Newsletter Archives

The public process to amend the flawed Goleta General Plan has gained momentum over the summer. On August 6th the City Council voted to initiate the study of amendments recommended by the City’s Planning staff. The proposed amendments include policies in the Land Use, Transportation, Conservation, Noise, and Safety Elements of the General Plan.

The Council also unanimously approved a motion allowing the planning staff flexibility in the review process to allow for the most thorough, yet efficient, study of the proposed amendments.

Steve Chase, Goleta’s Planning Director, and the entire City Council emphasized the transparency of the public process and reinforced that the public should and would be included in any and all discussion and review of the proposed amendments.
City staff has been diligent in their work analyzing the General Plan and organizing the amendment effort. Moreover, the City has demonstrated a willingness to be open-minded and fair to all interested parties and is moving in a very positive direction in engaging the public. Chase announced three initial workshops to continue the public discourse and to allow the city’s residents to offer feedback, suggestions, and commentary regarding the General Plan. The schedule is as follows:

•Tuesday, 9/4 6:00pm: Sphere of Influence public workshop

•Saturday, 9/15 9:00am – 3:00pm: General Plan Amendment public workshop

•Friday, 10/5 9:00am – 3:00pm: Housing Element public workshop. Lynn Jacobs, the state Housing and Community Development Executive Director, is scheduled to attend.

The Chamber encourages all members to attend one or all of these workshops.They should prove to be very informative and a great forum for public input.
The aim for the workshops, in line with the entire amendment process, is three-fold:
1.To revise the Housing Element to bring it into compliance with state law and to provide much-needed housing for the community.
2.To fix the numerous internal inconsistencies between policy elements to eliminate confusion and conflicting directives and regulations.
3.To address language that is too specific for the General Plan and more appropriate for the Zoning Ordinance.

Since the original General Plan was passed, the Chamber has emphasized that the important document should present balanced guidelines for our community’s long-term growth and future - facilitating, not restricting, responsible planning.

Over the summer, the Chamber hosted City Planning staff, including Steve Chase, and Council members, including Mayor Jean Blois, at two Issue and Policy Roundtable luncheons dedicated to discussing the General Plan amendment process. The luncheons were an opportunity for Chamber members to offer suggestions and feedback to the City planners and gave staff the chance to answer questions and explain the amendment process in more detail. (For more information, see the IPR report on page 2.)

The next few months will prove to be critical in the amendment process. Ultimately, the General Plan should promote informed, logical, and rational planning decisions by City staff.

“A balanced General Plan is stronger, more relevant, and better equipped to benefit generations of Goletans to come,” stated. Kristen Amyx, President/CEO of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce.

She also commended the City Council “Thank you for proceeding cautiously, deliberately and efficiently to make appropriate changes to the General Plan - the time is now, we see the progress, we support this direction.”

Mark Your Calendar: General Plan Workshop Dates

Tuesday, 9/4 6:00pm
Sphere of Influence public workshop

Saturday, 9/15 9:00am – 3:00pm General Plan Amendment public workshop

Friday, 10/5 9:00am – 3:00pm
Housing Element public workshop

Goleta Beach Park Restoration Project Inches Forward
By Tom Blabey

The plan to address the erosion problem at Goleta Beach Park still faces several hurdles in a long evaluation process.
In May, the Santa Barbara County Parks Department submitted the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) evaluating the current situation and two proposals for the beach, along with various alternatives to each: beach stabilization and “managed retreat.”

The Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce has advocated diligently for beach stabilization, which includes maintaining most of the existing rock revetments and supplementing them with a permeable groin constructed adjacent to Goleta pier. Sand would be pumped from a site offshore to augment the existing sand deposit on the beach. Beachgoers would still be able to walk underneath and through the permeable groin, appearing essentially as an expansion of the current pier. Eventually a platform could be built across the top of the structure, expanding the usable surface area of the Goleta pier.

Kristen Amyx, President and CEO of the Chamber, stated, “Goleta Beach Park is an incredible asset to the greater Santa Barbara community. It needs to be protected and preserved.”

