City Council — February 17, 2026

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For those of you who would like to hear all this event in English, we have some devices for you available. So please raise your hand and we can hand you one of these devices to do so. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Rosen, our city attorney, a report from closed session?

Thank you Mayor. So for the closed session item read into the record this evening at 4.30 p.m., and attached to the agenda there is no reportable action.

Okay thank you. Okay at this point we will have public forum on anything that's not on our agenda this evening. You have three minutes and pertinent to this jurisdiction. Do we have any speakers?

Yes, thank you Madam Mayor. I do have two speaker slips for those of you on the Zub webinar please use raised hand icon and I will call on you our first in-person speakers John Roehner.

Hello, good evening. This is about a, I got three minutes, I've got it down to about one minute. Good evening Honorable Mayor, City Council members, city staff and all others in attendance. My name is John Rohner and I am the new, wanted to introduce myself as the new Public Affairs Manager for SoCalGas. I cover San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County. I like to say my coverage territory is Hearst Castle to Carpentaria or Rincon, I guess.

And I recently took over the role after Tim Mahoney retired about the middle of the year last year. And I wanted to say that SoCal Gas remains committed to supporting local governments and communities to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy delivery today ready for tomorrow. Please don't hesitate to reach out. I look forward to working with you and thank you very much for your time.

Nice to meet you. Thank you so much.

Our next in-person speaker is Maurice Fisher

That's a hard act to follow. He was quick, wasn't he? My name is Maurice Fisher with the Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience. The reason I'm here is I touched base with your emergency manager last week. And we wanted to let everybody know that we're in the area versus for the storms that occurred December 16th through the 26 of 2020, 2025.

And I've sent some literature out to city council members as well as him and some other emergency managers as what SBA can do And we're here for the EIDL loans. So I'm used to talking in front of a bunch of cops instead of, they're right here but thank you for giving me this opportunity. With businesses that were affected, they can get up to $2 million in loan and it's low interest rates. For businesses it's up to 4%, and for non-profits it's 3.625%.

The deadline is November 6, 2026 and have the paperwork in by then. I'll be leaving some cards so if anybody needs to reach out to us feel free to do so. I will be in the area and I'll be able to answer any questions that you have and we'll get this all squared away. I was even shorter so there you go.

Thank you so much nice to meet you as well.

I have no further speakers for public forum

okay Okay, then we have amendments or adjustments to our agenda.

Thank you Madam Mayor. We have no amendments tonight but I can move right into CM updates and I passed the Public Works team. I see them coming up. I thought it would be good to give a short status report on the San Jose Creek multi-purpose trail The staff did give a report I think a month or six weeks ago. That was before construction started. The purpose of that was to remind everyone, the council, the community hey we're about to start this big project It's a project obviously we've been working on for years and construction was getting very close to starting.

And now construction has started, we're a couple weeks in earnest and various people have seen the activity out there. One of the first steps in the project is to clear and grub and remove some trees so this has been noticed. The team has received some feedback about that. We've heard feedback through various channels So we thought with the meeting tonight, we'd take the opportunity to give a brief staff report of what's going on. What can be expected? How to file concerns or complaints or ask questions etc., etc.

So I will turn it over to our Public Works team.

Thank you.

Good evening Madam Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Michael Winowitser, project manager for the San Jose Creek Multipurpose Path Project. I'm here to provide a brief update on the project and its environmental and mitigation requirements. First, I'd like our last update in December. I'll remind everyone of the scope of the project. There are two segments, the northern segment from Calle Real near Kellogg to the portion of the path between Armidos Park and Johnny D. Wallace Park pictured on the slide here as a southern segment and the southern segment additionally is from the South Kellogg Way down to the Tascadero Bikeway Construction has been a steady progress of clearing and grubbing on the tree removal work in the northern segment, which is preparing us for the construction of the path itself.

These window removals were approved by regulatory permitting agencies. At this time we've completed approximately 60% of tree removals. These trees include both upland trees around Calle Real and riparian habitat trees we see in our creeks. Wherever possible, we will work with our contractor to attempt to preserve trees. As mentioned in the last update all vegetation clearing is subject to permit mitigation requirements and a total of 2.8 acres will be restored for mitigation and over 300 new trees will take the place of those removed.

