Web Design in Santa Barbara That Starts the Visit in a City Lot

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A visitor from Ventura types a downtown shop’s State Street address into a map app and is led toward a curb with no parking lane and no driveway, because the City took both off State Street when the Plaza was built in 1969. The lots sit behind the stores, off Chapala and Anacapa, joined to the street by paseos. Web design in Santa Barbara for a downtown storefront starts the visit in the right lot and walks the customer to the door. Progression is based in New York, builds for Santa Barbara businesses remotely, and offers on-site sessions on request.

A map pin on a block with no curb cuts

A map app answers the question it was asked: how do I reach this address. For a downtown State Street shop, the honest answer is on foot, from somewhere else.

The City’s own history of the Plaza explains why. The 1969 Downtown Plaza project removed parking lanes on State Street between Victoria and Ortega streets, which required that parking be provided behind the businesses off Chapala and Anacapa. A shop’s page can say so in one sentence and save the visitor a loop around the block.

Why start in the lot and not at the curb?

Because the lot is where the visit begins. A visitor who parks in the right lot, pays once and walks through a paseo arrives calm. One who circles the State Street curb arrives annoyed, or not at all.

• The map link goes to the lot’s address.
• The page names the lot before it names the shop.
• The shop’s own address appears as the destination on foot.
• A short sentence explains why, so the instruction does not look odd.

What web design in Santa Barbara does for a State Street storefront

The City’s Downtown Plaza and Parking page places the Plaza between Micheltorena and Gutierrez streets on the north and south and Anacapa and Chapala streets on the east and west. It includes the State Street corridor, the public lots, the paseo system and the 00 blocks used for passenger and commercial loading and short-term parking.

The City says its staff maintain ten parking lots and five parking structures with more than 3,000 stalls, serving more than five million vehicles a year. It also says the paseos came out of the need for direct pedestrian connections from the new parking facilities to State Street, using existing alleys and in some cases walkways through buildings, which allowed the City to remove all parking and curb cuts from State Street downtown.

A directions page turns that into a route: lot, paseo, State Street, door. It is the first page a visitor needs and the last page most shop sites write.

• Name the lot, then the paseo, then the door.
• Link the map to the lot’s address.
• State the free period and link the City’s page for current rates.

What should the page say first?

Which lot to use, by number and address, and that the walk to the door starts there. The map link should point to the lot, with the shop’s own address as the destination on foot.

The directions page, lot by lot

The City’s Downtown Parking Lots page lists the gated lots by number, name and address. The table copies that list as a worksheet: the business fills in the walk to its own door after walking it, since the City publishes no walking routes.

Can the page name the nearest lot for each block?

Only if the business has walked it. The City’s pages list lots and addresses but give no walking routes, so each shop confirms its own and states the lot or two it trusts.

Seventy-five free minutes, once a day

In the City’s gated lots, the first 75 minutes are free. Each hour or part of an hour after that is $3.00, and each car gets one 75 minute free period per 24 hours, with a maximum of $33.00 per 24 hours. The page can say so and name the City’s page as the place to check the current rate.

Placards, plates and the longer free period

The City’s accessible parking rate gives the first two and a half hours free, then $3.00 for each hour or part of an hour, with a daily maximum of $12.00 and a valid placard or plate required. A shop that expects visitors who need this should say it plainly and link the City’s accessible parking guide.

Vans and trailers over 22 feet

The City says no vehicles over 22 feet are allowed in City lots. Delivery drivers and visitors with trailers need a line about it and a pointer to the 00 blocks for loading.

What a directions-first site costs

The scope sets the price: pages for the route, photography, ordering or booking tools and the upkeep after launch. The method stays proprietary with Progression’s clients, and the proposal states the price.

Progression site prices, as listed

The rows below are the fixed scope prices on our website design and development page that fit a storefront directions site. They can change, and the written proposal has the final figure.

Paseos as the last stretch of the route

The City describes the paseos as a network of connecting pedestrian pass-throughs and retail frontages, built to give direct pedestrian connections from the parking facilities to State Street. For many shops, the paseo is the last fifty steps of the visit.

The plain advice is to name the paseo, or the shop beside it, and to show a photo of its entrance taken by the business. A visitor who has seen the opening in a photo recognizes it from the lot.

