable for long term civic health.

Demographics

The city's population has hovered around 100,000 people over the last decade. There are nearly 400,000 in the county. With a density of 142 people per square mile.

City ethnicity is primarily European (60%), African (30%) and Asian (2%). The most common ethnic heritage is German, followed by English and Irish (roughly 10% each).

Over 40% have a college degree and 15% have post graduate education.

About 50% of residents are married, 11% have been divorced, and 5% are widowed.

More than 30% have children under the age of 18 living at home.

In the city 14% of residents are over 65 and 20% more are between 45 and 65 years old.

Major industries in the area have been defense related (declining) or health care related (increasing).

Roughly 5% of males and 15% of females work in health care.

Median family income in Santa Barbara is around $45,000.

Average 3-bedroom homes cost more than $1,000,000. And rent for a 2-bedroom 2-bath apartment is roughly $2100 a month.

In 1996 it cost $160,000 to build an average sized single family home in the area, in 2005 it cost nearly $300,000. However, most homes cost between $300k and $750k.

In the last few years the city has been losing population to its northern neighbor Santa Maria where housing costs are roughly half.

The common stereotype about Santa Barbara is a local motto that the city is filled with "the newly wed and the nearly dead".

Geography

Santa Barbara sits in a dish of hills facing the ocean to the south.

The city center follows State Street from Stearns Wharf, accross Hwy 101, up to the Mission at the base of the Riviera hills.

The Riviera occupies the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains which run from the SE to the NW from Los Angeles to Monterey.

The coastline here (uniquely) faces south and is sheltered by the Channel Islands a few miles out to sea and the mountains and hills behind.

The region recieves over 300 days of sunshine a year, between 10-15 inches of rain (higher during El Nino), and the average temperature is 70 degrees.

The climate is considered by gardners to be "Mediterranean" with mild seasons, good soil, and plenty of sunshine. More varieties of trees can grow here than anywhere else in the US.

City History

Santa Barbara Channel was named the by the Spanish explorer Sebastian Viscaino on Dec 4th (St. Barbara’s Feast Day) in 1602.

The coastline was inhabitted by branches of the Chumash tribes who fished and ranched in loose bands from what is now San Luis Obispo to Ventura.

In the 18th century the Spanish settled a serries of settlements, El Camino Real or "the Royal Road", that stretched from San Diego to San Francisco.

The Presidio and the Mission at Santa Barbara were founded by the Franciscan Padre Junipero Serra in 1782 and 1786.

The City of Santa Barbara was established in 1797 with land grants to retired soldiers from the Presidio.

In 1822 the area changed from Spanish to Mexican control, and in 1848 the area was ceded to the United States.

When the train line opened to San Francisco in 1901 the city population doubled to nearly 6,000… today it is around 100,000.

After the 1925 earthquake destroyed much of downtown, the area’s historic architecture was given greater attention and future designs have been encouraged, or required, to fit into several local styles including the Hispanic State Street (El Pueblo Viejo), Bungalow Haven, the Lower Riviera, and the Victorian Landmark District.