How blessed our family was when Jeff became a member of the Hillside House family in the late 1940’s. Jeff started when Hillside was on Ontare road. Our mother, Allaseba Gorham, served on the board when “Pop” Cooprider was developing Hillside House on Veronica Springs Road in the 1950’s. It is so exciting to see the future plans for Hillside House to become a more integrated community. Jeff still loves Hillside House—his home for over 60 years!

David W. Gorham (Jeff’s Brother)
Oklahoma City, OK.

	LATEST NEWS :  At our most recent Board of Directors meeting on May 27, Lisa Plowman from Peikert Group Architects walked the Board members through a timeline for the remaining steps in the Community Plan. Currently, Rincon Engineering is conducting an Environmental Impact Review of the project.  This Review will be limited to the topic of the impact on traffic which the development of our land will entail, as other aspects have already been addressed.  This Environmental Impact Review is expected to take until the end of November, 2010 after which there will be a five-week long Public Review Period. Rincon Engineering will then finalize the EIR. It is projected that this final product will be available in mid-March, 2111. Public hearings on our Community Plan should occur around May of next year, and then the Santa Barbara Planning Commission will make its decision about the project.  If the Campus Plan is approved, it will take about a year to complete the architectural drawings.  Construction could then commence late in 2012 or early 2013. While the completion of our plan to develop our land and secure the future of Hillside House residents for the next several decades is now in sight, it should be remembered that that each of the previous stages of the Community Plan has included unforeseen delays.  Still, we are optimistic that this timeline is realistic, and we look forward to keeping visitors to our website up-to-date on our progress. Please feel free to contact us with any questions about our Community Plan. pflynt@hillsidehousesb.org

Download our latest flyer about the Community Plan.

VIEW THE LATEST LANDSCAPE RENDERING OF the Plan.

City of Santa Barbara Project Description:

The proposed project consists of annexing an approximate 24 acre project site to the City of Santa Barbara, the removal of all existing structures on the site, except the structure known as Harmony House, and the phased development of 120 residential units in 33 buildings. With the conversion of Harmony House to a triplex, there would be a total of 121 residential units.  The buildings would be two to three stories tall and include single and two car garages. Two non-residential buildings are included: a three-car garage and a 6,700 square foot administration and services building for Hillside House clients.  The proposed residential units include 70 market-rate condominiums, 12 very-low-income rental units (Hillside House units), 11 inclusionary ownership units and 28 low-income rental units.  Hillside House would continue to operate the intermediate care assisted living in the 12 units.  The project includes restoration of the portion of Arroyo Burro Creek within the boundaries of the project site, located along the south-west property line. A total of 222 covered and uncovered parking spaces would be provided on site.

Two conservation easements are proposed on the project site, which would be recorded as part of the final tract map. The first conservation easement would encompass the entire segment of Arroyo Burro Creek located within the project site boundaries and include an area of approximately 100 feet on either side of the creek for its entire length on the site. The second conservation easement would encompass the hillside on the north-east side of the site.

The project would include a 36-foot-wide public road that would be located along the south-western side of the lot. On the project site, near the intersection of the proposed public road and Veronica Springs Road, would be a turnout for a Metropolitan Transit District bus stop. Offsite, a 20-foot-wide emergency access road would be improved within the City 60-foot-wide public right-of-way easement, which crosses four privately owned parcels.  It would serve as a pedestrian and bike path through to Palermo Road.

Purpose of the Community Plan

Hillside House has provided a home for people with developmental disabilities since 1939. Our residents have lived in the same institution since 1955 and it has served them well all these years. Within the last several years Hillside House has been faced with critical issues—a facility that has begun to show signs of age and a funding short-fall. After much consideration, the Hillside House Board of Directors determined that the creation of a Community Plan for the property was the best solution to these issues.

Update Facilities

The current Hillside House facility is woefully outdated. In 2007, all of the major systems in the building including heating, air conditioning, water, electricity, security and communications-failed, some more than once, costing Hillside House nearly $100,000 in unplanned expenses. The current building would need substantial repairs and upgrades to meet codes. Additionally, our residents live in an institutional setting, separated in some ways from the community. New State mandates are requiring organizations like Hillside House to completely revise their housing models. The new laws seek to house people with disabilities in homes that are integrated into neighborhoods. State funding depends on this shift in living accommodations. People with disabilities sense of well-being and overall health have been shown to improve when living in an integrated community.

The Community Plan will create contemporary common facilities for residents and housing in a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood, which will bring the developmentally disabled together with others from the Santa Barbara community, thereby replicating the true diversity of Santa Barbara. And it will protect the land surrounding Hillside House, making the beauty of this land available to the broader neighborhood.

