A proposal to bring Sutter Health clinic services and a daycare facility to western Goleta made headway in the planning process Monday night.

The Goleta Planning Commission unanimously supported the project at 6975 Santa Felicia Drive to go into the site of the previously approved Storke Medical Center project.

“Having additional medical offices in Goleta is very needed; there’s nothing in this whole area, so I support this project (and) I don’t have any concerns at all,” Commissioner Jennifer Fullerton said.

The project site is a vacant lot near Ice in Paradise and the Camino Real Marketplace.  

“We are really happy to finally complete the Camino Real Project we started in 1995 with the Storke Medical Clinic,” said Kimberly Schizas, project applicant with Wynmark Company. 

The Storke Medical Center project was first approved in 2023 and proposed a pair of two-story medical office buildings and a childcare facility.

However, a development plan amendment was triggered after a single-operator medical clinic approached the project team and said it wanted the whole project and wanted to run the entire clinic in one building, according to Schizas.

Once Sansum Clinic joined Sutter Health in 2023, the organizations worked with developers to bring its healthcare services to Goleta, a spokesperson told Noozhawk.

The revised clinic plans include one 39,660-square-foot medical office, a 1,230-square-foot daycare to serve 20 children of facility employees, a bus stop in front of the building on Storke Road, parking and site amenities, according to project plans. 

The change from two buildings to one allows patients to check in at one place, and makes collaboration between providers easier, resulting in “better quality care,” said Lindsay Cortina, vice president, strategy and development, Sutter Health Greater Central Coast.  

However, the services and hours for the western Goleta clinic are still in the works, according to Cortina.

The clinic seeks to increase healthcare accessibility in Goleta and respond to community needs, she added.

“It’s really a long-term commitment to Goleta and making sure that as this community continues to grow, access to care grows with it,” Cortina said. 

Cortina said the clinic would “mirror” Sutter Clinic services and operations at existing clinic sites in the Santa Barbara area. 

The daycare plans were also revised to increase yard space and reduce enrollment from 30 to 20 children.

The project team also requests that the building exceed the 35-foot height maximum by four feet, which would help shield equipment at the top of the building. 

The commissioners voiced concerns about the traffic the project would generate and some about the height request, but ultimately supported the project. 

Commissioner Rita Serotkin said the area near the project site is a “nightmare” at all times of the day.

“I think this is something that keeps coming up, where we keep building, but the infrastructure is just not keeping up with it,” she said.

The revised project plans are expected to bring 21 additional morning peak-hour trips and 15 in the evening, and are “not really a big change,” according to Schizas. 

Commissioner Katie Maynard inquired whether traffic was analyzed for the weekend, but Mark Schleich, contract principal engineer with Goleta, told her that it was not looked at. He expects the traffic to the facility would be through the week.

Paul Poirier, project architect, said the proposed bus stop in front of the building and bicycle racks might also reduce vehicle trips. 

Maynard told commissioners that they had to “ground themselves” in what was already approved and the implications if the Planning Commission did not approve the project.

“I am excited to see the bus stop going in; that’s going to be very helpful,” she said. 

She was a little bit more “mixed” on the height, but found the project team’s explanation reasonable. 

Fullerton agreed and said that the commissioners should not “try to question everything” about the project, and the change in vehicle trips seemed small to her.

The Goleta Design Review Board also supported the project’s design in July. It will go back to the board in December, according to Christina McGuire, associate planner.

“The fact that it is all in one area is a really great benefit and great advantage to all the residents of the City of Goleta,” Commissioner Anne Miller said.