Opponents of a 191-unit for-sale housing project proposed for the Carpinteria Bluffs packed City Hall on Tuesday, offering their feedback and criticisms as part of the project’s environmental review process. 

Central Coast CA Ventures, LLC’s project at the 27-acre property at 5669 and 5885 Carpinteria Ave. includes 97 five-bedroom single-family homes and 94 three-bedroom townhomes, with two-car garages. 

Visitor parking and three pocket parks are also planned for the site, along with 7.6 acres of open space toward the oceanside of the parcel, straddling the railroad tracks. Development will remain on the north side of the parcel, above the tracks, per the development team.

Twenty percent of units would be designated as income-restricted under the management of People’s Self-Help Housing, a Central Coast nonprofit.

Those units would be priced at roughly $350,000 to $450,000, per the project website. 

Currently on the site is a golf practice center and farm. The area’s Seal Rookery lies just below the parcel along that stretch of beach.

Some speakers spoke broadly about their opposition to the project, while others offered specific input on the environmental impacts. 

Christie Boyd called the project “grossly inconsistent” with city policies. 

“I ask myself: what is the point of having and updating our general plan and local coastal plan if we are not using them to guide us when developments come in front of us?” she said.

She called on the property owner to give the Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs, a local advocacy group, a “fair asking price for this much-loved property.”

The Citizens previously raised money to purchase 52 acres of Bluffs proposed for development in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Ted Rhodes, a past Citizens president, said the environmental impact report should analyze visual impacts that the project could have on nearby nature views, such as the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve. 

Representatives with the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) — retained by the Citizens and the Carpinteria Valley Association to speak on the project — also offered their input.

The EDC’s Ryan Smith said the environmental impact report must include a “reasonable range of alternatives,” including an alternative of no project.

Only a handful of supporters, largely representatives of People’s Self-Help Housing, threw their words behind the project.

They said there are hundreds of people on the waitlists for the four other income-restricted housing complexes in Carpinteria: Casas del las Flores (43 units), Chapel Court (28 units), Dahlia Court (55 units) and Dahlia Court II (33 units). 

Omead Poure, a regional supervisor, shared comments on behalf of Chapel Court senior property manager Sebastian Corano.

“‘Every day, I see what stable, affordable housing means for them: parents who no longer have to choose between rent and groceries, kids who can stay in the same school district instead of moving every few months, and workers who can show up for the harvest because they’re not worried about losing their home,’” Poure passed on. “‘Carpinteria simply does not have enough housing to meet the needs of the community.’” 

Ken Triguerio, People’s Self-Help Housing CEO and president, said it has been difficult to find feasible parcels to build income-restricted housing on in the area. 

He also urged city staff to look into increasing the number of affordable units in the project. 

Public comment for the project’s draft environmental impact report will close 5 p.m. on July 10. The city is accepting comments at thefarmproject@carpinteriaca.gov or through mail to 5775 Carpinteria Ave., city of Carpinteria Community Development.