Long Term Funding Source

Beginning in 2002, Hillside House began to experience severe budget shortfalls. Public funding has been falling further behind the cost of care each year. And, this funding only provides for the fundamental needs of our residents. In order to continue to provide persons with disabilities the excellent care and quality of life for which we are known. Hillside House has to raise at least 15% of additional income each year. Finding a means of securing this income has become a major priority if Hillside House is to continue to provide a home to the 59 residents who depend on it.

The Community Plan will ensure that Hillside House can continue to serve the needs of the developmentally disabled in perpetuity by creating both an endowment fund through the sale of the market rate homes on our land and a reliable income stream through rental units.

Community Plan

Re-design

As a longtime resident in the Las Positas Valley, we share the concerns of our neighbors about how this area develops. We’ve worked diligently to design a project that both achieves our goals and is appropriate for the site and neighborhood. We remain committed to working with the community and neighborhood as we go through the planning process.

We’ve heard from neighbors, state and county organizations, relatives of our residents, and others in the community, and we listened. We have addressed concerns and come up with a revised plan designed to be a real asset to the neighborhood and a benefit to everyone.  Since our last public outreach effort in fall of 2004 much has happened with the Hillside House Community Plan. As you might remember, the project team had a series of meetings with the Planning Commission and neighborhood to review project concepts. The original project included 178 units spread across the site. Based on comments received during this initial outreach effort, the project was revised by:

• Reducing the total units to 121
• Further clustering the units to protect views
• Eliminating the third story elements on most structures
• Reducing the overall size of the structures
• Increasing the creek setback and open space
• Eliminating any commercial uses

Sensitive Site Planning

We studied the site very carefully as we conceptualized the community plan. We wanted to make sure that the plan was sensitive to the neighborhood and the on-site resources. A comparison of the development potential (under City zoning) and the proposal for the 23-acre site reflects, we think, that sensitivity.

	Community Planning Development Potential 121 units in 32 buildings 130 units (pre-zoning density bonus) 4.6 units/acre 5 units/acre 2 & 3 story buildings 3 story buildings Covered parking Enclosed parking Non-profit & residential uses Residential use Public Trails Private Trails

Community Benefits

It is important to us at Hillside House that the plan not only meets our objectives, but also includes features that benefit the neighborhood and broader Santa Barbara community. These include the following:

• 17.74 acres in a conservation easement
• Restoration of Arroyo Burro creek
• Preservation of 77% of the site in open space or landscaping
• Dedicated public walking trails along the creek
• Emergency access through the site to allow improved neighborhood fire protection
• No change in existing road pattern
• Rental and homeownership opportunities affordable to local workers, including Hillside House employees (40% of units)
• Local preference for all on-site housing

Planning Concerns and Next Steps…

As the process has unfolded there have been three main concerns expressed: open space preservation and environmental protection; preservation of public views; and traffic and circulation. An update on these issues and a process timeline are provided below.

Open Space Preservation & Environmental Protection

As noted previously, the community plan calls for the preservation of 77% of the site in open space. In order to ensure these areas remain undeveloped into the future, we have offered to put them into a permanent conservation easement.

In addition, the project team has been working to identify ways in which we can not only preserve, but enhance the on-site natural habitat. Our most recent effort was to engage the services of Swanson Hydrology to prepare a restoration plan for Arroyo Burro creek. The plan is intended to improve the biological function of the creek and reduce the sedimentation entering the creek. The plan involves removal of non-native plants, the benching of vertical barks, and the planting of native vegetation to better secure the creek banks and provide shade for creek habitat.

Public Views

Our site plan has also been designed to respect the public views in the neighborhoods. The majority of the proposed development will be tucked into the level areas at the center of the site and at the base of the existing hillside that abuts the Veronica Springs neighborhood. We are also constructing mostly two story buildings to ensure the size of the structures is consistent with existing development patterns. The site will be planted with abundant landscaping that will preserve the natural feeling of the area. Very little of the development will be visible from the road.

Traffic and Circulation

Any new building project brings with it some increase in traffic. However, the proposed residents of this project will generate considerably less traffic than a standard 121 unit project. The 59 Hillside House residents do not drive, and some of the Hillside House employees will have an opportunity to live and work on-site which would eliminate peak hour trips. In addition, Las Positas serves as a primary Metropolitan Transit District service line making alternative transportation a feasible option for the remaining residents. The Community Plan will result in some increase in traffic along Las Positas, but this is not anticipated to create any significant circulation problems in the neighborhood.

Furthermore, the State of California recently announced that it is relinquishing State Route 225/Las Positas Road to the City of Santa Barbara. The transition to the City will be completed in 2009. Once the city has full jurisdiction, circulation improvements needed to mitigate potential project impacts along the Las Positas Corridor will be easier to accomplish. It should also be noted that the City will begin studying improvements to the Las Positas/U.S. 101 interchange. They are also analyzing interim improvements to intersections with the poorest level of service.

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