Battling a proposal to develop 60 homes on the 14-acre land parcel known as the Shelby property, Goleta residents and half a dozen community organizations on Tuesday formed the Shelby Foothills Coalition.
Under Goleta’s 2006 General Plan, members say, the property north of Cathedral Oaks Road and bordering Glen Annie Golf Club is zoned for agriculture rather than housing. Voicing concerns with the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report — specifically inadequate water supply — and predicting financial burden on the city, the group is pushing city councilmembers to vote down the development, thereby preserving agriculture-zoned land in the Goleta Foothills.
“The 60 units proposed for this development are projected to sell for approximately $1,000,000, unaffordable to over 95 percent of South Coast residents,” said Goleta’s first mayor Margaret Connell and president of Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN). (Connell also contributes to Independent column Goleta Grapevine.)
The county’s Citizens Planning Association, the League of Women Voters, Santa Barbara Urban Creeks Council, Santa Barbara Audubon Society, and SBCAN, as well as Goleta-centered organization the Goodland Coalition are backing the Shelby Foothills Coalition.