All these will be implemented in locations throughout the city of Goleta. Also due to recent and anticipated rain delays, the clearing and grubbing is expected to occur through mid-March. We are also coordinating with Caltrans in their Highway 217 bridge project and anticipate starting the work on the southern segment this spring. Overall this path will be instrumental in improving Goleta's active transportation network making walking and biking easier safer and more connected to our entire community We expect contractors will submit RFIs during construction regarding trees which may prove unsafe, have root system conflicts, tree health concerns or access concerns.

We may also be able to preserve trees which do not have these conflicts where they were once anticipated. Contractors continue to work with arborists on site to determine the necessity of each and every tree removal. I also wanna hone in on our mitigation. Here's just one example from our mitigation planting plan, which distinguishes between areas marked for enhancement versus reestablishment and you can also note that the path itself is identified by the bold gray line.

Enhancement areas in pink are those where no significant clearing has happened or will happen and additional flora will be added to improve the existing habitat And reestablishment areas identified in green are those where a significant clearing has taken place or will take place and plants, shrubs and trees will be restored. For example the location shown on the map you can expect over 100 new trees lining the channel by the end of the project In line with the theme of paths, I think a good way to think of the difference between enhancement and reestablishment would be fixing up your old shoes versus scrapping them for a brand new pair. You'll still be getting where you're going either way.

In that vein it should be noted that plant reestablishment takes time and we appreciate the public's patience as mitigation and regrowth will not be immediate. Again like new shoes it takes a bit of breaking in To reiterate, a major goal with this project is continued environmental stewardship which means ongoing and active monitoring and surveying in compliance with our regulatory permits.

Our contract monitors regularly and as needed, relocate wildlife to safe alternate habitats up or downstream. Observe and document nesting birds in other wildlife, flag and track protected trees, flag native vegetation and habitat to avoid, ensure implementation of best management practices like erosion control, dust control and more. We have completed and reported our surveys to regulatory agencies for nesting birds, wood rats, general biological resources, the California red-legged frog, the Coast Range newt, special status reptiles, protected trees, special status plants and bats.

We are doing everything in our power to safeguard the ecosystem you'll soon be walking along. Lastly, I'd like to remind the Council and the public of our project outreach hotlines and a web address listed on the screen. We encourage all questions and concerns about the project to be addressed to those hotlines that allow for a direct line of communication to our outreach team.

All emails are automatically added to the project distribution list, so they will receive email updates periodically throughout the project. We're actively working with the public and we've had 19 interactions to date with six different people so far including working with both HOAs off Dearborn Avenue to set up a public meeting. That concludes our project update. We'll now welcome any questions or comments you may have for us.

Thank you for that. Council Member Carioca?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So I think when this project is complete and you have the new corridor and you have the new path and people are able to walk and bike through there finally after over 30 years of public process and community meetings and stakeholder groups, I mean, I think it's going to be a really wonderful thing. One thing I wanted to hone in on though and just have a couple questions Can staff, I appreciate that you're now working on setting up a public meeting for residents in the immediate area of the project area where the tree work is being done. I guess my first question is can you just kind of maybe talk a little bit about recent outreach that's been done up until now in terms of notifying the residents? Did a notice go out that tree work was preparing to begin?

I just want to have a sense of what noticing occurred up until now.

Councilmember Kariakou, yes all required noticing went out which includes the city when is it above and beyond that and we also issued press releases before this project went out. We had our meeting back in December to talk about it specifically here at council and then also our contractor is required to notify ahead of any construction so that is usually within a certain radius and they'll get flyers or something at their doorstep as well

okay And I definitely talked to some residents of the area that really felt like there was, it really came as a surprise to them just the amount of tree work that had been done. Is the tree work still ongoing? Is it almost done? Can I just get a sense of where things are at with the clearing and grubbing of trees and the surrounding bush?

Absolutely. So the clearing is projected for another probably three weeks, four weeks to be safe depending on our rain activity that has delayed it and it's about 60% of the way so we have about 40 percent more clearing to do.