• Name the paseo by what stands beside it.
• Show the entrance from the lot side and from the street side.
• Say how many turns separate the lot from the door.
• Update the photos when a sign, a tree or a storefront changes.

What if the shop sits on a cross street?

Then the route changes at the paseo or at the corner, and the page should say which. The same rule holds: name the lot, describe the walk and show a photo of the door.

• Say which cross street the shop is nearest.
• Give the walk from the nearest lot, not the nearest curb.
• Show a photo from the corner.
• Add a line for drivers coming from the freeway.

Website design in Santa Barbara for loading, pickup and the 00 blocks

The City says the 00 blocks serve passenger and commercial loading and short-term parking. A shop that takes deliveries or lets customers pick up an order can use that line to tell drivers where to stop, and the page should make no claim about loading rules beyond the City’s description.

For pickup, the page gives the order name, the time window and the nearest 00 block in plain words. For deliveries, it gives suppliers the same note with a phone number. The City’s Downtown Parking program answers questions about the blocks.

• Tell pickup customers which 00 block to use and for how long.
• Tell suppliers about the 22 foot limit in City lots.
• Add a phone number for drivers who cannot find the spot.
• Link the City’s Downtown Plaza and Parking page for rules.

Outdoor tables and racks on the page

The City says its current Economic Recovery Extension and Transition Ordinance temporarily suspends Municipal Code regulations to allow outdoor dining and outdoor business uses in the public right of way or on private property, and that Downtown Parking implements and enforces it. The City’s Outdoor Dining Program also lets restaurateurs agree with the City to use a portion of the public sidewalk for outdoor dining.

A shop with outdoor seating or a display outside shows where it is and says to confirm terms with Downtown Parking. The site makes no promise about what the City will allow.

Paying on the way out

The City says drivers do not need to register or download an app to pay by phone. They scan the QR code on the entrance ticket with a smartphone camera to bring up the payment portal and may pay up to 10 minutes before exiting. The gate lifts automatically at the exit, and if it does not, the driver inserts the paid ticket into the column.

A first time visitor will not know this, and a line on the directions page saves a queue at the gate. The City’s page also lists other payment options, so the site points readers to it for the current list.

Do first time visitors know to keep the entrance ticket?

Often not. The City says the QR code is on the entrance ticket, so a visitor who tosses the ticket has nothing to scan. One sentence on the page fixes it.

• Keep the entrance ticket until you leave.
• Scan the code with the phone camera.
• Pay up to 10 minutes before the exit.
• If the gate does not lift, insert the paid ticket into the column.

When the master plan changes the walk

The City is working on a long range State Street Master Plan for the 400 through 1300 blocks of State Street and the surrounding paseos, plazas, parking facilities and cross streets. The City’s State Street Initiatives page is where its status and any steps appear.

The plain advice is to review the directions page whenever the City changes a lot, a paseo or a cross street, and to make no promise about what will change. A page written from the lots inward is easy to edit, since each lot is a row.

What a short visit costs in a gated lot

Cost is part of the visit, and the City publishes its rate. Worked from the standard rate on the City’s page, a one hour stay costs nothing, two hours cost $3, three hours cost $6 and four hours cost $9.

Rates change by City resolution, so the page should link the City’s rate page and print a figure only after checking it. The accessible rate gives the first two and a half hours free.

Should the page promise parking?

No. It states the City’s posted rates and where the lots are. It makes no promise about space, since the City runs the lots.

• State rates with the month they were checked.
• Link the City’s page for the current rate.
• Say where the lots are and which entrance to use.
• Leave out any claim about how full a lot will be.

Who to ask about downtown parking

The City’s Downtown Parking office lists a phone number of (805) 564-5656 on its lots page, and the Plaza page lists the Downtown Ambassadors at (805) 882-8999. Questions about lots, fees and outdoor business uses go to them, not to the shop’s website.

• Lot and fee questions go to the Downtown Parking office.
• Outdoor business questions go to Downtown Parking.
• Questions about the walk go to the shop that wrote the page.
• Build questions go to the web team.

For shop sites beyond parking, see our retail store website design page, and for hospitality, our hotel website design page. Our web design in Napa page covers a different California project.

Frequently asked questions