The groups behind the 196-unit apartment complex proposed for a Carpinteria Valley parcel broke down the most recent project plans at a community meeting Tuesday night.

The mixed income-restricted and market-rate project is set for 1101 and 1103 Bailard Ave., a seven-acre property located just outside the Carpinteria city limits. Currently on the site is a small farm.

The proposal comes to the valley from the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara and Red Tail Multifamily.

The Housing Authority, a nonprofit organization, currently houses 3,093 residents across 1,665 income-restricted units around the county.

This project has been in the works for several years, but it has repeatedly drawn community pushback from city residents and the City Council concerned about the scale and scope of the development and impacts to the city.

The parcel was originally owned by the Carpinteria Unified School District and zoned as single-family residential, with a small farm on the site.

The California Coastal Commission approved a parcel rezone for high-density housing with 32% affordable units earlier this year.

There isn’t a set timeline for when the project could come before the public again for a review by the county’s design boards or the county Planning Commission, project representatives told Noozhawk on Tuesday at the Carpinteria Veterans Memorial Building meeting.

Because the parcel is located just outside the city limits, project review falls on the county level. The application is currently under review by county staff.

The City Council, on its end, will review some related utility and road improvements on the city’s side of the boundary.

Demolition of the existing structures on the parcel is set to begin this fall.

The buildings would have a mix of studios as well as one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

Updated plans have 196 units — 133 would be market-rate, while 63 would be income-restricted.

Within the income-restricted units, 11 would be designated for moderate-income households, 46 for low-income households and six for very-low-income households.

The low-income and very-low-income units would be housed in one building on the property, while the moderate-income units would be scattered throughout the other market-rate buildings, project representatives said on Tuesday.

The moderate-income units are intended for households that earn between $118,021 and $196,700 per year, the low-income units for households making between $49,171 and $118,020 per year and the very-low-income units for households making less than $49,170 per year.

Click here to see the income limits and maximum allowable rents for deed-restricted units for income-restricted county housing projects.

People who fall within those categories would have to pay only a certain portion of their income toward rent.

The units would be prioritized for people who already work and live in Santa Barbara County, per existing Housing Authority policies and reinforced by a Board of Supervisors decision earlier this year.

Site amenities would include a dog run, an outdoor pool area, a community center with a fitness room and a toddler area.

There are 303 parking spaces planned, for an average of 1.5 spaces or unit, and 98 bicycle parking spaces.

The main entrance and exit for the project — as well as the main emergency egress route — would be adjacent to Monte Vista Park, north of the Bailard Avenue and Pandanus Street intersection.

To accommodate the project, it is recommended that the intersection be turned into a four-way stop.

A second, emergency-only egress point is planned for the southwest corner of the lot, which would put them onto the Castias Village private alley, to Birch Street, Popular Street, Via Real and then Highway 101, according to project representatives.

Emergency vehicles would be allowed to enter at the northwest corner.

The project is also proposing widening the Monte Vista Park access aisle and a portion of the Casitas Village private alley.

The city itself and some community members have objected to the project, concerned about the density and impact on parking and traffic in the area. Supporters have argued that the valley desperately needs housing. 

The city sent multiple letters objecting to the project, including in 2021 and 2025. The city also sent representatives to the Coastal Commission meeting to speak out against the rezone of the project parcel.

“By locating the county’s highest-density housing designations outside the established urban boundary and on lands that form part of the Carpinteria Valley’s agricultural and open-space mosaic, it would undermine both Coastal Act policies and decades of coordinated planning between the city, county and commission,” city Community Development Director Nick Bobroff wrote last year.

Some said they are concerned about new cars clogging up the area and causing issues with emergency evacuations. Parking is already tight for neighboring communities Casitas Village and Villa Del Mar, according to Casitas Village Homeowners Association President Betty Jeppesen.

Jeppesen said the homeowners association does not want the project to use its private alley as an evacuation route. There are 288 two-bedroom units in Casitas Village, with a limit of five people per unit, she said.

She told Noozhawk she is concerned about the impact the project would have on the neighborhood, both in terms of parking and evacuations.

She said Casitas Village is full of working families who already have very limited places to park.

“When our people come home from work — and they work, they’re very hardworking people — they have to walk” far to get from their vehicle back to their home, she said. “It’s unmanageable.”

She said she would like to see this development in another area that isn’t landlocked.

Carpinteria residents Ben Burlingham told Noozhawk the area is a “parking lot already,” and it’s a race to find parking when everyone comes home around 5 p.m.

Arash Ghaffar, transportation engineer, and Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Michael LoMonaco told Noozhawk on Tuesday that an evacuation study was done during peak traffic periods.

That traffic study showed that during the morning peak period (7 a.m. to 10 a.m.), a resident should expect it to take 1.1 minutes longer, on average, during an evacuation if the proposed project is built.

That same study showed it would take an extra 0.7 minutes on average to evacuate during a peak nighttime period (5 p.m. to 8 p.m.).

A project website should be available in the future, according to project representatives.