The Goleta City Council on Tuesday approved $2.4 million from the general fund to go toward Goleta Valley Library renovations, Goleta Community Center accessibility improvements and the San Jose Creek Channel Fish-Passage modification project as part of the 2025-26 budget.
The council also approved seven new projects to be added to the city’s five-year capital improvement program (CIP) list: Hollister Avenue safety improvements from Storke Road to Pebble Beach Drive; the Glen Annie Creek Culvert project; Heritage Ridge Park; a Hollister Avenue crosswalk at Magnolia Avenue and ADA parking improvements; Nectarine Park renovations; City Hall improvements; and the Highway 101 bike and pedestrian overcrossing study.
Councilman James Kyriaco said the new projects, and the city’s ongoing projects such as the Goleta Train Depot, are a sign of good things happening in Goleta.
“It just seems that there are a lot of good things happening in Goleta,” Kyriaco said. “A lot of promises that have been made for the last several years, for the last 10, 20 years are being fulfilled.”
The estimated costs of the seven new projects is approximately $12.4 million, but that doesn’t include Heritage Ridge Park as the final cost has yet to be determined.
The total cost of all the projects on the five-year CIP list is $339.3 million, and the city needs $73 million to fully fund all of the projects.
The library improvements project has city and state funding, but the $7.5 million library project still has a $457,300 funding gap.
The Goleta Valley Library closed in April for an estimated two years of construction. A temporary location at 6500 Hollister Ave. is expected to open in the coming weeks.
The $7.3 million San Jose Creek Channel Fish-Passage modification project still needs $5.7 million to be fully funded.
The purpose of the channel is to allow endangered steelhead trout from the Goleta Slough to migrate to a natural creek upstream. The facility was originally completed in 2014 but has not met fish passage standards, so the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is requiring that the city modify the facility.
Along with the CIP budget, the city also approved the operating budget for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years. The budget for pavement maintenance remains at $6 million per year, similar to the past few years.
Joel Ririe, the city’s pavement engineer consultant, told the council in February that they would need to spend more money to maintain road conditions.
Councilman Stuart Kasdin said while the city has a structurally balanced budget, it’s not balanced if it includes the costs of the city’s deteriorating infrastructure.
“We just can’t live by allowing our roads to deteriorate to points where it gets more and more costly in the future,” Kasdin said.
Earlier in the meeting, the council approved a $10 million pavement improvement project focused on the northeast Goleta neighborhood, along with portions of Hollister Avenue, South Fairview Avenue, Storke Road, Calle Real, Berkeley Road and Los Carneros Road.
The project will be paid for using about $4.5 million left over from the 2024-25 fiscal budget and $6.6 million from the 2025-26 fiscal budget.
