Purpose

The purpose of these guidelines is to assist decision makers, facility planners, architects, county departments and the public in development review of projects on the Calle Real Campus. Projects range from the repainting of a building, remodeling or expanding a facility or the construction of new facilities. These guidelines contain suggestions, helpful hints, and sources of additional information. These guidelines do not constitute a master plan, and thus do not contain the final answer, but a first step in the development of a project targeted for the Campus.

Introduction

Since the formation of the county in 1850, facilities of one kind of another have been constructed to house public services, programs and functions. Originally, the city block that is home to the historic county courthouse in downtown Santa Barbara was the home of many county government functions, until around 1900. As the population of the county grew, the need to decentralize public services demanded that additional locations be secured.

Text Box: 1929 Aerial Photograph of Campus

In 1910 the county purchased what is now known as the Calle Real Campus, some 300 acres between Hollister Avenue, south of US Highway 101 and north of Cathedral Oaks. For the next 93 years, numerous buildings were constructed on the site, ranging from fire stations and clinics to juvenile and adult lock-down facilities. Over that course of time, the county has implemented building campaigns roughly every ten-years.

The first buildings to be constructed were public health care related with a Tuberculosis (TB) hospital, doctor’s residence and nurses’ quarters. A number of support buildings were also placed on the property at that time that included, barns, chicken coops, laundry and storage sheds; all to support the TB facilities.

While the county has been constructing these facilities over time, there has been no vision for what the campus should like as it matured. In fact, it is only recently that the County began to think of the Calle Real site as “a campus”. It is important to understand why we want to provide the public and staff with long-range urban design guidelines. First, the urban design guidelines will assure the public that our long-term vision and development of the property will fit, to the extent that the guidelines are followed, into the neighborhood character and fabric of the community. Second, the urban design guidelines will help guide department users and facility planners with the tools necessary in responding to increasing facility demands.

These urban design guidelines are one step in a series of steps necessary to formulate a “corporate” facility vision and plan. In 1998, the County Board of Supervisor’s directed the Office of the County Architect, to begin to define a process whereby county facility planning could be elevated and integrated with other strategic planning efforts underway already within the county. The County Architect presented a five-point plan to the Board in mid-1998. That five-point plan consists of:

1) Facility Assessments

2) Department Assessments

3) Strategic Planning

4) Phasing and Financing, and

5) Implementation.

The effort of long-range facility planning must be understood as an on-going, cyclical process. Large organizations, like, county government, are constantly expanding and contracting as it response to service demands. This ebb and flow, at times, causes great demands upon the facilities group to keep up with the needs of public service departments. These urban design guidelines will provide the tools for decision makers in solving facility/land use demands.

As the reader will discover in these urban design guidelines, the Calle Real Campus has dramatically changs over the last 93 years. There are numerous maps, photographs and renderings that help the reader to understand, both the roots of the campus and a vision for its future.

The Land

n the 1700’s, the Spanish settled the area, giving way to Mexico in the early 1800’s and finally to American rule by 1850. Prior to any of these, the Native American roamed the land. While there is no physical evidence that Native Americans lived anywhere within the boundary of the Calle Real Campus, there is evidence that the Spanish did. At least they buried their dead very close to the southern boundary, near Hollister Avenue. Historians and anthropologist have recently discovered the site; and have set about the task of restoring the fenced boundary of the solders burial ground and grave markers.

The general landform has changed drastically over the 93 years the County has occupied the property. The surrounding Goleta Valley has also changed in dramatic ways as well. From a once open rural farm valley to an urbanized commercial and residential development pattern. With this dramatic change has come the reshaping of the land itself. The early aerial photographs[i] (1928) show the campus with little development, and those facilities that do exist, being located in the southwestern corner of the middle campus. These early facilities focused on public health related departments and programs.

Transportation improvements in the early days (prior to 1940) consisted of Hollister Avenue (a State Highway), the railroad and small local dirt roads. The roads we now take for granted, had not been constructed yet, like: Calle Real, US 101, Cathedral Oaks, Turnpike, etc.

The residential housing of the area followed a very rural pattern, until the 1940’s, when more agriculture uses gave way to new housing demands. One of the oldest residential developments in the area is the El Sueno subdivision, being constructed in the middle 1930’s. The newest residential development is just to the west of the middle campus. The demand for housing is increasing, with the highest demand for affordable housing. This demand has placed some pressure on the Campus to allocate land resources to the production of affordable to low-income housing.

