Goleta Buys Properties for Open Space

The City of Goleta is purchasing two properties at the end of Mathilda Drive in the Ellwood Shores neighborhood for about $175,000 to preserve as open space. The properties are part of 17 total adjacent parcels that essentially cannot be developed due to environmental and/or flooding concerns, so the city intends to purchase them all when possible. The purchase leaves about $205,000 in the city’s open space purchasing reserves. Meanwhile, the city also applied for an $85,000 grant to purchase another one of these properties as a means of mitigating some of the environmental impacts being caused by the new Cathedral Oaks/Hollister Avenue overcrossing.