“Managed retreat” involves moving facilities and parking that lie close to the beachfront further back and removing the existing mid-beach rock revetment to allow natural beach movement and erosion to occur. This would cause recreational and park ranger facilities and space to be reduced to allow for a wide enough buffer from erosion on the beachfront.

Santa Barbara County Parks received numerous responses from the public as well as comment from the California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission reviewed the DEIR, but requested further clarification and information regarding the specifics of the proposed alternatives and possible environmental impacts. Over the summer, the Board of Supervisors authorized additional funds (about $60,000) so that the consultants could respond to the volume of comments on the DEIR.

The Parks Department is also working to identify funding sources for the actual project. County estimates range from $8 million to $23 million, depending on which Goleta Beach alternative is initiated. The County Parks Commission has set up a task force with staff from the City of Goleta and the County to address these fiscal issues.

Once the County has responded to the public comments and submitted the complete EIR, the Parks Department will set up a hearing at the Board of Supervisors, hopefully on the calendar in mid-October. The document should be available for public viewing, at least electronically, a few weeks prior to the hearing.

There is at least one deadline looming in this process. The temporary permits for the current rock revetments expire in January of 2008. By that time, a plan to save Goleta Beach Park for the benefit of the entire community should be in place.

An Issues and Policy Roundtable to discuss Goleta Beach Park and the County’s environmental review process for the project will be held at noon on Tuesday, September 11, at the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce conference room.

Chairman’s Journal - Boasting About Our Advocate
By William Macfadyen

She won’t boast about it, but I will.

Kristen Amyx, the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s president and CEO, was honored last month as the tricounties’ Small Business Advocate of the Year — part of the Pacific Coast Business Times’ annual Spirit of Small Business Awards.

There could be no better choice. In the five years under Kristen’s stewardship, the GVCoC has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in Santa Barbara County. Kristen has tirelessly pursued an ambitious agenda that is centered on advocacy on behalf of our Chamber membership. It can be a thankless job but it is so crucial to our community’s continued economic success and vitality.

Kristen has been a leader and an innovator on issues that range from taxes and regulation to economic development and education to workforce housing and transportation to regional and state collaboration to the Goleta General Plan. I daresay that few chamber executives are as familiar with the minutiae of a General Plan process, but we sure are grateful that she is. There is no more articulate spokesperson for the issues our chamber membership cares about, for the very issues on which our businesses depend. While our local business climate remains a challenging one, I don’t want to even think about what it would be like without her.

The Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce board of directors is an enthusiastic partner with Kristen in this advocacy and we’re proud that her hard work and effectiveness have been honored and publicized on the Central Coast. It’s all the more worthwhile to be recognized by an organization — the Pacific Coast Business Times — that knows its business, and ours.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback.

President’s Journal
By Kristen Amyx

One of the Chamber’s highest priorities is promoting the economic vitality and restoration of Old Town Goleta as the heart of the Goleta Valley. Unfortunately, our little “downtown” and its businesses have suffered due to frequent flooding from San Jose Creek, which runs along the eastern edge of Old Town. The business community has been advocating for improvements to inadequate flood control measures for years. In addition, the current creek bed is inhospitable to some native species, including the protected steelhead trout.

However, we are happy to report some very positive progress in the San Jose Creek project. The City can now begin a project designed and engineered to both control one hundred year flooding levels (which seem to strangely occur far more often than that!) as well as to repair and restore the riparian ecosystem along the banks of the creek. Improvements are also proposed for the creek bed to facilitate steelhead passage.

Work is scheduled to begin in 2008 so as to minimize disruption to both environmental cycles as well as traffic and commerce along the busy Hollister Avenue corridor. I am pleased to see such an example of city agencies working with business, environmental, and neighborhood advocacy groups to come up with a solution that works for everyone. Once the improvements are complete, business owners and residents of Old Town will be able to make improvements and investments to their own properties in full confidence that future floods will not threaten to reverse those efforts. Overall, the quality of life stands to improve immensely for all Old Town business owners and residents, including the critters in the creek – something the entire Goleta Valley can be proud of.

