Goleta’s Housing Element got the thumbs up from the state Monday after months of back-and-forth revising the document.
The city received a letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development Monday, saying that its revised Housing Element for 2023-2031 now meets all of the state’s requirements.
The Goleta City Council still has to adopt the Housing Element, which will happen later this year.
“I’m pleased that our efforts as a city to listen to the community and effectively balance addressing our housing crisis while maintaining Goleta’s community character and small town feel were recognized by the state,” Councilmember James Kyriaco told Noozhawk. “I look forward to working with our staff, Planning Commission, City Council members, and community members to wrap up this process.”
The state requires each city and county to prepare and update a Housing Element every eight years to plan for current and future housing needs.
The City Council first adopted the Housing Element for this cycle and submitted it to the state for a 90-day review in January. The state responded in March asking for revisions to meet all the requirements.
The Goleta City Council and Planning Commission held a series of joint meetings in July talking about rezoning options throughout the city to increase housing supply potential. Some agricultural and residential properties could be zoned and developed into housing sites.
The Housing Element revisions — which were re-submitted to the state in August — that have satisfied the state’s requirements include some of these site rezones.
Proposed or upcoming housing development projects in Goleta include the 332-unit Heritage Ridge apartment development, the Buena Tierra permanent supportive housing project at a former Goleta Super 8 motel, a 374-unit apartment project proposed by Yardi Systems, and a proposed Calle Real apartment project that went before the Planning Commission in September.
Besides planning for housing needs, Housing Element compliance is considered for eligibility for some funding programs, HCD noted, such as the Caltrans Senate Bill 1 Sustainable Communities grant, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program, and the HCD’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation program.
Goleta now must complete programs to make identified sites available for housing or rezone sites by one year from the statutory deadline of Feb. 15, 2023.
The site rezones and revised Housing Element are set to return to the Goleta Planning Commission in November and the City Council in December for consideration and adoption.
The revised Housing Element is available to view on the city’s website here.
Santa Barbara County Housing Element
Santa Barbara County also announced Monday that the state found its Housing Element in compliance.
The County Planning Commission will review it on Nov. 8 and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to adopt it on Dec. 5.
While the Housing Element proposes many sites to be rezoned for residential development, the “selection of specific sites to rezone is a later step” that will happen next year, county spokeswoman Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta said.
The draft Housing Element Update is available online here and the map of potential housing sites is here.