Whole Foods survives first review

The motto of Whole Foods Market, “whole foods, whole people, whole planet,” will certainly be put to the test in Santa Barbara, as the company saw at its first concept review meeting with Planning Commission last week. There’s a whole lot of community input in its future if the organic food retail giant wants to successfully navigate the city of Santa Barbara’s planning process.

The proposal, outlined primarily by architect Brian Cearnal, includes the demolition of all existing structures in that center, as well as the adjacent Taco Bell, which Cearnal designed.

“I kind of like this little Taco Bell,” he said, feigning horror at the prospect of its demolition.

Prompted in part by comments from the League of Women Voters, the Citizens Planning Association, the Allied Neighborhood Association, the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation, and individuals, planning commissioners expressed concerns about the traffic estimates provided by the city.

Senior transportation planner Rob Dayton explained that they used a formula for trip generation indexes based on square footage and type of use, rather than actual traffic counts, as is common practice in California.

For example, the average daily number of trips estimated for Circuit City right now is 635, but the new Circuit City, which will be approximately 3,000-square-feet smaller but contain the same inventory, has an estimate of 556 trips, even though it will be located in a brand new, presumably more vibrant shopping center. According to the traffic estimate provided, the proposed new project will result in 393 fewer average daily trips to the center.

“I intuitively have a problem with those results,” said commissioner George Myers.

“We need to have a high confidence level in those numbers,” said commissioner John Jostes, a sentiment echoed by the majority of the group.

The commission had very positive things to say about the addition of a Whole Foods Market to the community, particularly in light of Whole Foods regional president Michael Besancon’s statement that the company’s policy is to donate at least five percent of its profits to local and regional charities.

However, the commission asked staff to take a closer look at the traffic estimates and directed the applicant to take a look at adding some housing to the project, as well as modifying the proposed parking scheme to make the development more in keeping with their vision for an urban streetscape, including taking a look at developing more pedestrian walkways and possibly a small park.

The July 14 review of Whole Foods came on the heels of a July 7 overview of multiple projects planned for the outer State Street area — including that project; a three-story mix of commercial office space and condos, for 3885 to 3887 State St.; a renovated Sandman Inn, which includes a three-story 113-room hotel and 64 condos; and a mix of commercial office space and 16 condos, at 15 S. Hope Ave. At the earlier meeting, the public also expressed concern about traffic congestion in the area and the need for comprehensive planning rather than piecemeal approval of projects as they come in.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on July 21, 2005.

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