Ben Eilenberg, the same out-of-town developer-attorney now inducing mass apoplexia in Santa Barbara over his proposal to construct an eight-story housing complex behind the Santa Barbara Mission, is also proposing to build an 18-story housing complex on the mountain side of the freeway in Carpinteria.
Carpinteria’s building height limit is 30 feet, a far cry from the 220 feet Eilenberg is proposing. Right now, the tallest structure in Carpinteria is the Best Western motel’s faux bell tower next to the freeway, and it’s only 50 feet tall.
Eilenberg has already submitted two applications to the Carpinteria Planning Department, but both have been deemed incomplete. The last incompletion notification was on October 29. Eilenberg charges that city planners are demanding a level of detail no longer required because the new spate of state laws designed to encourage the development of new housing…