There’s a second story to second-story issue
DAVE BOYDSTON


Someone once said a good politician could tell you to go see the devil in such a nice way that you would actually look forward to the trip! Goleta Mayor Cynthia Brock and City Council members Jack Hawxhurst, Jonny Wallis and Margaret Connell try hard to present themselves as friendly, reasonable people, who respect homeowners’ rights to make major additions and improvements to their houses. Don’t be fooled!

Brock recently implied she was not against second-story home additions. However, she has personally threatened to sue three neighbors who wished to add second stories to their homes (based on 40-year-old neighborhood covenants, conditions and restrictions).

The neighborhood responded by voting to change its CC&Rs to specifically allow for second-story additions. Brock then wrote a letter to neighborhood homeowners challenging the validity of the votes, suggesting they might have been “coerced” — to which homeowners took great offense because it was simply not true.

Brock’s hostilities toward her own neighbors are fact. Anyone interested in viewing these letters, can find them at the Goleta Homeowners’ Rights Association Web site at www.mygoleta.com.

Further, Brock has made several misstatements of fact, the most glaring being her astonishing assertion that “No ‘ban’ on second stories has been proposed, enacted or even discussed” by the City Council.

Does Brock think that just because the plan she has been working to enact does not use the word “ban,” that the end-result is the same? Looking at the proposed restrictions outlined in the plan, it’s clear the restrictions work as a ban in effect. Readers can confirm this in the public record; no need to take my word for it.

Does Brock think such a feeble attempt to hide behind semantics will prevent Goletans from seeing the truth?

Does she honestly think Goletans are dim-witted?

“Not even discussed”? Discussions about this, and other aspects of the proposed General Plan have been under way for many months, as the public record can easily verify.

Why does Brock make such statements when the facts in the public record prove otherwise?

Under the “Environmental Vitality” land-use option of the proposed General Plan is this statement: “In neighborhoods that are predominately single story, impose a one-story height limit — with conditional use to add additional stories.” The map for the areas affected by this height limit labels them as “Single-Story Residential.”

This clearly sounds like a ban on second-story additions, but Brock might say the “conditional use” was overlooked. OK, I challenge her to define the term “conditional use” in a manner the average Goleta citizen can understand.

Why, when the public record clearly shows Brock is fully aware of the proposed restrictions on second-story additions, would she deny it?

Let’s agree to call the proposed plan what it really is: a general ban on second-story additions for the majority of homeowners.

Brock also insists she wishes to “preserve the character of our community.” Our homes are not historic sites, to forever remain fossilized in a perpetual Father Knows Best, cookie-cutter housing tract era. We should expect our neighborhoods, which were built mostly in the 1950s to ’70s — and with the space and design characteristics of that period — to evolve and modernize. Modernization and reasonable expansion should not be improperly labeled “neighborhood incompatibility.”

Are you a Goleta homeowner or citizen who wants to own a home in Goleta? Do you want the truth of how Brock, Hawxhurst and Wallis have been working hard to limit the rights of Goleta home and property owners?

The truth can be found by examining the facts. Look at the hostility Brock has shown personally with her own neighbors. Look at her support to increase the city’s legal budget from $650,000, to $800,000, to $1 million to fund legal fights against property and home improvement.

For more information, and to sign online petitions opposed to the proposed ban on second-story home additions, and the overly restrictive FAR and 50 percent rules, please contact the Goleta Homeowners’ Rights Association at 685.7694 or at www.mygoleta.com.

Dave Boydston is a nearly 20-year Goleta resident and a longtime Goleta homeowner. He and his lovely wife have provided three native residents to Goleta.