Developers for The Farm, a for-sale townhome and single-family housing project proposed for the Carpinteria Bluffs, have released plans for the 27-acre parcel and scheduled an April 9 open house where community members can ask questions. 

The open house will be held at the Carpinteria Community Church, 1111 Vallecito Road, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

All the homes would be on the parcel at 5669 and 5885 Carpinteria Ave.

Early plans show 191 for-sale, two-story residences: 94 townhomes and 97 single-family homes, between 26 and 30 feet tall. Parking will include on-street guest parking and a two-car garage for each unit, with a total of 683 parking spaces. 

The single-family homes would have five bedrooms and range in size from 3,146 square feet to 3,504 square feet. The townhomes would be three-bedroom units, with anywhere from 1,747 square feet to 1,822 square feet. 

Twenty percent of those units — 20 single-family homes and 19 townhomes — would be designated for low-income households. Developers are working with People’s Self-Help Housing, a Central Coast nonprofit housing organization, on the affordable component, per the project website. 

That parcel is split toward the bottom by the railroad trucks. Under the current plans, all residential development would be limited to the mountain side of the railroad tracks, with a 200-foot setback from the railroad.

Early plans state that the oceanside portion of the parcel, with its roughly 4 acres, would remain undeveloped and dedicated as open space with “maintained recreational trails and the coastal sage scrub areas and native vegetation conserved.”

Located on the oceanside of the railroad tracks, right on the edge of the bluffs, is the Harbor Seal Rookery overlook.

Developers first submitted a preliminary application for this project back in December 2024, before the state of California certified the city of Carpinteria’s 2023-2031 Housing Element, making it eligible as a builder’s remedy project. 

Builder’s remedy projects can bypass certain local zoning laws if at least 20% of the housing project includes affordable units. 

A notice on The Farm’s website states that while “the city’s development standards are inapplicable” because of builder’s remedy, “the project nonetheless complies with city’s objective development standards.” 

A formal application for the project was submitted in June 2025. The city issued two notices of an incomplete application before determining the application complete in December; city staff also released a lengthy consistency review report on Feb. 27 of this year and found many parts of the plans inconsistent with city policies.

Carpinteria city staff are currently reviewing proposals from environmental consultants who will prepare a draft environmental impact report for the project, Carpinteria Community Development Director Nick Bobroff said at the City Council meeting on Monday.

That consultant will be chosen by the council at an upcoming meeting. 

This new project is separate from a previous farm-themed hospitality and residential project proposed by Carp Bluffs LLC for that same lot, then known as the Carpinteria Farm Preserve & Bungalows Project.

That hospitality project drew harsh backlash from Carpinterians who argued the bluffs shouldn’t be developed. 

Carpinterians in the late 1990s led a campaign to prevent any future bluffs development and raised money to purchase nearby bluffs parcels totaling 51.8 acres.

That agreement did not include the 5669 and 5885 Carpinteria Ave. parcel, which is privately-owned and designated Planned Unit Development (PUD), which allows for residential use.

A golf driving range, Tee Time Practice Center, currently operates on the top part of that parcel, which is located adjacent to Carpinteria City Hall. Some farmland also exists on that property.

While the property owner of that parcel is still listed as Carp Bluffs LLC under the current project application, The Farm project applicant is Central Coast CA Ventures LLC, according to planning documents.

Bobroff on Monday stressed that the April 9 open house “is not a city-sanctioned event or city-sponsored event.” 

“It’s something that the developers are doing on their own to try and share information about the project with the community and solicit feedback,” Bobroff said. “We are sharing information about it just to help make sure the community is informed and that they can participate if they’re interested.” 

Housing Development

If the project is approved and built — though it still has a long way to go through the review process — these 191 units would count toward the city of Carpinteria’s 2023-2031 Housing Element. 

Under the Housing Element approved by the state last year, the city aims to issue building permits for 901 housing units, divided into 286 very-low income, 132 low-income, 135 moderate-income, and 348 above-moderate income. 

The city has issued 73 permits, according to city staff, who gave the City Council a Housing Element update Monday night. 

That includes 18 permits issued in 2025: 15 for accessory dwelling units and junior ADUs, two for single-family homes, and one for a condominium tri-plex.

This comes after permits issued for one unit in late 2022/early 2023, 10 in 2023 and 42 in 2024.

These numbers do not include the three Carpinteria Valley parcels proposed for high-density housing just outside city limits.

For the Record: The open house will end at 8 p.m.