After several years and many more public meetings, the Goleta City Council adopted the city’s 2023-31 Housing Element during its meeting Tuesday, and the document is now headed to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development for final certification.

The Housing Element is a required part of each city’s General Plan, and the state requires it to be updated every eight years. 

With the adoption of the Housing Element revisions, 12 sites throughout the city also have been rezoned to accommodate Goleta’s regional housing needs allocation.

The 12 sites that are being rezoned to be added to the Housing Element include 7264 Calle Real — also known as Kenwood Village — 625 Dara Road, 60 Colusa Ave., 7020 Calle Real, 7190 Hollister Ave., parcels to the east of 7190 Hollister Ave., 35 Ellwood Station Road, 6470 Hollister Ave., 7360 Hollister Ave., 449 Kellogg Way, 469 Kellogg Way and a portion of the Yardi Systems property at 490 S. Fairview Ave.

“In the coming months and years, I am committed to ensuring that future housing developments align with our General Plan, and I encourage our community to stay engaged,” Mayor Paula Perotte said Tuesday evening.

As part of the Housing Element, the City of Goleta was required to identify projects or land that can accommodate the regional housing needs allocation set by the state. For this cycle, Goleta’s allocation calls for a total of 1,837 units — 1,006 very-low- and low-income units, 370 moderate-income units and 461 above-moderate-income units. Goleta’s previous allocation from 2015 to 2022 called for 979 total units.

Some housing development projects that already have been approved include the 332-unit Heritage Ridge apartment project and Buena Tierra, the 60-unit permanent supportive housing project at the former Super 8 motel in Goleta.

After the city submitted a Housing Element that the Department of Housing and Community Development sent back for revisions, the state finally accepted Goleta’s revised Housing Element. It sent the city a letter on Oct. 16 saying that it would substantially comply with state housing law once adopted.

Throughout the process, community members have been providing feedback on the document, particularly on the rezones. While some people supported some rezoning to allow housing developments, several other local residents have spoken in opposition to some site rezones, especially the Kenwood Village site at 7264 Calle Real, the site at 625 Dara Road and others.

Neighbors opposing those sites have cited increased traffic bringing dangerous conditions, high-density projects being incompatible with the surrounding single-family homes, and more as their reasons for not wanting the rezones and potential housing projects.

“It says that [the Kenwood Village] rezone is in the best interest of the community. I’m not sure which community we’re referring to,” public commenter Richard Foster said Tuesday. “All one has to do is look at the numerous comments from people who live that way about whether they think it’s in the best interest of their community.”

Other residents have spoken about the challenges of finding affordable housing, showing support for the rezones and saying that housing just needs to be built.

“Everyone says, ‘We need more housing, we need more affordable housing, it’s a problem, but when it comes to our neighborhood, we don’t want it where we live,’ and it doesn’t matter if it’s for single-family homes or high-density, people oppose every single project that comes before the council,” public commenter Travis Tucker said. “There’s going to be opposition to every plan in front of the council, but the amount of time it takes for development to happen, action just needs to happen. Housing needs to be built.”

The Goleta City Council voted unanimously to adopt the 2023-31 Housing Element, which is now being sent to the state for final certification.