Goleta's new planning director is a familiar face around the county: Peter Imhof, currently head of planning and the deputy executive director for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG). Previously, Imhof was with the county's Planning and Development for eight years and the Coastal Commission for nearly two years before that.
"Goleta is a young and dynamic city, with a freshness and sense of possibilities not seen in longer established cities," Imhof said. "I've worked with the planning departments of all nine of the county's jurisdictions" through SBCAG, Imhof said, "and have enjoyed working with Goleta's staff." Of the role of his planning department, Imhof stated it would help facilitate public discussion and dialogue on development in a city with coastal resources and a prosperous business climate, as well as a proud agrarian past and a "high-tech ultramodern future." The new director starts August 15, city spokesperson Valerie Kushnerov said. He holds a law degree from Boalt Hall and also earned his master’s in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley concurrently.
Of the Citygate report, a review of Goleta's planning department that came out in June, Imhof had read it and thought it gave "not just a license but a mandate for the planning department to reinvent itself." The report, written after a year's worth of research and interviews with planning staff, residents, and developers, found the city had a General Plan and zoning code that failed to dovetail with each other, the first formed in 2006 after city incorporation and the latter brought over from the county; the variances caused a need for interpretation. A new zoning ordinance is in the works.