1609-1615 Grand Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Industrial Partners Group, a Los Angeles investment company founded by Craig Martin Smith and Stephanie Smith, filed an SB 330 preliminary application in May 2023 for a 30-unit apartment building, with six low-income units, on two vacant lots at 1609 and 1615 Grand Avenue on Santa Barbara's Lower Riviera. It was the first builder's remedy filing in the city, made before HCD found Santa Barbara's housing element in substantial compliance on February 13, 2024. A city planner said at the time that the preliminary application had been accepted, not approved. In June 2024 Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said the formal application had been deemed incomplete; the city later said the application (city file PLN2024-00181) was deemed complete before January 1, 2025, which keeps it under the Housing Accountability Act as it stood when the preliminary application was filed. By June 2025 the proposal had grown to 53 units, 11 of them affordable, in a building of up to six stories. The city sent its latest consistency determination on March 27, 2025. On July 31, 2025 it told the applicant, Ben Eilenberg, that the project does not appear to qualify for the new AB 130 CEQA exemption because it is not consistent with the General Plan and zoning, and that it would prepare a focused environmental impact report. Eilenberg answered on August 1 with a Housing Accountability Act notice asserting that the city's course of conduct amounted to disapproval. After receiving nearly 300 public comments, the city issued findings on October 30, 2025 that its conduct was necessary and reasonable, that actions taken to comply with CEQA cannot count as disapproval, and that the project's density of 104 units per acre exceeds the 36 units per acre the city calculates as the maximum under the builder's remedy definition added by AB 1893. It listed 11 technical studies for the environmental review. The Santa Barbara Independent links the Smiths and Eilenberg to The Mission LLC, which is pursuing the builder's remedy project at 505 East Los Olivos Street. As of October 2026 no environmental impact report or hearing on 1609 Grand Avenue has been reported. Noozhawk reported in 2024 that zoning would allow only two units on the site and the developer said four; the city puts the General Plan density at 12 units per acre.
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The Santa Barbara Independent reports that Industrial Partners Group submitted an SB 330 preliminary application the week before for 30 apartments, six of them low-income, on two vacant Grand Avenue lots.
Santa Barbara IndependentHCD tells the city its 2023-2031 housing element is in substantial compliance, nine months after the filing.
City of Santa BarbaraKristen Sneddon tells Noozhawk the formal application has been deemed incomplete and says the project should at least trigger CEQA analysis.
NoozhawkThe city's latest consistency determination goes to the applicant. In October 2025 the city asks for a response to it.
City of Santa BarbaraA group of local architects and planners says the proposal, now 53 units with 11 affordable and up to six stories, conflicts with the city's general plan and design standards.
NoozhawkThe city finds the project inconsistent with its General Plan and zoning and says a focused EIR will study most if not all CEQA topics.
City of Santa BarbaraBen Eilenberg says no further CEQA action is necessary and invokes Gov. Code 65589.5(h)(6)(D), under which an improper course of conduct, such as unnecessary delay, can count as disapproval.
City of Santa BarbaraAfter nearly 300 public comments, the city finds that the project's 104 units per acre exceeds the builder's remedy maximum it calculates at 36, and lists 11 studies needed before a decision.
City of Santa Barbara"We are following the state's lead and using the Builder's Remedy law to overcome bureaucratic obstruction and NIMBYism to build affordable housing for the people of Santa Barbara." (May 2023)
"Therefore, as there is no issue that exists, the CEQA analysis is now complete and there is no further CEQA action necessary." (Aug. 1, 2025, invoking Gov. Code 65589.5(h)(6)(D))
The Santa Barbara Independent describes Craig and Stephanie Smith as the development team behind the 1609 Grand Avenue project, working with Ben Eilenberg.
"Anything more than that should at the very least trigger CEQA analysis for significant concerns." (June 2024) She said the project raised "significant neighborhood impact and safety concerns" and that the application had been deemed incomplete.
"It is the wrong place for a project of that scale." She called the project "shockingly insensitive to the direct neighborhood and also to the broader community." (June 2024)
"We certainly need more housing, specifically affordable, but projects should adhere to where they fit." (June 2024)
In a Sept. 30, 2025 letter included with the city's findings: "The Project proposes to add 53 residential units on a narrow hillside road (Grand Avenue) that serves as an evacuation route, as identified by the City's Community Wildfire Protection Plan ('CWPP') and the County."
"In sum, the City has not 'disapproved' the Project by causing an unreasonable delay, as the City continues to work with its environmental consultant to determine and complete the appropriate level of environmental review as the Project progresses." (Oct. 30, 2025)
"It is, instead, as the name suggests, very preliminary and does not contain much of the substantive information that is required of a formal complete planning application for a development project." (May 2023)
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said in June 2024 that the formal application had been deemed incomplete. After it was deemed complete, the city sent a consistency determination on March 27, 2025, and in October 2025 asked the applicant to respond to it.
The city found the project ineligible for the AB 130 exemption because it conflicts with the General Plan and zoning, and said a focused EIR would study most if not all CEQA topics. Its Oct. 30, 2025 findings list six studies the city expects to commission and five the applicant may prepare. No EIR has been reported.
The city says the project, at 104 units per acre, exceeds the 36 units per acre it calculates under the builder's remedy definition added by AB 1893, so it cannot be deemed consistent with city plans or exempt from CEQA. The city concedes that the older builder's remedy rules govern the application.