The Goodland Outlook, Edition 23
October 15, 2015
The Goodland Coalition is forwarding to you this email we received because we think it is of interest to people concerned about the future of Goleta. Please forward this email to your friends and family.
This edition is to tell you about a meeting in less than a week to approve a 175- unit building in Old Town Goleta and why it should be opposed.
Mark Twain is said to have famously observed, “Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” Lately there have been a lot of complaints about the nature and speed of developments in Goleta. On Tuesday, October 20 at 6PM there is a chance for Goleta residents to DO something about it.
At their Oct. 20 6PM meeting, the Goleta City Council will be asked to approve the Old Town Village development. Here’s a brief description:
- – 175 mixed-use units immediately west of the intersection of Kellogg Way and South Kellogg Avenue.
- – The units include 113 traditional residential townhomes that consist of 90 four-bedroom units and 23 two-bedroom units; 34 live-work townhomes; 28 shopkeeper townhomes; a community center; and several types of green open spaces.
- – You can see more by viewing the meeting Agenda Item E1 at http://goleta.legistar1.com/goleta/meetings/2015/10/919_A_City_Council_15-10-20_Agenda.pdf
- This development proposal is coming back after the council deadlocked 2-2 on this project a few weeks ago. Council member Jim Farr, who was absent at the last meeting, will be present and probably cast the deciding vote this time.
In voting against the project, Mayor Perotte and Council Member Bennett cited 3 main points that are still valid:
– APPROVAL OF THIS PROJECT DEPENDS ON REZONING THE PROPERTY FOR HOUSING, A MAJOR CHANGE TO TO GOLETA’S GENERAL PLAN. We have plenty of other housing, around 1,000 units, recently approved or under construction in the Hollister Corridor. And Goleta’s General Plan contains even more zoning for housing. We shouldn’t disrespect the thousands of hours of community input that made up our current General Plan, especially when there is no pressing need.
– REZONING THIS SITE NOW WILL MAKE IT UNAVAILABLE TO POSSIBLY FULFILL FUTURE STATE QUOTAS. In the future, the State of CA will again require that Goleta re-zone more land for housing. We will need places such as this site for this purpose. If it is already developed for housing, we will have to rezone elsewhere, possibly at higher density.
– REZONING THIS PROPERTY DEPRIVES GOLETA OF SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL REVENUE. This property is zoned for visitor serving. When built a convention center and hotel would generate millions of dollars in sales tax, occupancy tax and property tax revenue that Goleta could use for public safety, libraries, recreation, roads and other infrastructure. In contrast, the property tax revenues Goleta would receive from the proposed development would be relatively tiny, especially after 50% of it would be shared with SB County.
– THIS PROJECT INCLUDES ONLY 15% AFFORDABLE UNITS, UNDER THE NORMAL 20% STANDARD. This is supposedly in exchange for the developer providing some of the land for the extension of Ekwill Road, north of the project. So 85% of this development’s units will be sold at market rate, which most of Goleta’s current residents cannot afford.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT APPROVAL OF THIS DEVELOPMENT:
– Show up at the hearing in City Council Chambers and testify at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
– Send an email to City Council members, the City Manager and Director of Planning (see contact information below). Let them know that you oppose approval of this project for the reasons above.
& & &
CITY OF GOLETA CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact Goleta’s mayor, City Council, City Manager and Director of Planning, copy the email addresses below into the TO: section of an email.
pperotte@cityofgoleta.org, mbennett@cityofgoleta.org, raceves@cityofgoleta.org, tvallejo@cityofgoleta.org, jfarr@cityofgoleta.org, mgreene@cityofgoleta.org, jcarman@cityofgoleta.orgClick here to receive future editions of the Goodland Outlook
Like our Facebook page