Longtime Goleta Planning Commissioner Jennifer Smith is taking the next step and running for City Council.
In the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina, Smith offers her views on housing, the Old Town restriping project, the Glen Annie Golf Club housing proposal, and plans to close the library for two years of construction.
She said the No. 1 issue that residents want to talk about is the proposed housing project on the Glen Annie Golf Club property. Developers want to demolish the golf course and build between 800 and 1,000 units on the hill, on the other side of Cathedral Oaks Road.
“I am very concerned about the impacts from whatever comes forward with that project,” Smith said. “We have people who need to commute and drop off kids at Dos Pueblos High School. That whole area, it’s really congested already.”
She said the project is an example of the state mandates not unfolding as intended for our area. She said it is important to address housing, and affordable housing, but that the conversation should not be about developer profits. She said the discussion should be about what works for everybody.
“We truly have an affordable housing crisis in our community and in our region,” Smith said. “I am concerned. I am concerned about the next generation of Goletans having the opportunity to stay here, the those who grew up here for them to have the opportunity to stay. It is better for all of us to have young folks, old folks, a good mix of people in our community. Families. We suffer in our community when we don’t.”
She said she understands the community’s concerns about the traffic congest in Old Town Goleta, which she believes can be attributed to the bridge replacement off Kellogg Road, as well as the construction of the two roundabouts near Highway 217.
Some of the issue, she said, is that people may not have know that all the construction was happening at the same time.
“It’s one thing to send a postcard notice, it’s one to send an agenda with a bunch of jargon that no one really understands, but could there have been a more proactive discussion with businesses,” Smith said.
Smith, the executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County, also talks about the Goleta library closure. She would like to see the city partner with a property owner to relocate the library to minimize disruption.
“I don’t know, we have some really generous people in our community,” Smith said. “I saw someone throw out the idea of ‘what about the old Bed Bath & Beyond site.’ We know that there’s empty office space out there.”
Josh Molina is a journalist who creates dynamic conversation and provides media content on the issues of the day, including housing, transportation, education, business and culture. He is also a college journalism instructor. Visit SantaBarbaraTalks to make a contribution and please subscribe on YouTube.