A proposal to build housing in Goleta by Dos Pueblos High School will move forward.
The City of Goleta announced a settlement with the Shelby Family Partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will have to process a permit application for the project, which includes 56 housing units at 7400 Cathedral Oaks Road.
The developers in March 2023 submitted a Senate Bill 330 builder’s remedy project that included 56 apartments with 13 units for affordable to lower-income households. The city declined to process the application, so the developers filed a lawsuit.
The settlement does not approve the proposed project.
“We believe the settlement agreement represents the best resolution possible, given the circumstances,” City Manager Robert Nisbet said in a statement. “It allows us a path forward that includes meaningful affordable housing and robust environmental review.”
Jim Youngson, principal with Terrain Consulting who represents the developers, said the agreement makes sense.
“We are both pleased and proud to see this wonderful housing project once again move
forward,” Youngson told Noozhawk. “It is attractive and in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood.”
The developers submitted the application before the City of Goleta had an official Housing Element certified. State housing law states that developers can submit what’s known as builder’s remedy projects, which limit city review to five meetings or fewer and remove most discretionary elements, if a jurisdiction does not have a Housing Element certified at the time the project was submitted.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle ruled in February that the City of Goleta should have processed the application. The city argued that it did not have to process the SB 330 application because the developers had a previous application with 60 units from 2005 submitted for the same site.
The project was delayed because of a water moratorium imposed by the Goleta Water District, but after the moratorium was lifted, Shelby submitted an SB 330 preliminary application to revise the project.
In December, Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a brief in support of the Shelby developers.
According to the City of Goleta’s statement, “the city felt that the best way forward was to settle the lawsuit and agree to the submittal of a revised project.”
The Shelby project will undergo “robust and transparent environmental review and analysis,” the city said.
In addition, the revised project will provide 11 affordable housing units. The affordable units will be for sale and comprised of the following:
- Four units for extremely low-income households
- One unit for lower-income households
- Three units for moderate-income households
- Three units for above-moderate-income households earning between 120% and 200% of the area median income
After an environmental review, the revised project will be scheduled for hearings before the Planning Commission and/or City Council, according to the city.
The homes were designed by DMHA Architecture and are 1,800 to 2,300 square feet. Youngson said the project is close to elementary schools, work hubs, public parks and grocery stores.
“Our approach to interspersing affordably designated single-family homes of this type and size throughout a private development, built to the same quality, may be unprecedented,” he said. “Indeed, this is an ideal location for Goleta families and employees to call home.”