The Empty Median on Avenue of the Flags Is Supposed to Become Buellton's Town Square. Here's Where the Plan Stands.

The long grassy median in the 500 block of Avenue of the Flags is now the most fully designed piece of Buellton's planned downtown. It has a city budget line, a planning consultant and a council review behind it. The private parcels around it have no comparable timeline. The empty lot across the curb, the shuttered Pea Soup Andersen's at the Highway 246 end of the avenue and the market and motel proposed nearby are all still in review. For now, the strip in the middle of the road is the only part of the new downtown that the City controls outright, and it is being designed first, with the edges expected to follow.

The strip as the City draws it

At the September 9 preview reported by the Santa Barbara News-Press, Planning Director Andrea Keefer put it plainly: "This large, vacant, grassy median that we all know is really at the heart of the envisioned downtown. This median is planned to be really a unique gathering space—a downtown park and a town plaza."

The design treats the median as a series of "outdoor rooms." Trees and structures would separate them from car, truck and bike traffic. The September 14 staff report describes five areas, running from the 2nd Street end:

1. The 2nd Street Plaza. Pavers over the striped dead space at that end would shorten the crosswalks. Two Art Deco kiosks of up to 600 square feet each would flank the plaza. One could hold a small café. The other would hold a visitor center or historic museum and a public restroom.
2. The South Lawn. An open sloped lawn with a shaded stage for concerts and performances, designed to work as a park between events.
3. The Food Truck Pod. Permanent pads for food trucks under a dense canopy of trees, around a central fountain at the historic landmark flag, with midblock crosswalks to both sides of the avenue.
4. The North Lawn. A landscaped lawn for picnics, play or community events, with a paved path and some permanent seating.
5. The North Plaza. An expanded end with four 12-by-12-foot vendor kiosks in a streamline moderne style.

Today the median is bordered by an empty lot, the San Marcos Motel and the Hotel Hygge on one side, and by Toño's Restaurant and the Restaurant Plus supply store on the other. Those are the neighbors the first round of outdoor rooms would face. In August the Planning Commission backed the concept and suggested changes to the trellises, columns, arches and kiosks. Commissioner Marcilo Sarquilla added, "A big ol' arch with 'Buellton' over it would look nice."

Why the middle of the road moves first

The difference shows up in where each project stands. The City's own documents give the median a budget and dates. The private projects on the avenue have only a review status.

The City has not set costs beyond FY 2027–28. Even so, the median is the only row in that table with dollars and fiscal years attached. The median is part of a larger Avenue of the Flags plan. That plan dates to 2017, was updated last year, covers more than 55 acres and invites new retail, restaurants, food trucks, hotels and housing in an Art Deco-inspired style. The City can invite private projects on the surrounding parcels, but only the median runs on a schedule the City sets.

Four kiosks meant to outgrow the median

The kiosks show most clearly how the center is supposed to shape the edges. Keefer's report describes them as possible "incubator spaces for start-up retail and food vendors." It borrows the idea from the Pop Shops on Main program in Bothell, Washington. The report continues: "Successful ventures could then be primed for relocation to a permanent location as prime retail space develops along the avenue."

So the kiosks are designed for turnover. A vendor would start in a 144-square-foot booth in the middle of the road and move into a storefront once the parcels on either side are built. Proposals like the 26-home, multi-storefront project at 560 Avenue of the Flags would supply that kind of retail space. In August, officials gave that project an early go-ahead. The kiosks only work if the edges eventually fill in.

What Council did on September 28

Staff asked for more than the City Council gave. According to the September 28 minutes, the recommendation asked Council to comment on the concept and "direct Staff to begin preparation of construction drawings." Council discussed shade, landscaping and trees, the fountain, the flagpole, restrooms, drinking fountains, the food-truck area, seating, pedestrian access and flexible event space. It then directed staff to keep refining the plans with Sargent Town Planning. The refined plans will go back to both the Council and the Planning Commission.

That means another round of review before construction drawings begin. A Buellton resident, Richard Kusmitch, used his public comment to ask whether public restrooms would be included. The concept already places a restroom in the 2nd Street building, and Council listed restrooms among the details still under discussion.