Okay all right well I think that's it for me for right now but I'll look forward to having that community meeting and I appreciate you putting that together on such short notice

Council Member Reyes-Martin. Thank you, thank you for the update. Quick question. You mentioned a project email distribution list with updates. Can council be added to that distribution list if we're not already? I think it'd be helpful for us to have any of those updates as we get questions from the community.

Council Member Reyes-Martin absolutely we can include council on those updates

Great idea, okay. No other questions? Thank you for that update.

And Mayor I don't have any further announcements.

Okay great thank you so much both of you. Okay moving on to consent calendar

Yes, thank you Madam Mayor. Item A1 ratification of mayoral appointment of the Isla Vista Community Services District representative to the City of Galeta Library Advisory Commission. Item A2 acceptance of the December 2025 investment transaction report. Item a three fiscal year 2025-26 second quarter financial review item A4 annual comprehensive financial report for the year ended June 30th 2025. Item 5 temporary on street parking restrictions for the 2026

there was a reference to the 100th anniversary of Negro History Week which is now Black History Month, but in May of 1979 that was the 25th anniversary of the ruling in Brown versus Board for Education And one of the stalwarts of the NAACP in the courtroom, Thurgood Marshall gave a speech at Howard University Law School as alma mater that year. During that speech he referenced a quote from John F Kennedy and then he went on to give some further remarks that I want to share with you.

Quoting from Kennedy, Kennedy said the following The great enemy of the truth is not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest but the myth persistent persuasive and unrealistic. Justice Marshall went on to say beware of the myth that everything is going to be all right Don't give in. I add that because it seems to me that what we need today is to refocus.

Back in the 30s and 40s, the only place we could go was to court. We knew then that the court was not the final solution. Many of us knew the final solution would have to be politics For no other reason than politics is cheaper than lawsuits. So now we have both, we have our legal arm and we have our political arm. Let's use them both and don't listen to the myth that the problems can be solved by either or that it has already been solved.

Take it from me, it has not been solved And so we thank you, our political leaders for standing in the gap for truth, for justice, for recognition of history as history, for recognition of the contribution of Africans to this country. And we want to send a message to friend and foe alike That we stand not only for Africans, we stand for our friends abroad and here.

Our Latin American friends who are being savagely brutalized in concentration camps or being terrorized by domestic terrorists who call themselves federal agents. We stand with our Venezuelan brothers and sisters and our Cuban brothers and sisters who are being slowly starved of resources. So thank you, we appreciate you and have a good evening.

Thank you so much.

Hello. I'm pleased to be here. I want to thank you for inviting Martin Luther King Jr. Committee. This is the first time that The Goleta City Council has recognized our organization. And I note that there were quite a few others that were listed, which was really nice to hear. I'm going to tell you a little bit about what Martin Luther King Committee does. We've been in the community for 18 years. I didn't come prepared with a speech Can you hear me now? Okay. We've been in the community almost two decades and we started with one day of recognition of Martin Luther King holiday, and then we expanded it to three. Now we're up to five. And at one point, we had six days of activities. I'm not going to talk a lot about our activities but I want to mention our essay and poetry awards program because some of you may have had children that have been involved in our program where we provide the students with a theme.

We pick a theme for the year. It takes us about three months to select the theme and it's generally a quote of Dr. King I'm going to try to remember the quote this year is, we need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. We need leaders not in love with publicity but in love with humanity. And so our students wrote on that theme and you may have heard some of them do their readings, either at the Daly-Guerra Plaza where we have the young students read. And then we encourage the older students to read at the Arlington Theater because we want to give our students the opportunity to not only be encouraged but to feel the empowerment of speaking before a large audience.

So anyway, enough about Martin Luther King. I want to thank you again for your invitation and for recognition and look forward to next year. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else want to speak? No? Picture time! Do we have any speakers?

I have no speakers. Those of you on the Zoom webinar who wish to speak to this item, please use the raised hand icon and I will call on you all. I'm seeing no public comment

Mayor.

Thank You. I'll be real brief. I just want to start by thanking the Mayor Pro Tem for acknowledging the passing of Jesse Jackson. I saw that news this morning and I found myself watching the 1984 speech to the Democratic National Convention And so many different parts of those remarks spoke to me, from the courage it took in a very divided and divisive time to openly speak not just about the struggle of black Americans but also those of other ethnicities.