Why Now?

Nearly 100 years has passed without the benefit of campus urban design guideline's, so why now? The answer is simple; prior to the 1960’s, no one really thought that the campus would ever reach its capacity of development; and the dynamic of ever reducing resources causing the County to make the most with what it has—thus long-range facility planning has come into its own. It is never to late, really, to begin a facilities urban design guideline's. The very nature of planning means that the process of planning is an on-going effort. Once the Calle Real urban design guideline's is printed, the process will continue on as micro-elements of the campus change—so too, must the urban design guideline's adjust to these changes. It is hoped, that by providing a framework for future facility development; which by the way is not limited to buildings, but also includes improvements to the grounds, transportation and pedestrian circulation; a better environment can be created for both staff and visitors.

The urban design guidelines also set out the framework for conservation and preservation of landscape and historic building resources. But rather than strive for a place frozen in time, the Urban Design Guidelines accounts for the kinds of flux and change that all living communities experience. It remains open to, even encourages, some developments that cannot be foreseen in detail. Strategic guidelines, for instance, are offered for dealing with the sensitive edges—the areas where the campus and its immediate neighbors, residential, share common interests and views inward and outward. These guidelines are meant not only to minimize negative impacts but also to set up positive, creative interactions between the campus and its urban neighbors. Funding and implementation strategies are also offered in this spirit of cooperation. Essentially, this Urban design guidelines is realistic and pragmatic, given the current urban situation of the Goleta Valley and the future of Santa Barbara County. The Plan proposes a series of intelligent choices to be made. In the balance lie two equally desirable and not necessarily opposing values: history, or memory; and vitality, along with unpredictable aspects of change.

Existing Conditions

Over the course of the last 93 years, the campus has transformed into an inhospitable environment planned in an ad hoc manner and oriented around the automobile. The campus organization and operation no longer contribute to the interactions that shape healthy work life. Confronting the necessity for more growth and a clear need to address the lack of spatial coherence, the campus requires a long-term strategy. The campus began with health related building in 1910 for treatment of Tuberculoses and support buildings for Doctors, Nursing Staff and supplies. A number of these buildings still exist.

Topography

Topography remains the single most dominant characteristic of the Campus. There are two basic plateaus that bi-sect the middle (and largest) section of the Campus. The landform begins at an elevation of 350 feet above sea level at the northern edge (Cathedral Oaks) and drops to a low of 100 feet above sea level to the south (Hollister). Multi-story institutional buildings over time have increasingly degraded the visual quality of the Campus. There are a number of abrupt grade changes in the form of access roads and parking lots disrupt the once gently sloping transition from the flat rural landscape to the hilltops.

The topography alone affects many functions on the Campus. Steep grades require stairways to accommodate pedestrian circulation: in turn, these stairways prevent the disabled from freely entering facilities or moving from one facility to the next. Because of the steep slopes the area available to expand or build new facilities is restricted to the southwest or the northeast portion of the main campus area.

The topography also includes a seasonal creek known as Hospital Creek. The creek travels across the western portion of the Cathedral Oaks campus area; continues south onto the middle campus area where it bi-sects the area in a general east toward west orientation. The creek is channelized underground to pass under Calle Real, US 101 and Railroad to become visible again on the Hollister portion of the campus. The creek continues off site at the southwest corner of the Campus (the intersection of San Antonio Road and Hollister Avenue). Another seasonal creek travels across the upper northeast corner of the Cathedral Oaks campus area and continues off-site to the east.

The southeastern portion of the middle campus has been land filled over many years and contains the “Foothill Sanitation Landfill”. This sanitation landfill has been closed for many years and continues to be maintained by the County Public Works Department.

Circulation

Internal site circulation includes roads, ramps, stairs, and paved walkways that respond to each facility’s requirements but do not contribute to a unified whole. No system of circulation links buildings to one another and to the various facilities. In some cases, curbs, walls and stairs form barriers to disabled persons seeking access to site facilities.

There are no internal access roads in an east-west orientation within the middle campus area. The lack of these internal roads forces staff, public and visitors to drive to Calle Real or Cathedral Oaks then onto the opposite campus location. This results in additional traffic and turning movements that increase the potential for accidents and congestion.