The item first appeared as item 11 on the September 14 agenda. At that meeting it was continued "to a date uncertain," and it came back on September 28. Median 3 does not appear on the October 26 Council agenda.

The food-truck pod depends on an ordinance that isn't written yet

The middle of the median includes a food-truck pod, but Buellton currently has no zoning rules that would let trucks park there regularly. The September 14 staff report says the municipal code has no specific food-truck standards. Trucks are allowed only in limited cases, mainly City-approved special events. The Specific Plan mentions a Temporary Event-Zoning Clearance, but that permit does not exist yet.

On September 28, according to the minutes, Council discussed the Avenue of the Flags, Median 3 and Industrial Way as possible locations. It also discussed hours, parking, waste, noise, restrooms, vehicle storage, enforcement and the effect on existing businesses. Council directed staff to "consider a limited approach to food trucks in specified locations and at permitted special events," write operating standards and return with draft ordinance language. Separately, the staff report notes that trucks need permits from County Environmental Health Services, and trucks on Highway 246 also need Caltrans permits.

Both pieces have to come together for the plan to work. The pod and the ordinance are on separate tracks, and the ordinance will determine whether the pod has trucks on an ordinary weekday or only during permitted events.

Pea Soup Andersen's: demolition with conditions

Pea Soup Andersen's sits at the Highway 246 end of the avenue. It closed in 2024 after nearly 100 years. On July 9, the City Council voted 5–0 to remove landmark protection from most of the complex. That action, Resolution No. 26-22, also set conditions for the demolition.

According to the Santa Maria Times, the complex covers about 35,000 square feet. Only the original front section, built in the late 1920s as the Bueltmore Hotel, was found eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources. That section will stay standing and be secured once the rest comes down. The News-Press reported that a stricter state assessment of the Bueltmore could take another year or more before that section is either removed or built into a new project.

The Pea Soup site and the median were linked once before. At a March 26 meeting, the Santa Maria Times reported, officials rejected a proposal to move the structure onto Median 3. The building will not go to the median. The new plaza may still be the most likely public home for parts of its history.

Under the approved mitigation measures, owner Ed St. George agreed to preserve the rooftop signs, the stained-glass windows and the murals of Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee. The paper reported that a future location and display plan for the murals had not been decided. Some Buellton Historical Society materials went to the Mendenhall Museum. City Manager Scott Wolfe said the rest could be donated "if the city were to create a new historical exhibit." The median concept includes a building at 2nd Street for a visitor center or historic museum. So far, no City document connects the two.

As for timing, the Santa Maria Times quoted Wolfe as saying demolition could proceed once the required agreements are finalized and plans for securing the Bueltmore section are submitted. "The goal is as quickly as possible," he said. As of the City's September 25 project list, the application and environmental review were still in process, with no permit date. St. George told the News-Press in July that it was too soon to say what would replace the restaurant. "Right now it's just sitting while we can get things figured out," he said. He named a nearby hotel, grocery store and coffee shop as his more immediate goals. Those are the market/deli, coffee shop and 24-unit motel proposed at 20 East Highway 246, which are still in process as of September 25.

The next steps on the record

City documents lay out these steps, in the order they are expected to occur:

• Refined Median 3 plans go back to the Planning Commission and City Council. No date is set.
• Staff returns with draft food-truck ordinance language. No date is set.
• The Pea Soup Andersen's demolition application and environmental review are completed. The required agreements and plans for securing the Bueltmore section must be in place first.
• Design and permitting for Median 3 continue under the $150,000 FY 2026–27 budget, with construction funding expected in FY 2027–28.

On Highway 246, Edhat reported that Lompoc Donuts has announced a Buellton shop at 252 East Highway 246, Suite C. As of the company's September 22 post, it had not announced an opening date.

These plans affect how the blocks around Avenue of the Flags will be used, and the parcels next to them will be measured against them. If you own property near the avenue, or are considering a site along it, Laura Drammer Real Estate can review how the median plan and the nearby proposals may bear on your parcel. Request a confidential consultation.