More affordable housing is in Goleta’s future. After nine years of planning and consideration, the Goleta City Council last night, March 7, 2023, approved the Heritage Ridge residential project. The 332-unit apartment project, which includes 102 affordable housing units, is the third and final phase of the adjacent Willow Springs residential development and will be located on the north side of Camino Vista Drive adjacent to Los Carneros Road.

Mayor Paula Perotte said, “There is such a tremendous need for affordable housing right now and we are so pleased that the Heritage Ridge project will give more people the opportunity to live where they work which will ultimately increase their quality of life.  Less time commuting means more time to enjoy your community.”

There will be 102 affordable rental units for both seniors and families, with two manager units, and 228 market-rate rental units (total 332 units). The project also includes a two-acre public park designed with a variety of amenities to serve the recreational needs of residents and business employees in the surrounding neighborhoods, which could include people of all ages and families with young children. The park will include a playground, Chumash cultural area, walking path with exercise equipment, a multi-use turf area and a nature habitat area.

In 2019, Redtail Multifamily Land Development, LLC (“Redtail”) took over the Project from the Towbes Group. The project went through many steps to get to this point including input from the Design Review Board, Parks and Recreation Commission and Planning Commission before coming to City Council.

This Project will complete the Central Hollister Corridor housing plan outlined in General Plan Land Use Policy LU 8 and will provide affordable and market rate housing in keeping with both Land Use and Housing Element policies. The recently adopted Housing Element 6^th Cycle update also includes this location as a site suitable for residential development.

The staff report can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mut2uhwf. To watch the meeting go to https://tinyurl.com/6sud3pyn.