Goleta's Plan Evolves
Santa Barbara Daily Sound
By Colby Frazier
April 28, 2007
In a public hearing last night, the Goleta City Council took the second step to begin making changes to the city's General Plan.
The council was advised by Steve Chase, planning and environmental services director, to begin whittling down nearly 200 proposed amendments to the General Plan that were submitted by community members since the amendment process was officially initiated by the council on March 5.
At the forefront of the changes is the General Plan's 55 percent inclusionary housing rate, which would require all new construction to classify this percentage as affordable.
Other possible changes vary in diversity from tinkering with floor area ratios and setback for new and remodeled structures and changing the current language in the General Plan that uses the word shall, to should.
This section of the General Plan is known as "the housing element," and was turned down by the California Department of Housing and Community Development last month.
While many of the public comments were in favor of swift amendments to the General Plan, several others were opposed to such changes and a proposed "Fast Track" that some amendments might take if eventually approved.
Chase said council needs to specify what amendments would require a "tweak" and be put on a "Fast Track," and others that would require a full modification.
"You are proposing an extremely costly process that is not in the best interest of this city," said Barbara Massey during public comment. It's "greed in it's finest form."
Chase said amendments should be dealt with by a two-pronged process. The first prong would include changes that could take as long as 18 months and cost as much as $200,000, while the second prong would take about six months and cost the city $50,000.
Kristen Amyx, president and CEO of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce told the council she supported the majority of the changes and urged them to continue moving forward.
"The General Plan should in fact be more general," Amyx said.
Such changes were a large part of the three newest council members' campaigns and Eric Onnen wasn't shy about making his intentions clear.
"We made a commitment when we took office," said Onnen. That the changes would be made "as expeditiously as we could and I think we have to fulfill that commitment."
The council will continue the discussion of amendments in public workshops as well as future council meetings.
2 comments:
Permit me this “observation.” Your title, “Goleta Plan Evolves” presumes a result that is not accurate. As most would agree, the verb “to evolve” is generally accepted to mean “To develop or achieve gradually” or “To undergo gradual change”.
The Goleta Council recently voted to consider nearly 200 changes to a plan that has barely had a chance to go into effect. 144 of these changes were proposed by developers and business interests after they didn’t get what they wanted out of hundreds of hours of Goleta community meetings where the public said we wanted Goleta protected from development.
The Council gave the Planning Director to start a two pronged process, the first half titled “fast track” and intended to take 6 months. Such speed is hardly in keeping with the notion of gradual change basic to evolution.
Changes such as changing “shall” to “should” in describing what standards developers to adhere to will result in rapid and immediate changes not just to the General Plan but to all of Goleta.
I’m sure your choice of title was intended to be neutral but instead, even unintentionally, it lulls readers into believing the council’s positioning their changes as mere evolution, when really, they are advocating revolutionary changes. Let’s at least call it the way it is: the new council majority is backing rapid, radical changes, the exact OPPOSITE of the definition of evolution.
I hope you will post this clarification.
The title of the post came from the story heading at the SB Daily Sound.
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