Developer Files Builder’s Remedy Project in Santa Barbara

Builder’s remedy, the legal tactic to gain approval for developments that has swept California in recent months, has come to Santa Barbara.

The proposal came from Craig Martin Smith, a founder of the L.A.-based firm Industrial Partners Group, and calls for a 30-unit multifamily building in Santa Barbara’s Lower Riviera neighborhood, north of the wealthy city’s downtown pedestrian paseo.

The complex would have six low-income units, in line with a 20 percent requirement to qualify for builder’s remedy, along with underground parking and outdoor deck space, according to a release from Smith, who cited Santa Barbara’s “crisis-level housing needs” and the neighborhood’s restrictive residential zoning.

“Without builder’s remedy, this development would be limited to four units,” he added in the release. “Now we can provide six affordable units along with additional housing for 24 other families.”

The city accepted the project’s preliminary application on Monday, according to Smith.

Under state law, builder’s remedy status locks in place at the time when the preliminary application is filed, although a developer still has six months to file a full project application, which can vary somewhat from the preliminary.

Santa Barbara is eligible for the builder’s remedy — a penalty that allows developers to bypass local zoning — because the city is out of state compliance on its Housing Element, the document that outlines local housing planning.

For Santa Barbara’s current eight-year planning period, Sacramento determined that the city of roughly 90,000 must plan for an additional 8,000 units. The city had a Feb. 15 deadline to achieve a state greenlight on its updated Housing Element, but the state has not yet signed off. Santa Barbara submitted its most recent version to the state last month, and that version is currently under review, according to a government tracker.