Parking is also located in a haphazard way that does not relate well to facilities. In some cases modular facilities have been sited within parking lots, further complicating visitor parking. There are a number of larger parking lots that are useful, but because of poor or non-existent pedestrian access, rarely used.

Pedestrian access from Cathedral Oaks to the County Fire Administration and Schools is forced on the roadway. This is not only challenging, but also dangerous, because drivers do not have a clear view of pedestrians for many portions of the roadway. On the middle portion of the campus, pedestrian access is completely disconnected from the physical layout of the facilities, parking and remaining natural environment. Because of the terrain, there are many pedestrian pathways containing stairs: which create barriers to the disabled. In some cases there simply are no pedestrian connections due to retaining walls or degraded paths that are no longer safe for use. Because the pedestrian access system is disjointed, staff, visitors and the public are forced to drive from one building to the next.

Views

Views relate directly to topography and edge development. Depending upon one’s vantage point, unobstructed panoramic views from the hilltop have been constricted to view corridors between on-site and off-site buildings. Distant views of the Pacific Ocean, Santa Ynez Mountains and Goleta Valley are possible as one reaches the very top of the site. The densest areas of the Campus are placed at lower elevations, which have reduced the view-shed loss to a minimum.

Many areas of the Campus have mature native trees adjacent to buildings, which provide great environments for staff, visitor and public interaction. The potential for development of additional vantage points to enjoy the view exist.

Historic Structures

The original core campus in 1910 was constructed with 4 buildings: a tuberculosis sanitarium, doctors’ residence, and nurse’s residence. In 1918 a boiler/laundry building, barns for livestock and isolation building were added. Of these buildings five remain; and of these, only two contain features, which make them candidates for landmarks. The two buildings are known today as the Archives building and Casa del Mural.

Edwards & Plunket designed Casa del Mural (one story) in 1917 as a clinic. The Casa del Mural building is located in the southwestern corner of the middle campus and identified as building number 13 on the maps. The Archives building is a two-story structure. The ground floor contained areas for livestock, cows specifically, while the second floor were additional nurse’s quarters. The Archives building is also located in the southwestern section of the middle campus and identified as building number 20 on the maps.

Julia Morgan, architect designed a second tuberculosis sanitarium for the County in 1918. The building was one story and located on the upper area of the southwestern corner of the campus and located just below building number 6 on the maps. The building was razed in the mid-fifties.

Campus Statistics Table
*Campus Sub Area*	*Land Area (sf)*	*Building Area (sf)*	*Building Coverage (%)*	*Constraints (sf)*	*Percent Constrained (%)*	*Building Count*
*South*	2,168,293	116,850	.054	1,506,236	.69	19
*Middle*	8,597,159	527,875	.062	5,130,059	.60	74
*North*	2,236,400	65,900	.030	871,300	.39	10
*Totals*	13,001,852	710,625	0.146	7,507,595		103

Other Structures

There hundreds of structures on the Campus, ranging from small storage buildings to very sophisticated lock-down facilities. In addition, there are movable storage containers, cover structures for maintenance equipment and material stockpiles of one sort or another.

Since the construction of the original campus buildings, newer facilities have been added in cycles of roughly every ten-years. Between these major building cycles, numerous remodels and smaller additions have occurred. The total building square footage represented by these buildings is 710,625.

There are miles of pipes, conduit underground and numerous overhead power lines that cross the campus.

Roads and Paths

Over the years, roads on the Campus have changed significantly in both their appearance and their location. Overall, the original sense of the rural landscape has been lost through modern road construction. The addition of curbs and gutters has visually transformed the once rural character of the campus roads to urban standards.

Parking is also located in a haphazardly along roads or cut into adjacent slopes with little sensitivity to the original topography and in ways that do not relate well to facilities. There are few inter-connected pedestrian paths that provide smooth and safe travel between parking lots or facilities.

There is currently no cohesive network of paths throughout the campus. Internal circulation follows a maze of concrete ramps, stairs, and walkways, with minimal sense of hierarchy, sequence, progression and entry. There is no disable accessibility between the street level and many of the buildings. This poses difficulty to those who arrive at the Campus by some alternative means of transportation.

