Despite frustrations and challenges around infrastructure changes and state housing mandates, Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte says the city is strong. 

On Wednesday, public officials, city staff and residents came together in the recently reopened Goleta Community Center for the annual State of the City event. 

The event included Perotte’s State of the City address, a speech from City Manager Robert Nisbet, and a question-and-answer session with various city department heads. 

Before Perotte’s address, residents were able to visit various tables and speak with city staff about upcoming projects and programs.

“We don’t have the funding to fix all our roads and sidewalks at once. Housing is too expensive,” Perotte said. “And the state’s strict housing mandate that requires rezoning land within our city and nearby county land raises great concern about how we will be able to preserve Goleta’s essential character and livability.”

Perotte went on to insist that despite these challenges, Goleta is strong.

“One of the best measurements of our city is the simple fact that more and more people want to live and work here,” Perotte said. “Businesses want to expand here. They are attracted to a vibrant economy, effective public safety and high quality of life.”

Perotte celebrated recent city accomplishments and projects such as the newly reopened community center, approving the 332-unit Heritage Ridge Apartment development, and the Buena Tierra supportive housing project.

While the state’s Housing Element has caused frustration for city and county officials, Perotte said it’s an opportunity to build up the city’s supply of affordable units.

“We have complied, however reluctantly, with vigorous state housing mandates,” Perotte said. “By doing this, we avoid state sanction and builder’s remedy, and will increase somewhat the supply of housing that will be affordable.”

Perotte said the next step will be carefully reviewing each housing project to understand and mitigate any impacts.

City Manager Robert Nisbet addressed concerns over Goleta’s upcoming and ongoing infrastructure projects such as Project Connect and the Hollister Avenue striping project. 

Project Connect is meant to improve pedestrian safety and road conditions while the Hollister Avenue striping project will create vehicle and bike lanes in each direction and add more parking and traffic signal upgrades.

“This project is not for today; this project is for tomorrow,” Nisbet said. “It’s good that we started planning 20 years ago because if we started today it would be too late.”

Nisbet warned that residents should expect a bumpy construction period. 

“It’s going to be bumpy,” Nisbet said. “There’s going to be a construction period that’s going to last awhile. There’s going to be some glitches, but in my mind, this is one of those projects that 15 years from now, people are going to look back at Old Town and go, ‘Wow, who thought of that? Because that’s what kicked things off.’”

Nisbet also said that heavy storms in the past year have caused three declared emergencies and massive road damage. 

“These kinds of storms just wreak havoc on the streets,” Nisbet said. “The wear and tear from these types of rain events is just really amazing. We already have challenging streets that we’re working on, and these storms don’t help.”

During the question-and-answer period, residents asked about adding a fire station to support the new housing.

Jaime Valdez, Goleta’s new assistant city manager, addressed Fire Station 10, a project that has been in the works for some time but with no official timeline or opening date set. 

“I understand there’s a bit of frustration at the pace at which it has been moving. The biggest issue has been funding for that project,” Valdez said. 

Valdex explained while there’s still no set timeline, the project could receive more funding as the city gets more housing developments, which could help speed up projects like the fire station.

“We know it’s been in the community’s mind for quite some time,” Valdez said. “All I can say is we essentially have 95% of the construction plans ready to go. We’re just looking to secure the funding to make that happen.”

Perotte also highlighted current projects set to finish this year such as the City Hall electrical vehicle charger project, which will have 17 charging stations for residents and city employees. Perotte said it’s a big step toward the city reaching its goal of being 100% renewable by 2031.

Other projects Perotte highlighted were the Stow Grove Universal Playground, a new splash pad at Jonny D. Wallis Park set to open later this year, and the recently opened community garden at Armitos Park.

The city is also moving forward with repairs at the 50-year-old Goleta Valley Library thanks to $4.2 million in state funding. Additionally, Goleta’s train depot is preparing for construction in the fall and is set to be completed in 2026, according to Perotte.