Chamber News

The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce will host the State of the City from Goleta to Carpinteria on April 20, from 11 AM to 1:30 PM at Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, Ballroom. This event is a one-of-a-kind luncheon featuring presentations from leaders of the three cities – Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Carpinteria.…

The 2023 Employment Posters are now available for purchase and pick up at the State Street Visitor Center when they arrive. Ensure your business complies by posting this mandatory publication. This document must be posted even if you have only one employee. The poster includes all notices. Labor law posters are $30 non-laminated, English and…

The results are in! On Tuesday, January 24 the Santa Barbara City Council received an update on the progress of the State Street Master Plan’s first phase, focused on visioning. City staff and consultant, MIG, shared the result of their visioning outreach, which included a community survey, design workshops, interactive on-street outreach experiences, and more.…

On Thursday January 12 the Santa Barbara City Council voted on a new fee structure for outdoor business facilities on State Street. Council chose to go with the Variable Fees Based on Facility Design model, which will charge businesses anywhere from $3.00/sq. ft. to $5.00/sq. ft. for their outdoor business facilities, based on the design…

The Chamber’s Public Policy Committee ended 2022 by setting high-level topics of focus for the Chamber going into 2023. The top 3 issues were housing, childcare, and energy. The committee began 2023 with several discussions related to the top issue, housing. On February 22 the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission will hold a hearing regarding…

The City of Goleta and consultant Coraggio moved into the next phase of the Economic Development Strategic Planning. On December 20 the Situation Assessment, based on community feedback, was presented to Council. The assessment, made up of 10 themes compiled by Coraggio, highlighted what residents and economic development stakeholders wanted to see reflected in the…

On February 6 the Chamber completed Round 2 of a series of virtually hosted industry specific roundtables. The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber has partnered with the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce to gather industry specific feedback from businesses across the county, regarding business recovery related to COVID-19, the workforce shortage, and any other…

The Chamber hosted the 2022 State of the County in Santa Barbara on November 30, featuring presentations from Third District County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, Santa Barbara County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato, and UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project Director Peter Rupert.  Supervisor Hartmann gave an overview of the county’s priority items and actions related to…

On January 17 the Goleta City Council adopted the revised 2023-2031 Housing Element, after the CA Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) sent the initial version back with comments that the document needed to reflect more significant administrative efforts by the City to encourage and facilitate housing development. The City’s quick turnaround to produce…

On December 1, the first meeting of the Santa Barbara Harbor Commission’s subcommittee on cruise ships was held. The Cruise Ship Subcommittee received a presentation from Waterfront staff outlining the economics of the cruise ship program, community concerns, regulatory framework regarding cruise ships, and existing mitigation practices. The Subcommittee also received a presentation from the…