Talked openly about lesbian and gay rights. Openly spoke about respect not just for our Judeo-Christian heritage in this country but also Islam But the thing that really stayed with me was his description of America as not being a garment made of a single cloth, but that's more like a quilt. A quilt made of patches of different fabrics and different shapes and different sizes, but all bound together by a common thread of humanity and justice. And so I just – I was just reflecting on that when I heard the Mayor Pro Tem speak, and so I just wanted to make sure I shared that Happy Black History Month.

Thank you. Okay, moving on to our discussion item?

Yes, thank you Mayor. That is Item C1 consider adoption of an interim ordinance the ordinance senior mobile home park overlay and moratorium on conversion to all ages Park.

Thank You. Mr. Imhoff are you gonna start us off

Good evening Mayor, excuse me and Council. I'm going to pass it right off to Ms. Graham.

Thank you.

Good evening Madam Mayor and council members yes I am here today to discuss an interim urgency ordinance and senior mobile home park overlay So a little background. Mobile home parks have historically been a source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the US and in California. Senior mobile home parks are a subset of that, and those are defined as mobile home parks where 80% of occupied spaces have one or more Occupant living there ages 55 or greater.

The City of Goleta has five mobile home parks within its jurisdiction and University Mobile Home Park, it's staffs understanding that it has operated and currently operates as a senior mobile home park as defined. So last fall, University Mobile Home Park was sold and came under new ownership. And soon after new rules and regulations were sent out to park residents.

And among other things one of the changes in the new parks rules and regulations was a change from senior mobile home park to an all ages park. Under state law mobile home park residency law in the civil code Rule changes in a park go into effect six months after notice is given to non-consenting homeowners. So backing up a little, if you recall we came to your council in mid-December with a status update on the park.

We touched on the notices that went out, a rent increase and this proposed change to an all ages park And your council provided direction to staff to work with the city attorney's office, do some research and return with a proposed potential urgency ordinance and senior mobile home park overlay which has brought us here to you tonight. So the interim urgency ordinance itself Considers that converting senior mobile home parks to all ages parks constitutes a current and immediate threat to the public health and safety and welfare of the community because it reduces the available accessible and affordable housing options for seniors, senior residents in the city.

The ordinance again formally defined senior mobile home parks as having 80% of spaces occupied by at least one person aged 55 or greater. It requires the park to have signage and documents that proactively identify the park as a senior mobile home park It contains an annual required certification process with the city to confirm and report on the age of occupants.

And the ordinance prohibits conversion of the park to all ages, and has provisions for violations by either the park owner or manager or the residents. So an interim urgency ordinance in general requires a four-fifths affirmative vote by your council. The one before you tonight would add a dash SHMP overlay to the zoning district's overlay map of the city. The proposed overlay as currently proposed applies citywide and it would be effective immediately upon that fourth, fifth vote. And would be in effect until either the urgency ordinance expires or the council adopts a permanent ordinance with that overlay.

So it's always hard to see maps at this scale, but this is a map of the zoning overlay districts in the city. And there's an arrow showing the important point here which is that the SHMP overlay district has been added and it's coincident with the city limits of Goleta. So, staff's recommendation as written in the staff report is to adopt on a four-fifths vote the urgency ordinance number 26 next in line entitled an Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of the city of Goleta California adding chapter 17.22 to the Goleta Municipal Code to establish a senior mobile home park overlay district and moratorium prohibiting the conversion of senior mobile home parks to all ages parks Finding the ordinance categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and declaring the urgency thereof.

So that concludes my presentation, and I'm happy to take any questions you have.

Council Member

Kasdan. Just for those in other mobile home parks, how does this city-wide overlay affect other parks? Do we have other senior mobile home parks or any other parks affected by this action?

Councilmember Kasdan through the mayor. We don't as far as staff is aware, but we want to allow for the possibility that we don't know everything or more importantly if a park were to convert or be created in the future as a senior mobile home park

In other words, if it were created in the future then it can't adjust itself otherwise. It's sort of locked-in in that capacity. Is that what you mean? Correct. Okay. That's it for right now. Thank you.