State Budget Passes - Seven Weeks Late
From A.P. Wire Sources & Lisa Rivas

California lawmakers ended the nation’s longest budget impasse on Tuesday, August 21st after agreeing to a $145 billion spending plan that eliminates the state’s persistent deficit and addresses the myriad concerns of holdout Republicans.

The deal emerged quickly after the Assembly and Senate failed to agree on a budget late Monday night and ends a stalemate that has lasted more than seven weeks beyond the start of the fiscal year.
It will free up billions of dollars in payments to a variety of social service agencies that rely on state funding, as well as to community colleges and some education programs.

The deal also allows the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to move forward on an ambitious policy agenda that includes sweeping health care reform and a proposal to overhaul California’s massive water-delivery system of reservoirs, pumps and canals.

The budget plan, which had passed the Assembly in July, was approved 27-12 in the Senate with two Republican votes, just meeting the required two-thirds majority. It now goes to the governor, who has said he supports it.
Editor’s note: By the time this issue is printed, the Governor should have signed the legislation.

Solving the Business Owner’s Retirement Dilemma
By Del Hegland

There’s a fatal flaw in the retirement of many small business owners: After pouring a lifetime of sweat, time and capital into building the business, their rough-sketch strategy is to sell out someday for a ton of money and settle back and enjoy a financially secure retirement. Many business owners are so sure this will happen that they don’t bother to make any other retirement plans.

Who is this person who, at just the right moment, is going to show up with cash in hand to buy the company… and pay a fair price? For thousands of small business owners each year, no one steps forward.
One Possible Solution

Groom your own replacement, someone who will buy your company when you’re ready. Maybe this person is a current co-owner, younger key employee, or a son or daughter active in the business.

Successfully Groom Replacements & Leave Nothing to Chance
They realize that there is no room for error. Here are some steps they might take:

They are cautious. They make sure their heir apparent is the right person in terms of temperament, personality, competence and personal goals.

They set up a probation period. During that period, they keep everything informal, strictly verbal. At the same time, even when they go to a formal agreement, they make sure it contains a termination provision.

They fashion golden handcuffs and incentives to ensure that their replacement stays until the baton is passed. Both parties need something to win by sticking to the agreement…and something to lose if it falls apart.

They put it in writing, along with the help of their attorney—locking in who does and gets what, and spelling out all details and caveats, including how to establish the final valuation of the business. This formal buy/sell agreement protects everybody.

They build in a funding mechanism. This is crucial. No matter how good the terms of the buy/sell agreement, it will be worthless if the money is not there when needed to carry out the plan.

They have a back-up plan. As a business owner, you know that very few things go exactly as planned. What if your business hits tough times or your successor dies, becomes disabled, or—all to common—leaves because of a personality conflict? Or what if there simply is no heir apparent waiting in the wings? Sometimes, it’s simply best to dismantle the business.

Plan Early
Whether or not you have a possible successor for your company, you should begin mapping out your retirement strategy today. Your insurance professional or your independent professional advisors can help you develop this kind of business strategy.

This article written by Del Hegland, New York Life Insurance Company. You can reach Del at 965-0969.

Issues & Policy Roundtable Report
Grayson Peters

July 26, 2007
The Issue & Policy Roundtable held the first of two special meetings on Thursday, July 2, to discuss the General Plan Amendment process.

This first meeting focused on the housing element and included questions and feedback. Steve Chase, Director of Planning and Environmental Services; Anne Wells, Advance Planning Manager; and Kirsten Deshler, Public Information Officer/Management Analyst, helped facilitate the discussion. Some of the items discussed were:

•The housing projects in the pipeline now are the only foreseen projects in our future, so they must be addressed correctly the first time.

•What the "Track" system history is, and how the City believes it will help expedite the process.

•Many policies rely on developer incentives. The State is requiring that Goleta further clarify their incentives before it will give approval. One member of the audience suggested that the largest incentive that can be given is 'time,' reduced time in the planning process.

•How zoning can be the answer to ensuring a proposed number of units ends up being the number that is able to be built.

