With story poles up and an upcoming Architectural Review Board meeting, controversy has risen once again over a planned hospitality and residential project on the Carpinteria Bluffs next to the nature preserve.

The plan includes 41 affordable housing units, a 99-room bungalow style retreat, a gathering barn, a 2-acre farm, 3 acres of preserved farmland, and 10.5 acres of permanent open space.

The closest building will be 155 feet away from the preserve. 

The land is owned by Carp Bluff LLC, and Matthew Goodwin and Christopher Carlin will be leading development of the project if it’s approved by the city.

The developers are partnering with People’s Self-Help Housing to create the affordable housing units. A mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units is proposed.

People’s Self-Help Housing will have to follow the proposed design, but will be building the units itself. 

“We figured they were the best people to build out the actual low-income housing, using their relationships and vendors, but under our guidance for design architecture,” Carlin told Noozhawk. 

The housing aspect of the proposal also gives the opportunity to have workplace housing, something the county has been motivated to have more of. 

“Because there’s a desire for more affordable housing, workforce housing within the community, and we liked that in the sense that by creating a hotel on a farm, you’re gonna have staff and that staff needs places to live,” Goodwin said.

“If they can literally live next door, that’s tremendously beneficial. But there’s obviously great businesses along Carpinteria Avenue that would also benefit from workforce housing nearby.”

It is estimated that within the next three to five years, 611 full-time construction workers will be hired to work on the project, as well as 133 employees to work at the resort once it’s built, according to the project description.

The project originally had 16 residential units, but Goodwin and Carlin decided to add more after feedback from the city. 

Goodwin and Carlin took over the property from a developer group based in Orange County that had planned a three-story luxury hotel with 250 rooms, an apartment complex, and limited parking and open space.

Goodwin and Carlin said they wanted to do something that fit better with the preserve and used less lot coverage for the buildings. 

The Planned Unit Development zoning allows for 30% of lot coverage, also known as the area that a building footprint sits on the land at the first story.

The original project would have used the entirety of that 30%, but the current proposal calls for 10% of lot coverage with a building footprint of 2.9 acres. 

The company filed its formal application with the city January 2023 after conducting a series of initial reports, including their own environmental impact report.

“The reason we did that is because the site is so sensitive with all of its surroundings and the community,” Goodwin said. “We wanted to do all of the technical analysis ahead of time, like biology reports, arborist reports, traffic analysis, all of these items well ahead of time so that when we’re designing the project, we can be designing it with an understanding of what kind of impacts may be created so we can find a balanced approach as we do that.”

Goodwin told Noozhawk that the company has shared the proposal with various individuals from the community, rotary clubs, the chamber of commerce and other organizations to share facts about the project.

The developers told Noozhawk that they seek to educate the public on what could be done on the property and what is actually being proposed.

“We actually are adding 13% to the existing preserve, which is a substantial number, and we’re doing it at no cost to the public,” Carlin said. “That’s really a massive gesture on our part, but we really believe that this bluff should continue right into the property.

“We want to make sure that the public will realize that we really are very conscious of giving up this land to the public.”

Goodwin said that the company plans to use coyote brush and other native plants in the project, as well as adding a 30-foot natural vegetation buffer from the edge of the bluffs to prevent further erosion. 

The proposal is not without its critics.

Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs have been encouraging residents via social media to attend the upcoming Architectural Review Board meeting and to speak up about the proposal. 

“The goal of the citizens is really to retain any open space in perpetuity that persists here,” Patrick Crooks, the group’s president, told Noozhawk. “My whole life this has always been open, undeveloped, sacred land.”

Crooks said he worries that having a resort right next to the nature preserve would have significant impacts on the wildlife population that includes red-tailed hawks, great blue herons and others.

“Of course, there’s a market for it. We just don’t think that this is the right place for that to fill the void in the market, as the developer might say,” Crooks said. “It would impact the views, it would impact the biology, it would impact the traffic that we have on 101.

“So many of the little critters that are out here would have a new neighbor and constant commotion that they don’t have right now.”

While the parcel is zoned for residential and hospitality development, Crooks said he worries it would cause a domino effect, and that more development could happen on the bluffs and similar areas. 

“I think once you put a resort here, it becomes more like Bacara, it becomes more like Rosewood, and I’m not saying those aren’t places that people want to live,” he said. “I just think most folks that live in town and come to Carpinteria come here for what it is today or what it was five years ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago,” Crooks said.

“The minute you put a resort here, the vibe of Carpinteria is forever changed.” 

Crooks argues that while the developers have talked to the community about the proposal, the community did not ask for a resort on that land.

“We just really want to encourage people to become engaged and involved in the process,” Crooks said. “I’m not against hearing whatsoever about any development, but let’s focus our development towards what we call the downtown and that commercial district.”

No decisions will be made at the upcoming Architectural Review Board meeting. The board will make recommendations after hearing the proposal and public comment.

The meeting will be held Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Carpinteria City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Ave.