Hotel Proposed for Carpinteria Bluffs, Community Says No Thank You
Architectural 3D concept of the restaurant entry (courtesy photo)
Architectural 3D concept of the events barn (courtesy photo)
Architectural 3D concept of the main hotel entry (courtesy photo)
Architectural 3D concept of the bungalows and cabins (courtesy photo)
By edhat staff
The Carpinteria community came together to vocally opposed a proposed "Farm & Hospitality Experience" on Carpinteria's bluffs.
The City of Carpinteria held a special public meeting on March 30 with the Carpinteria City Council, Planning Commission, and Architectural Review Board to review a new conceptual development project at 5885 Carpinteria Avenue.
The applicant for the self-titled "Carpinteria Farm & Hospitality Experience" is Carp Bluff, LLC., owned by Matthew Goodwin with Laurel Fisher-Perez of Suzanne Elledge Planning and Permitting Services as the principal planner.
Their proposed project is described as a regenerative farm, boutique hotel, residential units, restaurant, and other community-facing amenities on 28 acres between Carpinteria Ave and the Pacific Ocean. It would be separated at the southern edge by the existing railroad line.
The project states that 7 acres will be used as organic farmland to supply the onsite restaurant, farmstand, and hotel. An event space with a 200-person capacity will be used for community and hotel events. The hotel will include 99 rooms comprised of lodges, bungalows, and cabins as well as other amenities including a library, spa, mini theatre, gym, pool, and more. There will be 16 "workforce housing units" averaging 650 sf. each, a 5,590 sf. restaurant and bar, 6,000 sf. farm barn, and 4,100 sf. of flexible multi-purpose area.
Site Plan Concept (courtesy photo)
"Now, more than ever, we have become out of touch with the very things that feed our soul; nature, connectivity, community. This concept is a cultivation of these life forces... It is our goal that this project can serve as an example of truly sustainable development; one that creates a symbiotic relationship between environment, community and economy and lives lightly on the land," the Carp Bluff concept review presentation states.
This stretch of bluffs has been privately owned for decades but is commonly used by locals to access the Seal Rookery. The developer proposed a 20-foot-wide, public multi-use trail, connected to Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve trails and a second public harbor seal outlook, as well as public access to park on their property.
The special meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd who vocally opposed the development that spilled into more condemnation in online forums.
"I hope developers realize most Carpinterians don’t want any hotels of any kind being built. We are full. Redo the Palms. Redo Michael’s to the old omwegs and that’s about it," one commenter posted in a Carpinteria Facebook group.
"I hope it doesn't get approved, we have to protect our open sanctuaries," another resident commented.
"Honestly, if you like this development idea why not just move to the OC? You can have your curated walk to the beach there. Leave Carp Country," posted another.
A formal application is a next step for the developer followed by several reviews from the City of Carpinteri and the California Coastal Commission.
(courtesy photo)
44 Comments
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Apr 17, 2022 07:59 AMOf all the development that could go on that property, the proposed hotel seems to be the least offensive and intrusive. Zoning is right for such a project. Like the old saying goes, "Money talks, and Bull$izer walks." Those who do not want the hotel/resort built don't want anything built....ever. So, pay up buttercup if you don't want a hotel constructed on that property, otherwise, you gotta "walk" with the BS. Personally, I'd rather a hotel not be put in that location, but I am a realist on acknowledge that a hotel will eventually be built there. Oh well....we've got 38 pot farms to make up for it!
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Apr 17, 2022 07:57 AMCarpinteria loosely translates to: The place where road construction goes on forever.
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Apr 16, 2022 07:15 AMThe truth is - California cannot support more building. We do not have water. Don't people get that? Yes, it is a beautiful state and visitors want to come see it, but there isn't enough housing for the people who already live here. So, building more hotels is probably not a great plan - from a sustainability angle. The difficult fact is that we all have to start re-thinking the way we, as a society, live.
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Apr 16, 2022 08:38 AMIf we eliminate the farms there is tons of water in carp. Im looking forward to the day when the farms are gone and replaced with beautiful luxury carbon neutral developments
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Apr 16, 2022 05:50 AMand now Admiral BS you can go back where you came from!
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Apr 16, 2022 08:37 AMThats such a positive note "go back to where you came from" didn't realize the farmers were all Trumpers. Oh wait I did you. We don't have water because the farmers steal the water.
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Apr 15, 2022 11:30 AMThink Carpenteria needs a lot of such changes. Progress!!
Other cities bull doze the old ancient neighborhoods and build mega apts for seniors. A win-win? City planning 101.
And once a nutty group stopped an old ranch house located at a busy intersection from getting remodeled and becoming a 5 star french restaurant. they not want a wine bar or business there. so it got blocked. Within 5 years it became a McDonalds. With a CVS across the road.
Or Carpenteria needs to consider the alternatives.