•The downfalls of inclusionary housing, and how this can be reformed as an incentive instead of a deterrent to developers. One suggestion was the solution may be 'affordability by design,' while another suggested 'utilizing bonus density.'

The meeting was summed up rather nicely when Chase observed, "This is no longer an era of putting forth a rule of one-size fits all."

August 14, 2007
The second Issue & Policy Roundtable special meetings on the General Plan was held on Tuesday, August 14. It covered the remaining non-housing elements of the General Plan.

Again, with the assistance of Chase, Wells, and Deshler, many issues were able to be addressed and included:

•What the future may hold for the Goleta Growth Management Ordinance (GGMO) with the consensus that "industrial growth shouldn't out pace residential."

•Difficulty in dealing with the balance of predictability and certainty versus flexibility and balance in the General Plan amendments.

•A discussion on whether Goleta wants more "big box" establishments. The property is available and current language limits the building to Camino Real only. There are many community service (i.e. transportation impacts) and environmental hurdles.

•Public input was requested on whether or not Goleta wants "hotel condominiums" in the City. Most concerns were focused on whether or not these condominiums would affect the availability to build other homes in the same area, and what transportation issues they might create.

•Whether elements such as the F.A.R. should be in the General Plan or moved to an Ordinance.

•How the Storke/Hollister intersection should be addressed. Diverting local traffic through other overpasses, two turn lanes at the intersection's stoplight, extending Phelps Road, and extending the Los Carneros S/B 101 entrance were a few of the methods discussed.

Several voiced concerns on the impacts of new development in the area.

The City staff are working diligently to address the General Plan amendments in a manner that best suits the desires of the public and the City.

The Goleta City Council began addressing General Plan amendments in various meetings and workshops starting on August 6th. For more information on the General Plan Amendment process see the article above or click here.

Thanks to Kawasaki of Santa Barbara.

A long-time Chamber member, Chris Nelson of Kawasaki of Santa Barbara generously donates three “mules”, a Kawasaki utility vehicle, to the Lemon Festival for the entire weekend, from Friday morning set - up to Sunday night teardown, so that equipment, or people that need to be moved, can be moved quickly.

Nelson never asks for recognition or presses for accolades, but quietly volunteers to help out in this way each year. The next time you are shopping around for a motorcycle or ATV, stop in and say hello. On behalf of the Lemon Festival Committee and the Chamber, we want to say “Thanks !”

Kawasaki of Santa Barbara is located at 5836 Hollister Avenue, Goleta. You can contact them at 964-4685 or go online to www.kawasakiofsantabarbara.com

News from the Ambassadors
By Del Hegland

Want to meet others, share personal and business stories in a cheerful, animated setting – with snacks, wine and music? Join our Goleta Valley Chamber monthly mixers (Wednesdays, 5-7pm). Businesses introduce themselves, describe what they do and meet potential clients. Join a ribbon cutting for new businesses (11am - noon). Enjoy treats, meet Council members, and mix with other Chamber members.

Mixer 07/25, SB Chrysler-Jeep:
On July 25th, Santa Barbara Chrysler-Jeep opened their showroom with wine, tasty food, and live music. They officially joined the Chamber under new ownership, including Jim Crook as General Manager. This dealership is one of Chrysler’s highest-rated in the country and they take pride in the honorable and friendly way they treat people.

Jim Crook welcomed all, then our Chamber President Kristen Amyx, Goleta Mayor Jean Blois, and Mayor Pro Tempore Michael Bennett welcomed new members who introduced themselves: Old Town Goleta’s new Hampton Inn (represented by Julie Caliguiri), Bargain Network (Chris Dale), Los Padres Boy Scouts (Ron Walsh), Strategonomics (James Wilson), Santa Barbara County Federal Credit Union (Haydee Ramirez), Walpole & Co. (Cody Schlottmann), Spherion Staffing (Trish Miller), Santa Barbara Daily Sound (Jeremy Gordon and staff).