Any other questions from Council at this point? No? Then I'd like to go to the public

Yes Madam Mayor for those of you on the zoom webinar who wish to speak to this item please use raised hand icon. I do have four speaker slips for in-person speakers our first speaker will be Fred Sleeman all speakers will have three minutes

Madam Mayor, City Council members, city staff. My name is Fred Sleeman, President of the University Mobile Home Park Association. I thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the residents of University Mobile Home Park. I'd like to state the intent of the University Mobile Home Park as senior residents of the park is not to discriminate against any group in our community, however our purpose is to maintain the status of University Mobile Home Park as a Senior 55 plus age park University Mobile Home Park has always operated since its inception as a 55 plus age mobile home park.

The residents of University Mobile Home Park are grateful and appreciate your consideration when writing this interim urgency ordinance and senior mobile home park overlay and moratorium on the conversion to an all-age park, which clearly addresses the social economic and safety concerns of the senior residents of this park. Your leadership understanding and commitment to accomplish this endeavor is strongly supported and recognized not only by the current seniors of University Mobile Home Park but by all future senior residents.

We graciously thank you for your hard work to address our social, economic and safety concerns and are confident that this interim senior overlay will result in a permanent codified city ordinance designation of University Mobile Home Park as a Senior 55 plus age park Thank you for your attention in this matter.

My name is Ann Anderson. I am the president of the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League, which is a statewide organization that supports manufactured homeowners. I also happen to live about five miles away and I just want to let you think about something. If you go into a store and you don't like the prices or you don't like the quality of the goods, or maybe the service isn't quite up to snuff, you can walk out the door and just go somewhere else.

When you own a home in a mobile home park And if you don't like the condition of the park or the rent raises going up every year, or the abusive management. You cannot just go to another mobile home park because you own your home Even if you happen to live in an airstream like my grandmother did back in the 50s and she could just put that behind her car and drive away with it. But nowadays, even if you do live in what we would call a trailer, you can't really move it.

So mobile home owners are captive consumers. And because of that, we heartily appreciate the efforts of city and county governments to write protective laws for us And I also want to mention that usually a park that's built for seniors is not really very conducive for younger people to live there with families. It may be that there is no place for children to play, there's no playground There's no swimming pool, there is no clubhouse.

The kids basically have to play in the streets and this is another reason why it's important to be able to preserve the senior housing communities that are built specifically for seniors and also would like to remind you that there is a ticking clock. As we know, we have six months from October to get at least a moratorium in place to help the residents of University Mobile Home Park. So on behalf of GSMOL, I would like to heartily thank you for this consideration and hope that everything will go well in the institution of this moratorium. Thank you.

We're not going to do clapping or booing because that could make somebody else feel bad if they have a different opinion. So if you want to go like this maybe, but no booing and no clapping thank you appreciate it.

Our next in-person speaker is Lawrence Boehm

Okay, Honorable Mayor and City Council members Very glad to be here tonight to tell you our feelings about this It's the question is can you put a price on peace and serenity? That is the question we're dealing with tonight We have a very quiet beautiful Mobile home Park set up for seniors, many who have illnesses. Many have serious illnesses like cancer really need a quiet park that they can relax and heal in.

Um, we're one of the few islands of affordable housing in this whole area near the glitter coast. We've had to fight for our rights In protection, we've had to fight Daniel Guggenheim for two years. Now we have to protect our rights from Harmony. They are threatening a quiet affordable senior place to live for seniors by trying to convert our peaceful quiet community to a family park.

There is only one motive and that motive is money They care little for our park, being one of the last islands of peace for the elderly and low-cost senior citizens in Goleta. I'm asking the Mayor and City Council members to preserve our park as an oasis of serenity and preserve our park for seniors. I would like to thank you for your consideration And I want to especially thank James for his help on this.

So, I appreciate your vote on this. I just want to make a quick comment. I've been living in that area for 28 years now and this whole San Jose Creek Parkway As far as considering trees, there's a whole grove of eucalyptus trees behind the Boys and Girls Club. And I've seen yearly monarch butterflies wintering there so I hope we can preserve that for everybody.

Thank

you.

Our next in-person speaker is Joseph Tokanori

Yes, I'm Joseph Tucciaroni. Madam Mayor and ladies and gentlemen of the City Council, I just want to be one more voice in support of the possibility that this will become a senior home park, and I want to commend the City Council for taking quick action and appreciating that we are as seniors a needy group. Unfortunately, we've lost a lot of our skills and we can't sometimes see what's coming down the road.

