If all goes well for Westar Associates, the company could break ground for a mixed-use project across from Camino Real Marketplace this time next year.

The Goleta Design Review Board on Tuesday reviewed the latest version of the project, planned for the semi-vacant parcel that lies between Glen Annie Road and Santa Felicia Drive on Hollister Avenue. The 23.55-acre site currently includes a vacant field, the nonprofit Santa Barbara Channels local-access cable TV station, and a Bank of America ATM facility. The ATM and the TV station would be demolished as part of the development plan. With a few calls for improvement to the circulation and traffic of the project, the board voted 4-1, with member Bob Wignot dissenting, to move the plan forward with conceptual approval.

Currently, the 274-unit project includes 19 residential one-, two- and three-story buildings occupying most of the northern portion of the parcel. Amenities include a communal recreation building and pool/spa, as well as pocket parks and open space. Photovoltaics and stormwater management facilities are also part of the plan.

The southern portion of the parcel, fronting on Hollister will house commercial buildings, including stores and restaurants.

The current plans are a substantial change from what they were when Peter Koetting and company presented their proposal to the Goleta Planning Commission almost a year ago. The initial plan called for 300 residential units and less open space. After back-and-forth with the DRB, the plans have changed to reflect fewer residential units, more open space allocation and improvements to the circulation within the project.

On Tuesday, the board was generally approving of the applicants’ “great and promising” changes to their plans, commending them on their willingness to decrease the amount of development and reorient streets and buildings. However, several still expressed concern over the street layout within the project and the impact the increased traffic would have on the nearby Pacific Glen neighborhood, just across Glen Annie Road to the east.

“You guys have done a good job; it’s been an arduous process,” said board chairman Thomas Smith. Still, he and some of his colleagues were careful to point out their concern over the delivery area for the market proposed for the project’s southeast corner. Deliveries to the market might compete with residential traffic leaving the neighborhood and accessing Hollister.

A few neighbors from the project’s west side showed up to express their gratitude that a residential building planned just across the street from their homes had been removed and replaced with open space. But the Glen Annie traffic continued to disconcert them.

“I’m concerned about the traffic flow,” said neighbor Nancy Gillette. Glen Annie could be congested, given the amount of traffic expected to flow through that area, as well as the people backing out of their parking spaces onto that road from the residential portion of the Westar project, she said. Stormwater management was another issue that concerned the neighbors, who worried about runoff.

The next step for the applicant will be to go through an environmental review of the project, with the next layer of approvals to come from the Goleta Planning Commission.

Click here to view the submitted Westar project plans.

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