Housing Legislation
Watch the May 19th 2021 California Legislative Session Townhall with Santa Barbara City Councilembers and our Legislators Senator Limon and Assemblymember Bennett - click here.
California Senate Leadership is attempting to pass several bills, some of which could help the Montecito community, and some of which can harm it greatly. We have hired our former State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson to navigate us through this process and to the extent we can, get amendments that can protect Montecito. We are participating in Senate and Assembly committee hearings to testify, writing position papers, and joining with other communities as part of United Neighbors, CALE, and CATALYST.
To see how these bills hurt communities, watch this video from United Neighbors.
The Worst Bills: SB9 and 10
Senate Bill 9 allows lot splits, and creating 2 units where 1 single family home stood. Under existing law, you can already add an ADU (and it can be a second floor) and a Junior ADU. This will create 4-6 units per lot on a lot like this:
Senate Bill 10 allows putting up 10 unit apartment buildings on single family residential lots.
Both bills remove CEQA, and override local controls, so that approvals are ministerial only. No hearings, no reviews. There are no protections written into the bills for High Fire and coastal zones.
We welcome your participation in these efforts. Here's how you can help:
1. Join our Montecito Association Legislative Committee team. Email execdirector@montecitoassociation.org.
2. Become a member! It takes a village to preserve and protect our community, and your voice matters. Join here
3. Watch our Townhall with United Neighbors and our former Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson. You can watch here.
4. Contribute to the cause! We can't do it without you, and we very much appreciate your generous support of this important work.
Here are additional articles we've published in the Montecito Journal:
Legislators - Stand With YOUR Community! 3/19/21
Update On Housing Bills - 3/26/2021
Pack 'em and Stack 'em in Montecito? Act Now Before It's Too Late 4/15/2021
Please email us at execdirector@montecitoassociation.org or call (805) 636-0475 for more information.
