[Updated: Mon., Nov. 10, 2025, 2:33pm]
Ben Eilenberg, the same out-of-town developer-attorney now inducing mass apoplexia in Santa Barbara over his proposal to construct an eight-story housing complex behind the Santa Barbara Mission, is also proposing to build an 18-story housing complex on the mountain side of the freeway in Carpinteria.
Carpinteria’s building height limit is 30 feet, a far cry from the 220 feet Eilenberg is proposing. Right now, the tallest structure in Carpinteria is the Best Western motel’s faux bell tower next to the freeway, and it’s only 50 feet tall.
Eilenberg has already submitted two applications to the Carpinteria Planning Department, but both have been deemed incomplete. The last incompletion notification was on October 29. Eilenberg charges that city planners are demanding a level of detail no longer required because the new spate of state laws designed to encourage the development of new housing.
If built as proposed, Eilenberg’s project at 5115 Ogan Road would provide 130 units of rental housing — 20 percent of which would be affordable to tenants who qualify as “low income.” Because 20 percent of the housing units would be affordable — and because the City of Carpinteria did not deliver a valid housing element to Sacramento last December when he submitted his preliminary application — Eilenberg is taking advantage of the state’s “Builders’ Remedy” loophole. This law exempts developers from having to obey the special height, density, and review requirements that many communities, such as Carpinteria, have used for years to maintain their small-town charm and character.
Carpinteria City Councilmember Al Clark said the issue is not merely preservation of Carpinteria’s much vaunted “Mayberry by the Sea” character, but also a more serious matter of health and safety. The city fire officials have already expressed concern that they may not have the water pressure required to hose down such a tall building’s upper floors, and, in fact, they do not even have a hook-and-ladder fire truck needed to protect an 18-story building. Plus, there’s only one way in or out to the property and that’s via a roundabout.
Beyond that, Clark also noted that the land is owned by Frontier Communication, which is currently in the process of applying for a lot split so it can sell Eilenberg the property. But even if Frontier secures the lot split and sells the land, Clark added, the property is zoned only to allow utility parks, not residential development. Eilenberg and his development team would still need to seek permission for a rezone and to submit an application for a local coastal plan amendment.
All these factors are discretionary matters over which City Hall could still exert significant leverage and jurisdiction even with the state’s housing laws designed to limit and hamstring local control.
How far Eilenberg — an attorney with a checkered history of multiple disciplinary skirmishes with the State Bar — will get with this proposal has yet to be seen, but should it devolve into the protracted legal fight Clark suspects it might, he said City Hall will be on a firm legal footing.
