The Goleta City Council was set to approve new parking restrictions near Armitos Park, but fearing it would cause more problems, decided to hold off on making any changes. 

Goleta has seen a lot of parking changes in the past few months. Hollister Avenue in Old Town was restripped earlier this summer to add more street parking and reduce vehicle traffic from two lanes on each side to one. The project has drawn mixed reactions from the community.

The city also approved 90-minute parking time limits on Carson Street between South Fairview Avenue and Orange Avenue. 

The council considered 90-minute parking on Armitos Avenue east of South Kellogg Avenue to San Jose Creek.

JoAnne Plummer, the director of Neighborhood Services, told the council that parking in the area has become increasingly difficult for park-goers. 

In May, a community garden opened at the park along with new playground equipment and an extended bike path, leading to more people flocking to the park. 

The 90-minute parking would have been in effect Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Mayor Paula Perotte said the council received several emails about this issue, with one resident suggesting that they wait to make any changes, an idea with which the council agreed. 

Mayor Pro Tempore Luz Reyes-Martín said she wasn’t sure the proposed solution was enough to fix the parking challenges in the area. 

“The issue is much bigger than just folks wanting to go to the community garden and maybe not being able to find a spot,” Reyes-Martín said. “If you zoom out, it’s a much bigger challenge around parking in Old Town and in particular in this area. I worry that it would cause more challenges because those cars are gonna need to go somewhere, and it’s just going to push the problems somewhere else.” 

Councilman James Kyriaco said it might be the right solution at the wrong time, and if they approved the time limits on parking that it could negatively impact residents that rely on street parking.

“A lot of people that live in that part of Old Town don’t have a garage, may not have a driveway, may live in an apartment building that has a very limited amount of off-street parking, where are you supposed to go,” Kyriaco said.

The council directed city staff to do more community outreach on the issue and study the possibility of angled parking in the area. 

Perotte pointed out that as the city is adding more time limits on parking spaces, they are going to need more enforcement. 

“You can put up all the signs you want and say ‘90 minutes,’ and if it’s not enforced, people are going to park there and leave their cars there,” Perotte said. “We have to talk about enforcement and do we need to increase our enforcement.”