Goleta Councilmember Stuart Kasdin recently wrote an article commenting on the recent Housing Element Plan that approved rezoning/upzoning for certain properties that will allow high density housing on the properties, including Kenwood Village located at 7264 Calle Real in Goleta. I note Councilmember Kasdin stated in a recent article regarding the vote: “[T]o be clear, the city did not evaluate the environmental impacts of the specific projects included in the housing element. The city has made no judgment about the suitability of a site, including in the housing element. This will only come after the permit review process.”
Despite this statement in his February 14, 2024 article, Councilmember Kasdin had already made it clear at the December 5, 2023, City Council meeting, after the public comment section, that there would be building on Kenwood Village, even without any updated traffic or environmental study. Yet his article states a judgment about how suitable the property is to build on has not been made. If Councilmember Kasdin has already decided to build on Kenwood Village, as he stated in December, he should say so in his article. This is the case regardless of whether there is a mandate from the state to build housing units in Goleta.
In addition, Councilmember Kasdin also stated the City Council told the staff to find properties to rezone/upzone based on whether a property owner was willing to build high density housing, not whether the site was a good site to build on. Councilmember Kasdin stated in an e-mail to me, “[S]taff had a mandate to hit a target, knowing that if they failed to do that landowners would be able to go ahead and pursue developments without city approvals (the builder’s remedy).” In other words, despite working on the Housing Element Plan for years, the City Council ultimately picked sites so they could simply submit the sites to the state and hit the target number of housing units to avoid the Builder’s Remedy. The City Council did not bother to determine whether the sites were good sites to build on or whether there were better sites that could have been chosen in the years they had to do so.
Finally, before the City Council voted to rezone/upzone Kenwood Village in December, friends of the property owner mistakenly stated Kenwood Village was surrounded on three sides by high density housing, as some people had stated at past City Council meetings. In actuality, as I stated several times to the City Council, it is surrounded on two sides by single family housing; one side by a protected creek, El Encanto Creek; followed by single to moderate density housing; and one side by a road that even the Goleta City Council stated was dangerous.
After the public comments, City Councilmember James Kyriaco stated there was a “disagreement” about Kenwood Village. Then, without resolving the “disagreement,” which could have easily been done, the Goleta City Council immediately moved to vote to rezone/upzone the property.
This is important because, as Councilmember Kyle Richards stated in an article, one consideration in rezoning/upzoning/building on the property is whether the new housing would fit in with the surrounding neighborhood, which in the case of Kenwood Village, it does not.
I do realize this is not the only consideration, but it should have been taken into consideration before the final vote. After the final vote, I asked that each of the four members of the City Council acknowledge that Kenwood Village is not surrounded on three sides (or any side) by high density housing, as stated incorrectly at both December meetings, but they all refused. (The mayor had previously recused herself from voting.) I will state that, very recently, Councilmember Kyle Richards did acknowledge the true surroundings of Kenwood Village. To date, I am still waiting for the other three members of the City Council to acknowledge the true surroundings of Kenwood Village.
I strongly encourage everyone view the City Council meetings of December 5 and December 19, 2023, to see what I am saying for yourselves.