A few degraded, historic roadways need to be removed and the surrounding grade returned to its natural form. Other roadways need to be reconstructed and maintained to provide for safe travel.

Landscape Character

Before improvements by the County in early 1900, rural open space and the agricultural grid of citrus trees defined the campus’ landscape. By 1943 the citrus trees were all but gone, with just a small grove on adjacent properties. There was no overall landscape design or theme as part of the original campus none has been implemented since. The mixture of native and non-native trees provides no clear interpretation of the landscape to the viewer. The landscape elements placed by the construction of new facilities over time have not contributed to any cohesive sense of pedestrian wayfinding or “landmark” orientation. Nor does the landscape add any organizational clues around existing facilities.

The overall landscape of the campus can be organized into zones, starting at the southern end at Hollister and continuing just north of the Cathedral Oaks portion of the campus.

The Hollister area is divided into two sections; the west section if relatively flat with Hospital Creek bisecting it, the eastern section rises some 100 feet about the western section. The west-facing slope of the dividing hill is home to a grove of eucalyptus trees that in turn are home to roosting Monarch Butterflies. The grove is currently less than half its original size, due in part to the expansion of the Santa Barbara Juvenile Hall over time.

The middle section of the campus can be divided into four sections: the southwest, northwest, southeast and northeast sections.

The southwest landscape was comprised of both citrus trees (on a 20 grid) and other native plantings. By 1928 most of the grid of citrus trees remained, with only few removed to accommodate buildings. By 1938 the grid of citrus trees had been reduced by 75 percent, as additional medical facilities were constructed. Additional non-native trees were planted along the roads that existed at that time in a more formal arrangement. Over the course of the next 60 some years, the citrus groove disappeared, the non-natives matured and the few remaining natives matured. This section once had several hundred trees; today any remaining mature trees are confined to steep slopes deemed unbuildable by past decision makers.

The northwest landscape was comprised of rolling hills and native plants and grasses. This condition remained so until the early 1980’s when a housing project was constructed. The resulting residential development planted many non-native trees, lawns and shrubs. At the upper edge of this section, additional large family residential was constructed long a ridgeline; with little impact to the natural landscape other project grading. The landform in this section is primarily steep which present a constraint to construction of facilities.

Hospital Creek bisects the middle campus and runs almost uninterrupted from the north boundary to the south boundary. The single greatest impact to Hospital Creek occurs at the northern boundary, where the creek was filled to accommodate the construction of the Alpha Resource Center. The creek in that area is underground and daylights several hundred yards past the Alpha site as it travels south. The west-facing slope of the creek rises from the creek bed at elevation 150 up to elevation 350. The east slope is much less steep with gentle rolling terrain. The number of native trees on the east slope was several hundred in 1928 and rose to a few thousand by 1938. By the mid-fifties the number of native trees had dropped back close to the 1928 levels.

The southeast section of the middle campus remained virtually untouched by human hands until the mid-fifties when the industrial uses began find their way to the campus. The first, and most initially disturbing action was the use of this area as a sanitary landfill. The landfill was closed in 1967 and continues to be maintained by the County. An aggressive tree-planting program has been in place since 1993. However a number of the trees planted have been non-natives.

The northeast area of the middle campus has never had many native trees. The primary plant feature was wild grasses. This area has undergone the most dramatic changes over the last 80 some year with the greatest amount of change occurring in the 1960’s. This area of the middle campus is home to the most industrial uses, like: road maintenance operations, landfill/waste stream operations, county vehicle operations, and parks operations. The landforms have all been significantly altered to support these industrial uses. At present, there are few mature native trees, grasses or other mature plantings to shield the existing facilities.

Now turning our attention to the Cathedral Oaks section of the campus and while this area of the campus has had the least amount of construction activities, it has undergone the most landform changes. The site has been an earthen depository since the early 1920’s. For one reason or another, excess earth has been deposited in the lower elevations of the eastern sections. The area now home to the County Schools administration and auditorium rest on fill. The extreme western section has remained virtually unchanged, with the only exceptions being made for fire access roads. The number of native trees on this area of the campus has fluctuated over time like the other areas of the campus. In 1928 less than 200 hundred trees could be found on site, now that number is close to 1000.

While the presence of native trees is important, there is no program to provide design direction of facility planners to use natives whenever a new facility is constructed. The Urban design guideline proposes to provide such direction.