Hundreds Pack Open House for ‘The Farm’ Housing Project on Carpinteria Bluffs

Carpinteria residents are walking a tightrope: The city needs more affordable housing, but available land is expensive and treated by many as “sacred.” 

This precarious balancing act was on full display Thursday, April 9, at an open house hosted by the developers of a housing project proposed to be built on the Carpinteria Bluffs, a large expanse of undeveloped coastline overlooking one of the two harbor seal rookeries in Southern California. 

At the Carpinteria Community Church, 200 members of the public wandered around tables and poster boards displaying colorful renderings and information about the project, known as “The Farm.” The plan includes building 191 for-sale townhouses and single-family homes, on 27 acres of the bluffs, a site currently used for a small organic farm and the Tee Time driving range. 

The developers envision a picturesque seaside suburb, where happy families jog down paths lined with native foliage, with some open space and coastal access preserved for the public. 

On one side was the rigid opposition, made up of residents wearing green “NO!” stickers and shirts to “Save our Bluffs.” Led by the Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs, this group had their own small gathering next door to rally people against the plan. 

“There is something of a divine mandate to keep this land undeveloped — this is the soul of Carpinteria,” said the landscape artist Arturo Tello, a member of the Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs who has fought to protect the bluffs for decades.

“I’ve been in love with the Carpinteria Bluffs for [more than] 40 years,” he said. “There have been many proposals here, and of all the proposals, this is the very worst one — it’s the most dense.” 

The group’s main hope is that the owners donate the land or offer it for sale for preservation. But so far there has been no sense that the owner, Paul Brenneke, a wealthy investor from Oregon, is likely to sell, let alone donate it. 

On the other side was the development team, led by Brenneke who bought the land for $15 million, and has since invested additional funds into the planning process. 

“We wanted to do something that made sense for the area,” Brenneke could be overheard telling attendees. Of the project area’s 27 total acres, the 4.13 acre southern parcel would be preserved for open space, including recreational trails and conserved native vegetation and coastal sage scrub. 

All residential development would be limited to the northern parcel, set back 200 feet from the existing railroad tracks. “Pocket parks” would break up the residences.  

The Farm qualifies under Builder’s Remedy, a California provision that allows housing projects to avoid local zoning requirements and city standards in exchange for affordable units. However, the developers maintain that “despite these available tools, the project maintains strict compliance with the city’s code.” 

That said, a consistency review by the city in February determined many of the project details inconsistent with city policies. The city is limited in its purview because of Builder’s Remedy, but the project must still go through the standard development review process.

Among the 191 for-sale residences are 39 affordable units — the 20 percent required by Builder’s Remedy. People’s Self-Help Housing would handle the affordable portion from beginning-to-end — including funding, building, and handling applications for tenants within the qualifying income bracket.

President Ken Trigueiro was at the open house to provide information and gauge community needs. He noted that residents overwhelmingly supported affordable housing. “They know they need it,” he reported, “it’s just, ‘maybe not on the bluffs.’” 

His team has tried to purchase other properties in Carpinteria to build affordable housing, but it hasn’t been feasible — “land is expensive here,” he said, “so if this project goes forward, we want to be involved.” 

The development team’s approach was seemingly one of hopeful collaboration, to walk the tightrope with the community. This is likely the only route to actual success, as community members have stopped past projects in their tracks before they could break ground on the bluffs. “This is the third owner to try,” noted one resident. 

“We’re here to get people’s input on what’s being proposed and how we can improve our project,” said Brian Lewis, the team’s communications director. “We’re appreciative that everyone would be taking an interest in our project, whether they’re for or against it.”

The last attempt to develop the bluffs was a resort project by different owners, which brought out an even bigger crowd to a tense Architectural Review Board meeting in 2024. However, some residents said they view the current proposal as “worse.” One described it as an “affront.”

Former city council member and Carpinteria mayor (2016-2018) Fred Shaw, said, personally, he does not want to see them develop the bluffs. He recounted the “massive issue” of protecting the bluffs, dating back generations and involving multiple community groups. Campaigns to “Save the Bluffs” began in the ’70s or ’80s, he said, and “we’ve done fairly well.” The community acquired the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve that neighbors the proposed development in the 1990s. Carpinteria has plenty of open space right on the coast, he said, “and it’s a big concern for the people who live here to keep that open space … you’re seeing a microcosm here of how people feel about this new development.” Many attendees were against it. 

Patrick Crooks, president for the Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs, put it in perspective: “Building a massive private housing development on the Carpinteria Bluffs will never be popular, even if it’s called The Farm and includes some scraps of affordable housing — which the community needs,” he said in a statement. “What’s popular, iconic, and essential is open space on the Carpinteria Bluffs, and generations have spoken up to preserve open undeveloped coastal land.”

But, Shaw continued, “if it’s forced on us, I want it to be where people who work here can have a chance to live here. I don’t like the idea of second homes.” People who work in Carpinteria often have to commute from Buellton, Oxnard, or Ventura, he added.

“It’s a two-sided coin,” he noted. “People want to use the land recreationally, but at the same time, we need housing. We’re caught between a rock and a hard place.” He added that any developments must be conscious of traffic patterns and the ability of the general public to use the land, and he thinks the traffic along Carpinteria Avenue near the new neighborhood would be “crazy.” The project includes 683 parking spaces. He also maintained that there are other sites throughout the city where housing could be built instead. 

However, the land itself, located at 5885 Carpinteria Avenue, is zoned to allow for residential use — a sticking point for proponents. One of those proponents, Evan Sussman, is a 20-year-old student at UC Santa Barbara who founded the university’s chapter of the Student Homes Coalition, a statewide collective advocating for affordable housing for students amid California’s housing crisis. 

When asked what his own housing situation is like, he had one word: “Terrible.” He lives in Isla Vista — an area with one of the highest-cost rental markets in the nation.

He visited the open house in support of the project. He wasn’t the only one. Other groups in Santa Barbara, such as Strong Towns, have taken up advocating for affordable housing projects that can often be overwhelmed by negative feedback from neighbors.  

“One of the state’s biggest issues is housing,” Sussman said. “I don’t see how I can buy a house, or start a family here, because it is so unaffordable.” 

To have a 191-unit housing development, 20 percent of which would be affordable, is “precisely the type of thing the state should move forward with,” he said. 

“Listen, I’m not from Carpinteria,” he acknowledged. “I know there’s a lot of negative opinions … and completely fair and valid concerns for coastal access, but at the end of the day, you have to have trade offs,” he said. “Although the location is controversial, it’s something the state needs so students like me can live in California.”

Others were more neutral. One married couple mentioned they were on opposite sides: one pro-housing and the other pro-bluffs. One resident described himself as a “soft maybe,” and suggested some concessions could be made on density and open space to make the proposal more palatable. “It’s a tough game to play on all sides,” he said.

The community can still submit comments here. 

When asked what the team plans to do with these comments, Communications Director Brian Lewis said: “We’re gonna read them. We’re gonna see what people say. And we’ll see if we can revise or modify the project to incorporate some of their input.” 

Next steps include the city’s approval of a Consultant Services Agreement between it and Environmental Science Associates to oversee and prepare environmental review for The Farm, for a price of $563,518. It will be heard at the next city council meeting on Monday, April 13. 

The EIR consultant will be hired and managed by the city, but the developer is responsible for reimbursing the city for all project-related costs, including the EIR preparation. 

Environmental review for the project and subsequent public hearings will follow.