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The gated Ocean Meadows housing development will cater to students. Called “The Cove,” the property, located near the Sierra Madre student housing complex in Goleta, will offer rent by the bed. Its website advertises student housing in Santa Barbara and includes popular spots in nearby Isla Vista to advertise its location.
The Cove’s website states that 10 to 12 students are able to fit in each home, and the homes are advertised as five-bedroom houses, some with accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The cheapest option currently costs $1,249 a month (reduced from its previous $1,479 a month) and does not include the cost of electricity or water.
The Cove is not zoned as student housing, but rather a planned residential community. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission approved The Cove’s development as 32 single-family homes and nine ADUs at a hearing in December 2020.
At that same hearing, the Theimer Group, real estate developers that were previously involved with the project, presented the homes as a good location for professors and professionals. The Theimer Group left the project in October 2023, before the Board of Supervisors passed the project’s final tract map.
Its current developer, the Cardinal Group, is a Denver-based real estate and development company with projects around the country, including The Loop in Isla Vista, which offers high-end apartments for students.
According to the county, there is no specific code that limits the number of occupants in a single-family residence. The project is subject to density requirements in the county’s Coastal Land Use Plan, with zoning normally limiting developers to 28 units total across the two properties. But the overall development includes six planned affordable condominium units on a separate lot, near Whittier Drive. As the development offers affordable housing, the developers benefit from a density bonus. That allows 38 units total.
The Cardinal Group did not respond to requests for comment in time for this story.