And the one aspect of this ruling is affordability So, I would like to remind or I would like to mention that when all ages park is the concept brought by Harmony to us is basically to raise their values and basically make it less affordable for seniors. That's it. Thank you very much.

Our next in-person speaker is Holly Bonifar. On a face, excuse me. For those of you on the Zoom webinar please do use raised hand icon and I will call on you all.

Good evening Mayor Parodi, Mayor Pro Tempore Smith, Councilmember Martin, Reyes Martin, Stuart Crasden Uh, Kasdan. Pardon me. And my council member, Mr. Kariako. And thank you very much, Mr. Eimhoff and Lucy Graham for showing up and everybody else. We really appreciate you. That's the first thing I want to say. You would have thought in my lead Goleta class I would have learned how to fill out one of these so I apologize for that.

When Anne was speaking just a minute ago she is the president of the Golden State manufacturer owners, manufacturer, whatever it is that represents us for the state level. I am one of those captive people. My sister lives in the mobile home park and I was looking for affordable housing and found my place because my sister lives there. Since then, her husband has died. So she's a one income person now so that's one thing I want to mention but for myself, I was looking for an affordable way to get here because my parents are well, my dad died but my dad was 87, my mom is 85 and they live here and I lived here up until I was 11 years old.

So we moved to the East Coast and I'm back. So this is my only affordable housing and I am well over 55 But I bought the house in 2024 and I applied for a loan, and I did get that loan. So therefore, I have a mortgage now. And then the two things that the new property owners did was raise the rent while they wanted to raise it over 75%. which I'm a pilot and when I get home, I really need to sleep. So I was looking for a quiet place that was safe for me and I was able to replace my home but I now currently have a mortgage plus the increase in the rent. And I really would appreciate it if you would support us and you have supported us so far and we appreciate that. Thank you.

That concludes our in-person speakers. I'll now go into our first online speaker, Nick Yu. If you'll please unmute yourself, you will have three minutes. Nick Yu, are you there? Last call for Nick Yu And I think he may have stepped away from his computer. I have no more speakers for public comment for this item.

Okay, thank you. Back to council for questions or deliberation. Councilman Casta? Do you have a question?

Yeah, I did. I was going to ask the representative from Harmony to explain what is it that they're trying to get. What is it that is the problem? Presumably, it's not that they don't like seniors. What is it that they are hoping to get to explain?

And Nick, you did put his hand back up. Would you like him to try and speak again?

Sure. Yeah. If he's there.

Nick, if you'll unmute yourself.

I apologize are you there?

Yes thank you.

Okay sorry it dropped out as soon as i tried to unmute my mic there. Hello everyone my name is Nick Ubaldi. I'm a representative for the owners of University Mobile Home Park. As I'm sure the city is aware federal law prohibits age discrimination in housing unless a park meets every strict requirement for a senior only exemption Clear signage, marketing, rules showing intent, regular age verification and written policies. Courts insist that all must be satisfied. It's a very narrow exception.

University Park meets none. It dropped seniors-only plans months ago, had no age checks or policies, no signage or ads for seniors and now accepts all ages with no minimums in leases or rules. It is legally all ages. No court has ever allowed a city to force a lawful all-ages park to exclude families with children. Management and residents are negotiating right now to bring the park into full federal compliance, only the park owners can make those changes. This ordinance would disrupt those good faith talks and trigger strong expensive litigation that the City would likely lose. Why waste tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars on a losing fight?

Finally, this doesn't qualify as an urgency ordinance. An urgency ordinance requires a real current and immediate threat to public health safety or welfare to cram down an urgency measure without a normal process. There is no such emergency here. Opening to all ages doesn't displace any existing residents. Homes only turn over when a current owner sells, and then the park admits a qualified applicant regardless of age. There is no sudden danger, no crisis threatening lives, health or safety. It's a policy disagreement not an urgent threat. Passing it as urgency risks legal challenges on that ground alone. Please reject this ordinance and let negotiations proceed to a fair resolution for residents and the park as well. Thank you.