The city hopes that permitting larger ADUs and making adaptive reuse easier will help it meet its state-mandated goal of building over 8,000 new housing units by 2031.

Santa Barbara will now allow larger and taller accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential areas, as well as secondary ADUs on the second floor of commercial properties on the city’s popular State Street, reports Joshua Molina for Noozhawk.
“Many of the changes were technical and small in nature, but the more significant revisions include allowing the height of attached ADUs to rise from 18 feet to 25 feet and detached ADUs to increase from 17 feet to 18 feet,” Molina explains.
Santa Barbara officials believe expanding their ADU program will help bring more housing to the city while maintaining its character. According to the city, “Santa Barbara has received 928 applications for accessory dwelling units since 2017. Of those, 416 have been built and another 216 are in the pipeline.”
The new rules are partly a response to California’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which requires municipalities to take actions to boost housing production based on state-assigned targets. Statewide, California cities are tasked with building over 2.5 million housing units by 2031, with Santa Barbara accounting for 8,001 required units.
FULL STORY: Santa Barbara City Council Moves to Allow Larger, Taller Accessory Dwelling Units

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

Starting in 2026, You Can Charge Your EV at Waffle House
The 24-hour chain infamous for brawls and, to a lesser extent, waffles plans to install fast-chargers at many of its locations.

US Senate Reverses California EV Mandate
The state planned to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, a goal some carmakers deemed impossible to meet.

Trump Cuts Decimate Mapping Agency
The National Geodetic Survey maintains and updates critical spatial reference systems used extensively in both the public and private sectors.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions