Santa Barbara Mortgage Broker and Home Loans

The coastal zone adds a permit, a hearing and an appeal

The City's Local Coastal Program, certified by the California Coastal Commission, governs a strip along the shore, and the City's coastal chapter requires a coastal development permit before any development there. The Coastal Act's definition is broad: demolition, new construction, reconstruction, alteration, a change of use and a condominium conversion all count. Improvements to an existing single-family home, a garage, a pool or a fence included, are exempt, but a new detached ADU is not, and a new house on a vacant lot is excluded from the permit only outside the appealable area and away from a landmark, an archaeological site or sensitive habitat. A permit goes to a noticed public hearing, and the City's handout puts its timeline in months rather than weeks. Between the sea and the first public road, and near a beach, a bluff top, a wetland or a stream, the City's decision can be appealed to the Coastal Commission, which keeps that jurisdiction after certifying a local program. For a new detached ADU, a demolition or a rebuild, and for a construction loan's timeline, that permit is the first date to know.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 28.44, Coastal Overlay ZoneCity of Santa Barbara, Coastal Zone Review supplemental applicationCity of Santa Barbara, Local Coastal ProgramCalifornia Coastal Commission, Local Coastal Programs

Two fire maps, and the City's reaches the coast

Two maps apply. The State Fire Marshal's map of local responsibility areas now carries Moderate, High and Very High zones that the City's own release places in parts of the Mesa and the northern parts of San Roque and La Cumbre, and the City adopted those zones by ordinance. Alongside them the City keeps its own High Fire Hazard Area with four zones, Extreme Foothill, Foothill, Coastal Interior and Coastal, so the local rules reach the coast as well as the hills. Inside the area the Fire Code requires brush clearance at a distance that grows with the zone, clearance along bordering streets and driveways, a landscape plan with fire-resistant plants for new development, a fire protection plan where the code calls for one, and a sprinkler system in any new building. A standard ADU is not allowed on a lot in the Foothill or Extreme Foothill zones. The City's notice says a project in a newly mapped area without an issued building permit by the maps' effective date came under the State and local rules, naming construction, landscaping and ADUs as examples, and the City's MAPS viewer shows a parcel's zone.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara, Ordinance No. 6183, approving updated Fire Hazard Severity Zones as recommended by the State Fire MarshalCity of Santa Barbara, release on the new fire hazard zone mapsCity of Santa Barbara, notice on updated fire hazard maps and project requirementsCity of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 8.04, the California Fire Code as amended by the CityCity of Santa Barbara Fire Department, Community Wildfire Protection PlanCity of Santa Barbara Fire Department, wildland fireState Fire Marshal, fire hazard severity zone map

A new flood map, a permit and an elevation certificate

FEMA's revised Flood Insurance Rate Map for the city is now in effect, after the City's notice that some properties would fall in the Special Flood Hazard Area for the first time and might have to obtain flood insurance. The map's hazard areas follow Mission Creek, Sycamore Creek, Laguna Channel and Arroyo Burro Creek through the city, with coastal high hazard areas along the shore and more along the Airport's creeks. On a home inside one, the federal purchase requirement puts flood insurance into the loan, and on an FHA-insured loan HUD's own rule requires it. The City adopted FEMA's study and every later revision by reference, and inside the mapped areas it requires a flood development permit before construction or development begins. A structure without the elevation certificate or other certification the chapter calls for is presumed in violation until it is supplied, and the chapter carries its own standards for the coastal high hazard areas and the floodways.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 22.24, floodplain managementCity of Santa Barbara, FEMA revised mapping of the Special Flood Hazard AreaCity of Santa Barbara, FEMA to update the Flood Insurance Rate Map for parts of the cityFEMA Flood Map Service Center, Santa BarbaraUnited States Code, title 42, section 4012a, flood insurance purchase requirementHUD regulations, 24 CFR 203.16a, flood insurance on an FHA-insured mortgage

A short-term rental here is a hotel use

The City's planning handout says a rental of thirty days or less, or less than thirty in the coastal zone, meets the City's definition of a hotel. A hotel is not a permitted use in the single-unit residential zones, so a short-term rental there is prohibited, and it is allowed only in the commercial, hotel and multi-unit zones that allow a hotel. Converting a home to one is a change of use from residential to nonresidential, the City does not recognize an occasional short-term rental, and a business tax certificate does not legalize one. A property with an ADU or junior ADU may not rent any of its units for less than thirty-one days. In the coastal zone the picture is different: the Court of Appeal held in Kracke v. City of Santa Barbara that the City's ban there was development under the Coastal Act, so the City may not enforce it until it obtains a coastal permit or an amendment to its Local Coastal Program, and the City says it enforces there only on complaint. The City Council has since adopted two short-term rental ordinances that create a permit path, generally in the areas zoned for hotels, commercial uses and multi-unit housing. When this page was read neither was in force: the City's page says the inland ordinance takes effect in January, and the coastal one only once the California Coastal Commission certifies it. For a rental loan, the rent a lender counts is a tenant's lease rent.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara, short-term rentals informational packetCity of Santa Barbara, short-term rental ordinanceCourt of Appeal of California, Kracke v. City of Santa Barbara

An ADU here is a long-term rental, with a coastal permit near the shore

The City approves an ADU or junior ADU that meets its standards ministerially, with a building permit and no hearing, inside the time State law sets. The unit may be rented only for thirty-one consecutive days or longer, it may not be sold apart from the main home, and only a junior unit requires the owner to live on the lot, in either unit, with a hardship waiver available; the City's guidance adds that no new ADU covenant requires owner occupancy and that an older one can be released on request. A standard ADU is not allowed on a lot in the Foothill or Extreme Foothill High Fire Hazard Area, only the smaller unit built to the State's mandated standards. In the coastal zone every ADU needs a Coastal Development Permit as well as the building permit, and the City's coastal review handout keeps a new detached ADU out of the single-family exemption. The City keeps a list of detached ADU plans it has reviewed in advance; a homeowner who picks one gets a shorter plan check and a reduced plan-check fee, with construction and inspection fees still due and site-specific engineering sometimes needed. The City says it defaults to State law where its chapters conflict with newer State bills, with ordinance updates planned.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, section 30.185.040, accessory dwelling units (inland)City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 28.86, accessory dwelling units (coastal zone)City of Santa Barbara, accessory dwelling unit project guidanceCity of Santa Barbara, Coastal Zone Review supplemental applicationCity of Santa Barbara, program of ADU plans reviewed in advance

Pre-qualification letter in Santa Barbara

When you write an offer in Santa Barbara, the listing agent reads your pre-qualification letter for the program it names and whether it fits the house. The county's line comes first: Santa Barbara County has its own conforming limit, so a price above it means your letter names a jumbo loan rather than a conventional one. A home inside one of FEMA's Special Flood Hazard Areas, along Mission Creek, Sycamore Creek, Laguna Channel or Arroyo Burro, comes under the federal flood insurance purchase requirement, so a flood premium sits in the payment a lender counts. The City requires a flood development permit for new work there. The fire maps change the house more than the letter: in the Foothill or Extreme Foothill zones the Fire Code's clearance rules apply year-round, any new building needs a sprinkler system, and a standard ADU is barred. A coastal-zone address means a Coastal Development Permit, with its months, before a new detached ADU, a demolition or a rebuild, though improvements to the existing house are exempt; a plan to add a unit turns on that timeline. USDA's map marks the city ineligible, so a letter here names no USDA loan. Our letter states the program and the amount your file supports, and says plainly it is not a commitment to lend.

Sources:FHFA conforming loan limits by countyFEMA Flood Map Service Center, Santa BarbaraUnited States Code, title 42, section 4012a, flood insurance purchase requirementHUD regulations, 24 CFR 203.16a, flood insurance on an FHA-insured mortgageCity of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 22.24, floodplain managementCity of Santa Barbara, Ordinance No. 6183, approving updated Fire Hazard Severity Zones as recommended by the State Fire MarshalCity of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 8.04, the California Fire Code as amended by the CityCity of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, section 30.185.040, accessory dwelling units (inland)City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 28.44, Coastal Overlay ZoneUSDA Rural Development, property eligibility map

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Investment property in Santa Barbara

A DSCR loan is qualified on rent, and in Santa Barbara the City's rules decide what rent a lender can count. The City treats a rental of thirty days or less as a hotel use and bars it in the single-unit residential zones and on any property with an ADU or junior ADU. In the coastal zone one needs a Coastal Development Permit. There, after the Court of Appeal's ruling in Kracke, the City enforces only on complaint. The Council's new ordinances were not yet in force when this page was read: the inland one takes effect in January, the coastal one on the Coastal Commission's certification. So the rent that reaches your file is a tenant's lease rent, not a nightly rate. An ADU adds a door, approved ministerially with a building permit, rented for thirty-one consecutive days or longer and never sold apart from the main home. It cannot be a standard unit in the Foothill or Extreme Foothill fire areas, and in the coastal zone it needs a coastal permit too. A junior unit requires the owner to live on the lot, which rules it out for a property you will not occupy. The City's list of detached ADU plans reviewed in advance shortens plan check on a unit built from one of them.

Sources:City of Santa Barbara, short-term rentals informational packetCity of Santa Barbara, short-term rental ordinanceCourt of Appeal of California, Kracke v. City of Santa BarbaraCity of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, section 30.185.040, accessory dwelling units (inland)City of Santa Barbara Municipal Code, chapter 28.86, accessory dwelling units (coastal zone)City of Santa Barbara, program of ADU plans reviewed in advance

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