Glen Annie Golf Course Unveils New Development Plan

Under financial pressure, the property owner proposes 175 homes, four soccer fields and a smaller golf course.

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Posted on 07.24.2008

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The proposed Glen Annie Fields project includes 175 homes and four soccer fields surrounding an executive-size 18-hole golf course. (The Dewey Group rendering)

The financially embattled Glen Annie Golf Course in northwest Goleta unveiled an ambitious development plan Wednesday evening, in the hopes that a successful project will both benefit the community and bail the golf course’s owner out from under a $15 million debt.

“We tried to have something for everyone,” said consultant and developer John Dewey, representing ValleyCrest Companies, owner of the golf course at 405 Glen Annie Road.

The project, called Glen Annie Fields, includes 175 homes and four soccer fields surrounding an executive-size 18-hole golf course. The housing would include roughly nine multifamily units of about 10 units each and 18 two-story townhomes — “affordable by design” units — aimed at middle-income workers. Trailing around and through a 3,200-yard golf course would be 67 single-family homes. The southeast corner of the golf course would be used for four soccer fields. Two new roads from Cathedral Oaks Road to the south would create access to the homes. The establishment’s Frog Bar & Grill would continue to operate.

It’s a plan Dewey thinks might be attractive enough for consideration by the Goleta City Council. Unlike other properties in the area, the golf course is already developed, he said, and the soccer fields could provide venues for the local sports community.

Only 16 percent of the total 161-acre property would undergo modification, said Dewey, and previously designated sensitive habitats would be left alone. The owner is said to be in conversation with the adjacent Shelby Land Trust property owners to expand the golf course, the homes, or both, into their land.

The key for Dewey and his team will be to get Goleta to re-designate a portion of the golf course’s land use to planned residential, no small feat since Glen Annie Golf Course is just outside the city’s boundaries and would have to be annexed to Goleta first. Under the county, the property is designated agricultural.

The 18-hole regulation-size public golf course has been in financial dire straits since it opened in 1997, due to rising costs and only half the expected revenue. It has since explored its options, one of which included converting into a municipal golf course, owned by the city of Goleta or Santa Barbara County, nixed because neither the city nor county seem willing to put up the money to purchase it.

Another would have been to wait out the Goleta Valley Community Plan update to get a rezoning designation from the county, but that was rejected because of the time it would take to complete the document.

Yet another alternative the golf course has is to sell the property to the county in the form of three 40-acre lots, to the tune of $3 million to $4 million each.

If a residential project was allowed on the property, said Dewey, the project would be able to benefit the community, cover VillageCrest’s $15 million debt, and make a modest profit besides. At the beginning of the year the owner floated a plan to offer free affordable housing for teachers as part of a development proposal. The idea raised much community interest but was dropped because of what would be perceived by the city as an offer that would be unfair to other middle-income workers like firefighters and law enforcement.

Addressing what could be the biggest concern from neighbors of the proposed project, Dewey said that there would likely have to be improvements to nearby roads and intersections to mitigate for the increased traffic a new neighborhood would bring to the area, including widening the segment of the two-lane Cathedral Oaks Road to three lanes, and providing public parking.

For Goleta Planning and Environmental Services drector Steve Chase, who attended the meeting, the project is interesting for its recreational component, but would have to meet certain standards to have a good shot at getting support from the City Council, which would, in addition to annexing the property, have to initiate a General Plan Amendment that would result in a land-use conversion.

It could be an uphill climb for the golf course owner and developer. City staff has pushed to deny both the requests of the similarly zoned Shelby Trust property and the nearby Bishop Ranch property for such a General Plan amendment initiation, citing, among other things, no pressing need for new housing at the time. The council approved initiation of the Shelby Trust’s request, and Bishop Ranch, sensing no support from staff, withdrew the request shortly before the initiation hearing.

“Do we need the additional land inventory at this time? I don’t know .... Will it create neighborhood? With the Shelby Trust land it has the potential to. Is there a compelling need? There’s potential for that, with the recreation opportunities that are here and to continue to have trail access and a number of other things. It’s wide open, we’re going to let the facts dictate our recommendation,” said Chase.

Glen Annie Golf Course will be before the Goleta City Council in late September or early October. Anyone who wishes to find out more about the project should call John Dewey at 805.259.9499.

Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at sfernandez@noozhawk.com.

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» goleta mom wrote on 07.24.08 @ 04:20 AM

This sounds like a good project - a reasonable amount of homes and a good location.  Good luck to you!

» A Goleta resident wrote on 07.24.08 @ 07:02 AM

Just walk around and see all the for sale in our County. New homes for whom?  Define “affordable”.

» SB Reader wrote on 07.24.08 @ 09:11 AM

There is a direct nexus between the housing inventory planned by the City of Goleta and the amount of potable water available from the Goleta Water District. The golf course is irrigated with recycled water. All the homes would represent new water demand. That new demand is not currently factored into the City General Plan nor the Water District Urban Water Management Plan and no surplus potable water supply exists. Developers and the City no longer have discretion to keep adding new demands without addressing the fact that all the available potable water supply in Goleta is already spoken for. This proposal could not currently pass CEQA review on available water supply.

