Arguments over the latest Westar project were made in a long, difficult Goleta City Council meeting on September 19. Nearly all the pros and cons were fundamental, and all were complicated by the existing Westar/Hollister Village development: Housing is needed and the proximity to work and shops is even better; Westar has caused a nightmare of traffic. People who can't climb stairs need elevators; the added height of the rooftop shafts will further obliterate views. Rooftop gardens add views; rooftop gardens are no substitute for open space. Development at that spot is approved; the proposal is too big.
At issue was a General Plan amendment needed to change zoning from the previously approved work/live units and shops to the currently proposed pair of two-story buildings to house 33 apartments. The latter were written into a settlement by Westar of neighbor Patricia Moreno's 2013 lawsuit. Though she'd sued the entire project over a lack of alternatives in the environmental report and traffic impacts, the settlement only affected the "triangle property." Moreno is enjoined from opposing the project any more, but her neighbors in Pacific Glen came out to tell the council that Westar's buildings loomed over them, right into their bedroom windows, costing them privacy and property damage from runoff. One who rode her bicycle to work described the journey as "scary," with crossing times too short to get across the street.
The amount of traffic at Storke and Hollister is truly astonishing. In the late afternoon, the red lanes of online traffic maps extend from the northbound 101 offramp at Glen Annie through the Hollister intersection and all the way to the Home Depot/Marketplace entrance. Councilmembers affirmed that they and people they'd spoken with who lived nearby used the Winchester/Cathedral Oaks overpass three miles to the west to avoid Storke and Hollister. Residents spoke of the impossibility of exiting onto Hollister during peak hours. Timing the traffic lights will help, said Public Works director Rosemarie Gaglione, adding that they'd just found the "guru" who could do that and eliminate the backups from light to light.