Or this project looks like an improvement. They probably have a desalting water plant in the basement? ie a still. and there must be lots of water to support all of the
flower growing over the years. Need to dig some wells up in the hills.
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Apr 16, 2022 12:25 PMThe issue with digging wells in "the hills" is that water flows down hill into... the aquifer where public water wells are located. Water is a public resource and we don't have enough of it already without planning more hotels to enrich out of town developers and hedge funds.
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Apr 15, 2022 08:09 PMRight now the only things that get approved in Carpinteria are Cannabis farms. Farms polute our environment, don't pay fair wages and add nothing to the town. They just take. And when a ligit business that will add jobs and revenue to our town it's pushed out by brain dead surfers. Carp will die if it has a bunch of burnt out buildings on Linden, stinks of cannabis and doesn't support the concepts of capitalism.
Stop the farms. Build up Linden. Build a Carp for the next generation.
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Apr 15, 2022 07:09 PMAssuming Creek's stories are true, it's a good point.
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Apr 15, 2022 04:03 PMIt's spelled Carpinteria, with an 'i'. Sigh.
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Apr 15, 2022 11:23 AMI reside in the City of Santa Barbara, and I say a "Bigly NO" to build a hotel on the Carpinteria Bluffs.
Too many are being proposed to build hotel projects here in SB. Just right down ridiculous. It's all about the money in our local cities with our local elected officials and with the developers.
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Apr 15, 2022 12:31 PMToot - Is "Authentic Communism" at a State level possible ?
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Apr 15, 2022 12:08 PMWrong. We've had Bolshevism, Maoism, Castroism, Pol Pot-ism, Kim Jong Un-ism; but we've never had authentic communism. Those were/are tyrannies hiding behind the claim of communism. Conflating communism with any of the aforementioned is like equating Jim Jones and The People's Temple with christianity.
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Apr 15, 2022 11:29 AMuhh, because we're a capitilaist society... that's how things work. You can try communism but that hasn't worked out well, anywhere, ever.
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Apr 15, 2022 10:00 AMThis should be a no-brainer. We have NO water to continue building anything at this rate. Goleta has gone mad with these rows & rows of housing on top of housing. Where is the water coming from?
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Apr 17, 2022 05:58 AM...and birds aren't real.
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Apr 16, 2022 09:55 PMAgain, just to be clear. California does NOT have a water problem. We have a "useless" farming problem. We don't need cannabis or almonds or avocados. We don't need these farmers stealing water and getting tax subsides. Their pesticides polute SB cause cancer clusters and we all sit back and take it. Wake up SB the FARMS NEED TO GO!!!!
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Apr 16, 2022 12:33 PMUnfortunately Goleta has been in bind because the state is MANDATING more housing, regardless of local policy or priority. Planning staff can nibble at the edges of these state directives, but local governments are financially penalized if they don't make an effort to provide more housing. Newsom and his San Francisco developer friend/State Senator Scott Wiener are leading the parade to shove their wealthy developer friends' projects down the throats of local government. And these are NOT low cost for either the units built or the impact on our communities. We all pay for development by needing to fund roads, sewers, water projects and schools resulting from growth.
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Apr 15, 2022 07:25 AM"I hope it doesn't get approved, we have to protect our open sanctuaries,"
This is private land
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Apr 16, 2022 12:35 PMYes, but private land has been purchased many times to provide an alternate open space when development is pending, including the recent purchase of the property next door.
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Apr 15, 2022 06:22 AMYeah, you’re right about those spots. But I guess I’ve seen rampant development in Goleta in the past decade and it shows no signs of letting up.
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Apr 16, 2022 12:38 PMThe State of California is behind the growth in Goleta in recent years. However, prior to that the Goleta City Council did a lot of damage and was in developer's pockets. It takes years for poor planning to show up in brick and mortar, and when people realized what was happening they got a new Council. Now the State is MANDATING growth from Sacramento.
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Apr 15, 2022 07:16 PMI don't understand what's going on in Goleta. It's incoherent at best. It lacks the feeling of a master-planned place like Irvine or Newport Coast or parts of Newport Beach, where at least some effort is made to keep the architecture cohesive and fit a general theme. Say what you want about Orange County but Goleta is looking far worse these days. Like an architectural fever dream or sampler of every possible style. Goleta didn't need to follow in SB footsteps and adopt the quasi-fascist Spanish Colonila style but they could have forged their own style. Instead it's just a smattering of every single cheap look on earth. That Hilton on the corner at Storke is a nightmare. The new weird post-modern stark white housing behind it with the weird box balconies... yeah, that will look ok for all of 2 years before it looks psychotically 2020 and depressing... It's like they design this crap with plans to bulldoze it in 20 years. I don't get it at all.
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Apr 14, 2022 09:36 PMRight on Carp citizens. Good for you. G-d damn, it’s about time someone stopped this kind of development. Did you read the bs in the article about some sort of “connectivity, life forces, sustainability, symbiotic., blah blah…”.? You gotta be fricking kidding.