Ribbon Cutting 08/08, Hampton Inn:
We enjoyed a tour of this handsome and brand-new hotel with attractive and spacious rooms and many appealing amenities. Chamber President Kristen Amyx, Goleta Mayor Jean Blois, and Mayor Pro Tempore Michael T. Bennett all warmly welcomed this classy new Hampton.

I am a part of this fine Chamber because it is friendly, honorable and professional, it actively and effectively promotes Goleta businesses and business life, it underwrites information studies on key Goleta issues such as zoning, transportation and housing; it publishes facts and observations. It organizes debates to inform citizens and encourages political action that help us.

As a New York Life agent I coach very busy business owners, professionals, and families to get a better grasp of a complex and confusing financial world. I help ensure that decisions are acted on and that plans are kept up-to-date. And I’m a Goleta Chamber Ambassador, so I assist in making events work and in welcoming members to functions. Being an active partner in this Chamber is satisfying in enhancing my visibility, making a difference to good people, and having fun.

Join our Ambassadors! Christine LeBon guides and encourages us with bubbling enthusiasm and excellent organization. We work closely with Rick Yost, our energetic and so-productive Member Coordinator. Be visible and make a difference!

Member Spotlight

Page Youth Center
Building community, character, and friendships is the essence of the Page Youth Center. For the last 16 years, kids have jumped out of cars, run through the double doors at 4540 Hollister Avenue, tossed their sports bags on the floor and PLAYED. Indeed, PYC has become a cornerstone of active sports recreation for local youth whose parents seek safety, wise mentorship, quality coaching, and just plain fun for their children.

Serving approximately 3,000 kids a year, PYC also provides youth with fundamental values for all level of players as they participate in various athletic activities. As Executive Director (and one of “Goleta’s Finest”) Bob Yost says. “We teach the kids that it’s not necessarily always about winning. In turn they learn to work with one another to gain core life values.” Whether the kids are playing basketball, volleyball or participating in after school sports like bowling and flag football, the emphasis at PYC is on instilling each child with self esteem while teaching them commitment, teamwork and respect for others.

For the community as a whole PYC helps to foster and sustain the excellent quality of life for families in Goleta and Santa Barbara by contributing powerful sports activities, a wonderful facility where everyone plays and no child is turned away for lack of financial resources - where tomorrow’s good citizens are being developed.

For further information on the Page Youth Center and its sports programs please see this edition’s PYC insert and/or go to www.pageyouthcenter.org or call 967-8778.

New Member Profiles

Stephen Wheeler, CPA
Stephen Wheeler is a CPA and licensed Real Estate Broker. He focuses on tax preparation, planning and consulting and real estate finance. Wheeler graduated from UCSB in 1978 with a degree in Economics and worked for a Big 5 firm before going into private practice. Steve was nationally recognized in 2003 for suggestions he made that HUD tried to adopt that would have substantially eliminated excessive fees charged by brokers in real estate loan transactions. Steve surfs in his free time, is active in Rotary, and has also coached soccer, basketball and volleyball over the past fourteen years.

Steve Wheeler can be reached at 963-3368.

St. Michael’s University Church
St. Michael’s University Church is an inclusive community, celebrating the dignity of all people. Whoever you are and where ever you find yourself on your spiritual journey, St. Michael’s welcomes you. They invite your questions, stories, hopes and doubts. Check them out and test their hospitality! May you learn to give, laugh, love, play, lead, go deeper and be passionate about the world during your time in the Santa Barbara area.

St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church is located at 6586 Picasso Road in Isla Vista and can be reached at 805.968.2712

Goleta Teen of the Year Award
Do you know a teen deserving of recognition for his or her contributions to the community? The Goleta Noontime Rotary Club is now accepting nominations for Goleta Teen of the Year.

This program is open to Juniors and Seniors at Dos Pueblos, San Marcos, Bishop Diego Garcia and Laguna Blanca High Schools.
Nominees must have a minimum G.P.A. of 2.75 and live in 93117, 93111 or 93110 Zip Codes. Nominations are due by September 21, 2007. For more information, contact 967-6166, or visit www.goletateen.org.