In response to some determined residents and a petition, the City of Goleta will remove only four parking spots on Overpass Road instead of the 13 as originally planned.
It’s a compromise for residents and the Santa Barbara Humane and Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter employees who park on the street, but residents said it should serve as a lesson for the city to have better planning and parking enforcement.
“It’s really disappointing that the Planning Commission failed to truly consider parking impacts when looking at a project like this because its whole purpose should be to consider the impacts, not just the change in color of the curb,” animal shelter volunteer Lee Heller said during public comment.
The 13 parking spots were originally planned for removal as part of Santa Barbara Humane’s campus renovations, which include adding a driveway and an exit from the parking lot on Overpass Road.
The Goleta Planning Commission approved the Santa Barbara Humane project in 2023.
When notices went out to neighbors in April, they began writing to the city that the loss of parking would worsen congestion on an already packed street. Neighbors even started a petition that received more than 400 signatures.
City Manager Robert Nisbet said the pushback from residents compelled the city to take another look at the street and find ways to preserve parking.
Public Works staff re-evaluated the road and determined that they needed to remove only seven parking spaces, but they also found that they could remove a portion of red curb area across from a driveway at 5484 Overpass Road.
Removing a portion of the red curb area will restore three parking spaces on the road, which means Overpass Road will lose a total of four parking spaces.
While neighbors and people who work and volunteer in the area were pleased that less parking was being removed, there was criticism over the planning process and a desire for more parking enforcement.
Heller, who started the petition in April, said that if the Planning Commission had considered the parking impacts when it reviewed the Santa Barbara Humane project, there could have been a chance to redesign the project to not interfere with parking.
Angela Yates, a former director of Santa Barbara County Animal Services, said she was pleased by the compromise, but added that parking enforcement is crucial for the area.
“The key to success is parking enforcement,” Yates said. “Over the past couple of months, since the city has stepped up enforcement, there has been a significant improvement, and I applaud these efforts. I encourage the city to remain committed to ongoing parking enforcement as it truly makes a difference.”
Assistant City Manager Jaime Valdez said the city has one parking enforcement officer, but a second one will be starting “shortly.”
Philip Seymour, a volunteer for the county animal shelter, said there was no clear acknowledgment during the planning review process that the Santa Barbara Humane project would lead to a loss in parking, nor was there an attempt to mitigate the loss.
“Hopefully next time an issue like this comes up, you would require mitigation for the loss of public parking places,” Seymour said.
Councilwoman Luz Reyes-Martín said continued parking enforcement will be important, but she also wished there was more collaboration from Santa Barbara Humane to find solutions to the parking issues.
Councilman Stuart Kasdin suggested that Santa Barbara Humane consider sharing a few parking permits for animal shelter employees to use in the Santa Barbara Humane parking lot to help alleviate parking issues.
Councilman James Kyriaco said the city should continue to monitor parking in the area and consider whether timed parking should be added.
“At the end of the day, I feel like it wouldn’t be fair where we are in this process to just turn around and try to force the humane society to do a new project or a different project because of the parking spaces,” Kyriaco said.
The parking changes will go into effect when Santa Barbara Humane constructs its new driveway.