Carpinteria’s longstanding urban-rural boundary has remained mostly untouched for four decades, creating a clear sense of where the city sprawl ended and the many acres of farmland just outside the city limits began. But over those four decades, the growing need for housing has slowly started to stretch the limits of these long-held boundaries.
This battle was at the center of the California Coastal Commission’s recent decision regarding three parcels of land just outside of Carpinteria city limits — technically in Santa Barbara County territory — which the commission unanimously approved to be rezoned for high-density housing, despite a wave of opposition from Carpinteria city officials and residents at the November 6 hearing in Sacramento.
The Coastal Commission was considering the rezones of the three parcels following a request from the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department, as part of the county’s attempts to account for the state’s mandated quota of 5,664 units of housing in the unincorporated areas in the county over the next six years…