If only SB and Goleta citizens and leaders had a similar attitude. Props to all who stepped up and showed their disdain for this. “We’re full”, they said. Does that resonate with anyone else? I get it.
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Apr 15, 2022 02:10 AMBasic - If only SB & Goleta citizens had a similar Attitude? Ever heard of Elwood? Douglas Preserve, San Marcos Foothills or perhaps the Gaviota Coast? I don’t see any hotels on More Mesa. Not sure what you’re smoking, but the citizens of SB & Goleta have preserved an extensive amount of land in our county. Hopefully we can all come together to buy this one and protect it as well.
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Apr 14, 2022 09:59 PMNo kidding! I clicked the states (link from above) bottom page 4:
"An environment that people are inspired by to consciously take back to ever y day life."
I was totally mesmerized by that diagram? Layers!
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Apr 14, 2022 08:01 PMThese building designs are hideous.
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Apr 15, 2022 07:19 PMI agree they look bad. Outdated. Built to be bulldozed when the developer operator tires of the place in 10 years and sells.
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Apr 14, 2022 07:28 PMWill they be growing weed on the farm?
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Apr 14, 2022 08:01 PMHa!
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Apr 14, 2022 06:53 PMI'm so torn on this one. Of all the things that could go there, it seems like the least bad option. But I am also just so tired of the development of every last place and the creation of more playgrounds for the ultra rich. The idea that "community" events - beyond birthdays and weddings for wealthy Montecitoans, or lavish PR events for bored housewives' vanity project businesses - will be taking place there is laughable. Yeah, the $375 lunch tasting menu will be a hub for all of us locals.
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Apr 15, 2022 07:08 PMIt's fun when we agree Sac :)
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Apr 15, 2022 12:14 PMSBTOWNIE - "lavish PR events for bored housewives' vanity project businesses" - absolutely love it lol! You really did nail it on the head there!
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Apr 14, 2022 06:14 PMThe Carpinteria community can't afford to lose public access or viewpoints to all that open space forever to an elitist "farm and hospitality experience". A telling point during public comments was that the developers already operate a small hotel in town with wonderful restaurant but no one except registered guests can dine there.
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Apr 15, 2022 11:22 AMSurfrider Hotel Malibu, with a restaurant "...Exclusively available to guests only." https://thesurfridermalibu.com/roof-deck
Here's the rub: If Carp wants to keep this property as open space, the Citizens for Carp Bluffs and Land Trust of SB are going to have to raise the money to purchase it. The last time the property was offered, it was too close to the big fundraise campaign for the Rincon Bluffs and the big donors were tapped out. Perhaps the money can be raised now, but the property owner has to be willing to sell, and sell at a reasonable price. It's a big lift for a small town, but it's doable.
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Apr 15, 2022 08:22 AMNot a factual statement. It was said that the developer owns another hotel in maybe Santa Monica or Malibu, I don't recall which, where only registered guests can dine. He does not operate a small hotel here in Carp
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Apr 14, 2022 06:53 PMWhat establishment is this? I agree that is not a good sign.
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Apr 14, 2022 04:40 PMCarpinteria should be careful. The city of Santa Barbara recently lost a lawsuit and had to pay the owner of an oceanside property for the value of his land because they refused to allow him to build on it. The adjacent parcel to the property in carpinteria, conveniently cropped out of the aerial view in this article, is heavily developed with commercial buildings and oil infrastructure. If the city of carp is going to take the rights to build on the subject parcel, I expect they will have to pay substantial compensation. Can the city afford it?
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Apr 16, 2022 12:45 PMFew are trying to get more oil facilities, or even keep existing ones here besides big petroleum. After multiple oil spills many of us would like to see burning carbon as fuel replaced with clean renewable energy, even if it means wind and solar farms to produce electricity as a replacement.
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Apr 15, 2022 11:14 AMI've hiked and run the Carp bluffs multiple times, and I had to zoom in on a map to figure out where this is. Because I always cross over the RR tracks right at the corner of this parcel - I never really looked at the parcel itself. It's right next to a built-up area. Honestly, of all the things that could go there, this seems like not so bad.
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Apr 15, 2022 10:38 AM5885 carp ave is zoned commercial. Looks like it’s valued at $13 million. The owner has a right to develop the property. If the proposed project meets the rules, the owner has every right to build it. The only legitimate way to prevent the development would be to work out a deal to with the owner, such as buying the property.
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Apr 14, 2022 08:58 PMTee Time Practice Center: 5885 Carpinteria Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tee+Time+Practice+Center/@34.
3886733,-119.5052706,484m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80e908
d191fa63e1:0x7b39417e6249bba2!8m2!3d34.38898!4d-119.5044013?hl=en
...ie. right next to "City Hall", just down the street from Dump Road.
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Apr 14, 2022 08:01 PMGood point. Is the community ok with an oil facility but not an organic farm and hotel?