Seeing the deadlock writing on the wall, the Goleta City Council on Tuesday opted to take no action on approving a new mixed-use development that would bring 175 housing units and retail to Old Town Goleta.
Although the main concern voiced at the meeting was whether Old Town Village would have enough water during this fourth year of drought, the project didn’t move forward for two entirely different reasons.
The first was that Mayor Paula Perotte concluded she couldn’t find an “overriding need” to change Goleta’s general plan or zoning code for the development.
The second being that because Mayor Pro Tem Jim Farr was absent — out for a yet-to-be-named medical event that happened the weekend of Aug. 8 — the council would have obviously been deadlocked 2-2 between its four sitting members.
With that in mind, a continuance was hastily requested by Bill McReynolds, vice president of development for City Ventures, the Ventura firm proposing the mixed-use project on just over 12 acres of undeveloped urban farmland west of South Kellogg Avenue and Kellogg Way.
“I love the project itself, but it’s in the wrong location,” Councilman Michael Bennett said, noting he’d rather see a hotel there to generate transient occupancy taxes for the city.
McReynolds said his firm would work to consider alternatives more palpable than the current design, which consists mostly of three-story buildings of 113 traditional town homes, 34 live-work units and 28 shopkeeper units.
A community center, pedestrian and bike paths and other green-space amenities are also planned.
The project would provide 489 vehicle parking spaces and 56 bicycle parking spots.
The council couldn’t come to the same decision as the Goleta Planning Commission, which last month voted 4-0 to push the project forward.
Commissioners justified approving a general plan amendment and certifying potential negative impacts — aesthetics, air quality, cultural resources, water quality, noise and traffic — because of developer mitigations.
But they also recommended City Ventures increase the size of the community center building, make the distance between two buildings longer, and require some units to be two-story in order to break up the bulkiness and scale of the development.
Developers agreed to some form of those concessions except for enlargement of the community center, saying all the private space would lessen need for communal area.
“I do understand construction can be inconvenient, but that doesn’t make it bad,” McReynolds said, noting the four-year process to develop plans. “We’re putting homes where the jobs are.”
City planner Mary Chang gave a project overview, explaining the parcel commonly called the Page Site has been ag land since the 1920s and zoned commercial visitor/serving. The general plan change would be to commercial visitor/Old Town.
The city is planning to extend Ekwill Street through to the project, she said, since City Ventures agreed to give 2.5 acres to Goleta (valued at $2.75 million, according to the firm).
Chang said 27 affordable units — a reduction from 20 percent to 15 percent — were planned, with 14 on site priced between $400,000-600,000 and 13 as a million-dollar payment to the city for future projects.
As for water, she referenced an agreement the current owner reached with the Goleta Water District in 1998. The ag parcel uses 23.35 acre feet of water per year but the entitlement is up to 86.3 acre feet.
Old Town Village would require about 28 acre feet of water annually, although McReynolds said new stricter state regulations could put that figure at 21 acre feet.
Councilman Roger Aceves commended the project’s solar-powered homes and commitment to using electric appliances instead of gas-powered.
Public speakers wondered how the Ekwill extension would affect traffic on Pine Avenue, which one resident called a “racetrack” already.
Four others welcomed more affordable housing for a growing workforce, including Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO and president Kristen Miller.
“A lot of people have to come to this city because this is where all the jobs are,” said one man who works at a Goleta technology company but didn’t yet live locally. “If I were to live here, I could actually bike to work.”
Perotte complimented the project but called it too big. Housing is a need, she said, but lots of residential developments are already in the works.
McReynolds made a last ditch effort to try to provide more affordable units, but Perotte and Bennett made clear they weren’t changing their minds.
“Either way we’re going to end up deadlocked,” Councilman Tony Vallejo said. “I’d prefer not to vote if we’re not going to come to a conclusion.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.