It's complicated. There's no other word for a Goleta development the size of a small town that includes 70 low-income units — and all the tax-breaking financial instruments those involve — and 395 market-rate homes being built by two different builders. And getting everything completed revolves around the City of Goleta's ability to hold back on market-rate building permits to force developer Comstock Homes to finish the affordable units.
Only four building permits remained in the kitty before Comstock ran into the wall of its Development Agreement when it came before the City Council, for the second time, to ask for a break. In April 2014, the developer had agreed to have the affordable units finished before receiving its 220th building permit to continue construction on the 465-unit complex known as Village at Los Carneros. Indeed, the 43 acres of soon-to-be-built detached homes, townhouses, and apartments is the equivalent of the community of Los Olivos — which occupies about 1,600 acres —all bounded by Highway 101, Los Carneros Road, a creek, and Hollister Avenue.
John Fowler of People's Self-Help Housing, for whom Comstock is building the affordables and to whom it donated the two acres on which they sit, told the council on Tuesday that getting the low-income-housing loans — complicated but standard instruments that include tax-free bonds and tax credits — took longer than expected. This pushed the affordable-unit ground-breaking into the rainy season, while the market-rate construction had started earlier and on time.