I’m writing this op-ed during Tsunami Preparedness week. And for anyone who attended or listened virtually to the recent developers' proposals on March 19, 2024, at the County Board of Supervisors meeting, the evidence is clear that a tsunami of unfettered development is fast approaching.
On the table, currently, in just 1.5 square miles, are more than 4,000 high-density units. Much of the development will come at the expense of renowned agricultural land, a hallmark of the Eastern Goleta Valley. Most of these units are market rate units, well out of reach for most of the workforce. The time is now for our representatives to head for the higher ground, to stand up for the land and people they represent. They need to hold to their own words:
"It’s a plan I couldn’t support as it is now because I don’t believe it will solve our crisis. It places more than 3,000 new units (75 percent of the South Coast total) within a three-and-a-half-mile radius in the Eastern Goleta Valley, impacting water, traffic, and quality of life,” Supervisor Laura Capps wrote in an op-ed. The numbers she mentioned have since grown to more than 4,000 and in less space.