I’m writing to respectfully correct some misstatements in April Reid’s February 25, 2024, letter criticizing my recently published Voice, “ What Comes After Housing Element and Zoning Approvals? Final Projects Depend on the Permit Review Process .”
In her letter, she wrote that at the December 5, 2023, City Council meeting, I indicated that there would be building on Kenwood Village, even without any updated traffic or environmental study. This is inaccurate. One of the primary purposes of my February 14 article was to reassure members of the public that passage of Goleta’s housing element did not mean that the decision-making process on the new housing had come to a conclusion. In fact, any new housing project will require an environmental review in order to be considered by the City Council.
She also wrote that 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. The reality is that the state made clear that it would not certify a plan which primarily relied on zoning changes to already developed or underutilized parcels. The state would only approve a housing element in which the city would rezone vacant land, with landowners who would express a willingness to build. In short there was a limited pool of parcels that the state would accept if it was going to approve our housing element.