Balancing Housing and Neighborhood Needs

By Janet Wolf

This is an editorial that was published in the News Press, urging the Board of Supervisors to certify the Housing Element. I am pleased that the Board voted to plan for our community's needs, not what the State Mandates.

While some in our county believe we should break the law and defy the state by failing to certify the housing element requirement, I say it is time to move past the divisiveness and focus on what our community needs, rather than what the state has mandated.

We must certify the housing element, move immediately to update the Goleta Valley Community Plan and continue an aggressive campaign to convince the state to reform this mandate imposed on local governments.

As the only Goleta Valley resident running for 2nd District supervisor, I am confident that an updated community plan will reflect our values and balance our housing and neighborhood needs.

Let me be clear: Failure to certify the housing element could subject our county to the loss of millions of dollars from fines, lawsuits and other actions by citizens groups or the state. More importantly, defying this law could also result in the state taking away our local control and land-use decision-making authority.

At the heart of it all, failure to certify the housing element prevents needed housing from being built for seniors, disabled and low income residents and makes it more difficult for our critical workforce -- our firefighters, teachers, sheriffs and nurses -- to remain in the area because they cannot find or afford housing. Our lack of progress in creating reasonable housing opportunities puts the welfare, health and safety of our community at greater risk.

We need responsible leadership that will plan for a modest and appropriate amount of housing that will help address this important need without sacrificing the character and vitality of our neighborhoods. We can do this by continuing to hold off on rezoning agricultural land while moving forward on the community plan update.

As someone who represented this area for 11 years as an elected official, I am confident that my fellow Goleta Valley residents can work collectively to identify appropriate housing sites and strategies to address our local housing needs that are in the best interest of the community.

Simultaneously, we should continue our proactive work to change the state law to ensure that any future housing mandates respect the unique character of our coastal county and local control.

Rather than breaking the law, let's do what is right for our community. I suggest that we take the following steps in dealing with the state:

• Perform an inventory, similar to an audit, of what our regional carrying capacity is with regards to traffic, water, and solid waste constraints to support our arguments with the state.

• Work with our local legislators to oppose and even roll back state legislation that takes away local control over planning issues. Then work to draft legislative amendments to the current state mandates that acknowledge and respect our region's unique land use character, resources and infrastructure constraints.

• Work with our lobbyist and legislators to sponsor legislation that provides flexibility, creativity and incentives rather then punitive approaches in working with local municipalities to address their housing needs.