The Goleta City Council gave quick and unanimous approval last week for the California Municipal Finance Authority to issue a bond for up to $24 million to finance the 70 units of affordable housing planned as part of the Village at Los Carneros development.
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Hearing — part of the council’s regular afternoon agenda Tuesday — was largely a formality required by IRS code that mandates that the government of an area receiving such a tax-exempt bond grant its approval.
The overall 465-unit Village at Los Carneros development is planned for a 40-acre lot north and west of Los Carneros Road and south of Highway 101. The site once was home to Allergan and other companies.
Goleta’s approval of the housing revenue bonds is effectively necessary if the project is to be financed, according to the staff report by Vyto Adomaitis, the city’s director of neighborhood services and public safety.
With the approval, however, the city doesn’t take on any financial obligations relating to the project or form any legal relationships with those behind it.
To meet affordable housing requirements, Peoples’ Self-Help Housing is financing the 70 units via the California Municipal Finance Authority’s bond for the project’s owner, Village at Los Carneros LP.
Of the 70 affordable units, 13 are intended for very-low-income households making less than half of the $75,400 Santa Barbara County area median income, according to the staff report.
Fifty-six others will be for low-income households making up to $45,240 a year, or 60 percent of the county’s area median income.
The other unit will be set aside for an on-site property manager.
In February, the City Council unanimously approved the final design and map of the overall project, which were filed with the city by CHA McKinley Goleta LLC and Los Carneros Business Park.
The development, which will consist of townhomes, single-family homes, apartments, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and condominium flats, will also have parks, a bike path and bike parking, a recreation center and swimming pool, open space and electric car charging stations.
There is no set completion time for the development, which can’t contract for construction and supplies until it has received the financing from the CMFA.
To provide adequate access to the future neighborhood, the developers will undertake roadwork on Los Carneros Road, which is expected to be completed in June, according to the Public Works Department. A lane in each direction will be left open during the construction, which includes turn lanes, a new traffic signal and a new private road around the southern end of the development.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
