Goleta: A Busy Day for Council

Santa Barbara Newsroom
By Tom Schultz
June 19, 2007

From new trash hauling fees to designing the very shape of their city, Goleta council members on Monday faced a busy agenda.

The council made the following key decisions:

* In a 5-o vote, the council authorized city staff members to seal a five-year deal for police services across the city of 30,000 residents.

Goleta will pay the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department more than $5.6 million in fiscal year 2007-08, under the deal.

A total of 34 deputies will patrol the city, including a newly-added community resource deputy.
"This new contract provides for increased involvement by the city in key areas," according to a city report.

These include: ensuring the city's participation in the selection and evaluation of the city's chief of police; enhancing the city's particpation in the deployment of resources; participating in the orientation of personnel assigned to Goleta; and, identification and reporting of specific performance measures and response times, according to the report.

* In a 4-0 vote, the council denied an appeal brought by the owner of Rancho Mobile Home Park , who opposed an environmental study of impacts that could result if the park is converted to resident ownership of plots.

Currently, park residents rent the spaces that their homes sit upon.

Park owner Daniel Guggenheim hopes to sell those spaces, under a proposal submitted to City Hall.

City officials say studying impacts of the proposal is necessary, largely due to the potential for displacement of residents. Councilman Roger Aceves abstained because he missed an earlier hearing on the matter, he said.

* In a 5-0 vote, the council authoriized staff members to initiate negotiations with the Towbe Group, a development company, that could result in the city contributing $6 million or more to a proposed apartment complex.

Sumida Gardens would have 200 units, including at least 30 considered affordable.

Because the project is in the Old Town redevelopment area, it is eligible for assitance from the city Redevelopment Agency.

Officials say that without the financial aid, the project would not be feasible and the potential for increasing the supply of rental housing would be lost.

* Trash hauling fees are going up.

In a 5-0 vote, the council approved a nearly 4 percent rate hike to solid waste collection costs.

This means trash bills will rise between 95 cents and $1.20 a month for residential customers of Allied Waste and Marborg Industries.

* In a 4-1 vote, the council agreed to explore the creation of a sphere of influence for the city that would include several outlying areas.

The sphere would capture Goleta Beach, neighorhoods to the immediate northeast of the city, Farren Road to the northwest of city limits and areas near Coal Oil Pier to the southwest.

Council members said they backed the designations, which if approved could lead to annexations, as a way to foster discussion about that potential with residents.

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