The Goleta City Council directed city staff Tuesday to draft a moratorium to temporarily halt approval of new firearm retail dealers.

Tuesday’s meeting was a highly anticipated discussion regarding possible city regulations on firearms and ammunition retail sales. It comes after community backlash over Goodland Guns relocating its storefront and soon officially opening next to Here We Grow Early Learning Center on Hollister Avenue. 

City staff will bring the moratorium draft to the City Council in the coming weeks, City Manager Robert Nisbet told Noozhawk. The moratorium would not affect existing businesses, including Goodland Guns. 

The City Council took no formal vote Tuesday.

Instead, community and council members provided city staff with suggestions for possible regulations for firearm and ammunition retailers, including edits to the city’s zoning ordinance, business license requirements and buffer zones.

Tuesday’s meeting also came hours after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to adopt a 45-day moratorium on new gun retailers while it looks at modifying ordinances relating to firearm retailers. The county moratorium applies to unincorporated areas, which are outside cities. 

City Council members supported finding Goodland Guns a new location.

Mayor Paula Perotte said the City of Goleta is trying to support local businesses while prioritizing public safety and complying with federal law.

“We are not saying you can’t sell; we are just saying there might be a more appropriate place where you can succeed, be welcomed and do a good job,” she said. “We want you to succeed.”

The gun shop is set to celebrate its opening day on Saturday at 7443 Hollister Ave., after years of searching for a new location, according to owner Dan Ashton. 

The shop was issued a business license in early June for permitted commercial use in its new location, Noozhawk previously reported.

In Goleta, there are no specific zoning regulations regarding the retail sale of firearms and ammunition, according to city staff. 

Firearm and ammunition retailers fall under the city’s “general retail” category and, with a business license, can operate in four commercial zone districts, according to Anne Wells, advance planning manager for the city. 

“They followed the lawful process that we had in place, and I think it would be appropriate to try to be part of the solution,” Councilwoman Luz Reyes-Martín said.

Ashton said at Tuesday’s meeting that he tried to acquire a location for his store in an industrial zone in Goleta, but his application and business license were “stonewalled.”

Councilman James Kyriaco said he would consider allowing firearm retail use in industrial zoning.

However, editing the zoning could trigger an amendment to the city’s general plan and need further review, creating a longer process, city staff warned. 

Ashton spoke Tuesday, frustrated with city staff, community backlash and possible new regulations.

He said his former Old Town Goleta location at 5731 Hollister Ave. already operated near a preschool, Rainbow School, for 13 years. 

“Further regulation against firearm dealers in Goleta is a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. 

There’s an extensive process that gun retailers must comply with at the federal and state levels before approaching the city for a business license, Ashton said, pointing to information city staff shared earlier in the meeting.

He also criticized Goleta for granting a business license to a preschool next to the former 7-Eleven, which sold tobacco and alcohol. He claimed the city “ignored its own laws.” 

Goleta has local laws that outline the distance that cannabis, tobacco and adult-oriented businesses must be from sensitive uses, which includes schools, residential zones, parks and community assembly areas.

“The law was on the books and should have prevented that location from ever becoming a preschool,” Ashton said.

Former gun shop owner Becky Davis also spoke Tuesday, warning the City Council of potential litigation. 

Davis said she and her husband owned a gun shop in the area before Goleta acquired cityhood and was later “zoned out of business” about a decade ago.

“If you try to outlaw gun businesses through some backward legislation about buffer zones or additional requirements, we will call the Firearms Policy Coalition, and we will bring a lawsuit against the city,” Davis said. 

Community members opposing the new Goodland Guns location have pleaded with the city for weeks to find a solution, and Tuesday was no different. 

Emily Zacarias, Goleta Union School District Board of Education vice president, urged the City Council to consider a minimum separation of 1,000 feet and establish a public notification process and consideration of nearby youth-serving uses when firearm retail is involved. 

The school board recently unanimously passed a resolution regarding student safety, including buffer zones with firearms retail, she added.  

After hearing from the community and deliberating, the City Council left city staff with a list of recommendations. 

The council encouraged staff to use the city’s cannabis regulations “as a starting point” for sensitive uses and buffers.

They recommended including preschools, churches and private and public schools in the sensitive uses categories regarding firearm retailers.

City Council members also looked to edit the city’s firearms and ammunition business license requirements to possibly include a community notification process.

Additionally, the council recommended looking at the community commercial zone. 

Some council members also eyed a possible conditional use permit requirement for firearms retailers.

However, gun store owner Ashton said this could lead to no more gun stores opening in Goleta. 

“Putting a conditional use permit requirement on a firearms business in a predominantly liberal town is a thinly veiled ban,” he said.

City staff will now take the council’s recommendations and bring back possible changes to local regulations and business license applications for consideration at a future meeting.