Property owner Dario Pini plans to remodel a home at the corner of Cathedral Oaks Road and Alameda Avenue in Goleta that has been neglected for a decade. Neighbors are worried it will be rented out per bed to students.
Property owner Dario Pini plans to remodel a home at the corner of Cathedral Oaks Road and Alameda Avenue in Goleta that has been neglected for a decade. Neighbors are worried it will be rented out per bed to students. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo

A house owned by notorious landlord Dario Pini is at the center of controversy in Goleta.

Pini, known for managing and owning properties with a plethora of violations, wants to convert a single-family home near Dos Pueblos High School into one with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms, raising neighborhood concerns that the property will be rented per bed.

The house is on the corner of Alameda Avenue and Cathedral Oaks Road, a prominent spot near the Dos Pueblos student parking lot.

“This house is a train wreck,” said Scott Branch, a member of the Goleta Design Review Board. “It’s enormous. It dwarfs everything else around there. Now there’s going to be seven bedrooms and a boatload of people living in there.”

The home has been dilapidated and neglected, with multiple violations, including unpermitted work, on the property during the past several years, according to the City of Goleta.

Pini is now attempting to remodel the home, but that renovation has sparked new concerns for neighbors. The proposal, they say, will hurt the neighborhood and take up scarce parking.

“It’s a single-family house on a good lot,” nearby resident Alice Alldredge said. “We’d like to see a single family in it. We certainly don’t want it to become an apartment building with students living in it. That would be a difficult situation.”

A home at the corner of Cathedral Oaks and Alameda Road in Goleta has been a point of concern for neighbors for more than a decade.
A home at the corner of Cathedral Oaks Road and Alameda Avenue in Goleta has been a point of concern for neighbors for more than a decade. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo

The project went before Goleta’s Design Review Board in May and is scheduled to return on July 8.

Pini ended a phone interview with Noozhawk quickly on Wednesday when asked about whether the house would be converted to student housing.

“It’s going to be a nice house for the neighborhood,” Pini said. “It will fit in nice in the neighborhood.”

Pini also said he shares the concerns of the neighbors, which is why he is going through the permit process.

Alldredge said the home has been a nuisance for years, with lots of activity.

“We have had people coming and going, living in there for a few days to weeks,” she said, adding that she has seen people storing goods at the house. “Just recently, in the last six or seven months, they put a chain on the gate so people couldn’t go inside.”

Alldredge said she routinely picks up the palm fronds because nobody comes to take care of the outside of the house.

Located at the corner of Cathedral Oaks and Alameda Road in Goleta, this house owned by Dario Pini expected to undergo a renovation that includes seven bedrooms and six bathrooms.
Located at the corner of Cathedral Oaks Road and Alameda Avenue in Goleta, this house owned by Dario Pini expected to undergo a renovation that includes seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo

“It’s been an eyesore,” she said.

Pini wants to convert an existing attic area into habitable space and add a third-car garage. He wants to replace and relocate the existing stairway, repair the roof, and add a canopy facing Cathedral Oaks Road.

Pini has been the focus of scrutiny for decades.

The City of Santa Barbara in 2018 filed an unfair-competition action in conjunction with the District Attorney’s Office, arguing that the more than 3,000 health-and-safety code violations represent an unfair business practice.

A receiver was court assigned to seven of Pini’s residential properties at that time. He has been accused of code violations in several cities, including Santa Maria, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, and in some cases has reached multimillion-dollar settlements.

The proposed seven-bedroom house in Goleta has sparked conversations on the neighborhood app NextDoor.

A view of the Goleta home from Cathedral Oaks Road shows weeds and items stored on the property.
A view of the Goleta home from Cathedral Oaks Road shows weeds and items stored on the property. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo

“Betting Pini will fill it up with college rentals,” one user posted.

Goleta Design Review Board member Cecilia Brown appeared frazzled by the entire proposal.

“Wow. I am not sure where to go. There’s a lot to be said here,” she said. “I know the neighborhood somewhat, and it’s certainly a house that is out of size and scale for that neighborhood.”

She shook her head at one point.

“I don’t even know if the addition of any landscaping is going to help or improve the appearance of this house,” she said.

Nearby resident Caroline Rind spoke at the May 27 meeting. She said that while she appreciates that the home is being fixed up after a decade of neglect, new troubles loom. The neighborhood, she said, has families and children.

“I am seeing seven bedrooms and dorm-style bathrooms,” she said. “Dario Pini is well known in the community for his rentals, and I can only imagine how many adults he’s planning to pack into this residence, which just doesn’t match the makeup of this neighborhood.”

— Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.