» Goleta Help wrote on 07.24.08 @ 09:29 AM

My question is this.  Why didn’t the City of Goleta include this land originally when the city was created?  It cracked me up when Fox news and CNN were broadcasting about the Gap fire, and kept saying the City of Goleta is evacuated, when in reality, only a very small fraction of it was evacuated (a couple of neighborhoods between Cathedral Oaks and the Patterson curve).  It is also funny when Glen Annie hosts the Goleta City Championship Golf tournament.  It isn’t even in the city of Goleta!  The only golf courses in Goleta are Sandpiper, Ocean Meadows, and the small executive course in the senior living area off of Encina.

Remember, the city lines were created to get a positive vote.  That is why it is gerrymandered around certain streets along the eastern edge.  Glen Annie should have been in the city lines all along.  Since it isn’t, this is going to make the process for this project that much harder.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the election coming up, the News-Press and Valley Voice going against any pro-development candidates, and the Bishop Ranch project.  If both project go through, can you imagine the traffic at the Cathedral Oaks / Glen Annie intersection. 

And just think, Dos Pueblos will still not host football games because the neighbors don’t want the lights or noise, despite the school’s possibility of being a powerhouse athletic school if both these projects go through.

» middle income worker wrote on 07.24.08 @ 10:49 AM

As a middle income worker I am always trying to find a way to be able to buy a home.  I wonder how much the proposed houses would approximately cost?

» buckwheat wrote on 07.24.08 @ 01:15 PM

The county should purchase this property and continue to operate the golf course as a public facility.  If green fees were more affordable the course wouldn’t lose the kind of money it’s been losing.  It would be a bad idea to change it from agricultural to residential.  If the course continues to lose money the county might be able to purchase it for considerably less.

» chainsaw wrote on 07.24.08 @ 05:01 PM

Isn’t this gold course owned by Ty Warner?

» I'm a Hired Flack Too! wrote on 07.24.08 @ 09:38 PM

This is a great project. It will not require any water. It will not generate any traffic. It will not require any General Plan or other legal changes. It will generate so much tax revenue that the Goleta City budget will not know how to spend all that money. Think of the Children.

» Agri-Doom Corp. Business Plan wrote on 07.25.08 @ 12:20 PM

Excellent forward-thinking on behalf of this developer:
1) Convert prime agricultural land to unprofitable golf course;
2) Cite unprofitable golf course as unprofitable;
3) Propose “affordable housing” in place of unprofitable golf course.
4) Make windfall profit off housing without getting shutdown a la Bishop Ranch style with a direct Ag-to-Housing proposal.  (Gotta get that bait-and-switch project in there!)

Maybe Bishop Ranch developers could learn something here.  Goleta-Noleta needs six golf courses.  Doesn’t it?  Hey, if the golf course doesn’t work out, propose some profitable housing development instead! 

Anybody see this movie at Campbell Hall Wednesday night?  Looks like it just might be relevant to us Goletians.
http://www.theunforeseenfilm.com/blog/trailer/

What do you people think the Lemon Festival will be like in 50 years?  Will it still be called the Lemon Festival if all the lemons are gone from Goleta?

» goletaresident wrote on 07.26.08 @ 10:10 PM

When the Glenn Annie Golf Club was first proposed, the developer, John O’Shaughnessy was asked how a golf course could survive without building houses next to it. His reply was that the golf course would generate enough money to survive on it’s own. Vallet Crest then purchased the project and proceeded to build the golf course after approval. When an investor, or group of investors start a new business venture, there are no guarantees that they will be sucessful. To change the current AGRICULTURE zoning into housing, commercial and recreational uses would allow the Valle Crest company to “resque” a bad judgement investment. If this “project” is allowed, it will exacerbate the already bumper to bumper traffic that extends eastward on Cathedral Oaks past the intersection with Glenn Annie, along with Glenn Annie itself, not to mention the gridlock traffic on Alameda Ave that is created by Dos Pueblos High School that is across the street from the golf club. This project wants to add two more streets that
intersect with Cathedral Oaks adjacent to Dos Pueblos High School. This would only add to the traffic disaster that takes place every shool day.

» John Galt wrote on 09.10.08 @ 12:19 PM

The reason the golf course is losing money can be attributed to all of the conditions that the County placed on the project related to environmental concerns raised by environmental wackos. The golf course is also serverly limited in special event use...thanks to the NINMBYs in the area. Too bad O’Shaughnessy took it in the shorts.

» SBCO wrote on 06.15.09 @ 07:40 AM

CEQA issues, Water availability, Traffic Circulation, Visual Resources, Loss of Ag. Land, and a host of other Comprehensive Plan policy issues and problems ... this project will likely continue to die a slow death ... it’s been around for quite some time with them talking about rezoning and barely staying in business.

 

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