Category: News

What do you love about living in Carpinteria? What would you improve if you could? This is information City of Carpinteria leaders want to know so that they can make decisions that reflect the community’s interests!

In coming months, your City Council will create a strategic plan with goals and priorities for the next two years. These goals and priorities will be used to make many important decisions, including how your tax dollars are spent in your community. In recent years, rising costs, increased need, and limited resources have required the City to make difficult funding decisions and tradeoffs. When it comes to City priorities, we want to hear from you about what programs, services, spaces and issues you feel we should focus on over the next two years. 

For a quick and easy way to share your thoughts, please complete our online questionnaire HERE.

To gather with community members and share more of your thoughts, please consider joining us at one of the following community workshops. Dinner and childcare will be provided. Please come out to help shape the future of Carpinteria!

• (English) Wednesday, December 4, 6:30-8 p.m. at Carpinteria Children’s Project, 5201 8th Street. 
• (Spanish) Thursday, Dec. 5, 6:30-8 p.m. at Carpinteria Children’s Project, 5201 8th Street. 
• (Bilingual) Wednesday, December 11, 6:30-8pm via ZOOM at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89991116311?pwd=Ety7b4eOVMva9YoBFaigKqPTeoi4bm.1

As we prepare for our celebrations of togetherness, generosity and gratitude, we encourage residents to take sustainable actions to help show thanks to our planet and everyone living in our community. Thank you for your participation and help in becoming a more sustainable community.

The City of Carpinteria wishes you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving! To celebrate the holiday, our staff is looking forward to some rest, relaxation and time with family. 

That means brief closures of some City facilities. City Hall, Carpinteria Community Pool and AgeWell programs will close on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 28 and 29. Carpinteria Community Library will be closed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 28-30, as well as its normal Sunday closure. The Carpinteria Community Tennis and Pickleball Courts will be open for free play throughout the week of Thanksgiving, Nov. 25-29.

We appreciate your patience with our scheduling changes while our staff enjoys the holida

Construction of the Winter Protection Berm began this week and will continue next week between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. as weather and tides permit.

For public safety, beach users are advised to avoid the area while tractor work is underway. The berm is built annually at City Beach to protect private and public properties from potentially damaging winter storms. Its cost is shared between the City and the homeowners on Sandyland.

The bulldozer work will not close access to properties or emergency vehicles. To learn more, please contact the Public Works Department at (805) 755-4431 or tiffanys@carpinteriaca.gov

The Carpinteria City Council will hold its next regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 25 at 5:30 p.m. Members of the public may attend the meeting at City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Ave., or view the meeting live at https://carpinteriaca.gov/, on Government Access Television Channel 21 or by logging into the Zoom webinar. 

The following topics are highlights of the agenda. Additional details and numerous ways for the public to provide comments can be found at https://bit.ly/4eGo8B5. Comments posted on social media will not be provided to council members.

• Presentation in honor of members of the Boys & Girls Club who have achieved Gold Card status.
• Proclamations recognizing Carpinteria Seal Watch, Robitaille’s Fine Candies and The Palms Restaurant
• Introduction of new employee Claire Hobika, Recreation Leader.
• Annual Report of the Development Impact Fee Program and updating the Capital Improvement Plan. 
• Consider a City ordinance to amend sections of the Carpinteria Municipal Code related to Development Impact Mitigation Fees and Parks and Recreation Facilities Dedication and Fees. 
• Consider Zoning Amendments for the 2023-2031 Housing Element: An introduction and first reading of ordinances for a new Residential/ Mixed Use zone district, Objective Design Standards and rezone sites. 
• Response to the 2024 Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury Report on “Homeless Encampments in Santa Barbara County, Becoming Part of the Community Again.”

We are thrilled to introduce Claire Hobika as our new Recreation Leader in the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. Hobika is enthusiastic about contributing her energy and ideas to the City’s recreational programs.

Originally from Colorado, Hobika has worked as a groom for professional polo players and managed polo barns from California to Florida. Her passion for horses brought her to Carpinteria in 2016, where she has since made her home.

When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, Lira and Rumi, and running her own small business, Colorada Tack Boutique. Just a few weeks into her new position, Hobika is already contributing to the City of Carpinteria and making a positive impact on the community.

With Seal Watch season just around the corner, the local organization will hold its Annual Orientation on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 5775 Carpinteria Ave.

The evening meeting will include an introduction to Seal Watch, sign-up opportunities, pizza and training for volunteers.

Seal Watch is a dedicated team of volunteers that watches after Carpinteria’s harbor seal colony during the pupping season. Volunteers spend two-hour shifts on the Carpinteria Bluffs overlooking the rookery.

Learn more by calling (805) 364-3194 emailing carpsealwatch@gmail.com or visiting https://carpinteriasealwatch.org/

The Surfiliner Inn project is scheduled for preliminary review by the City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) on Thursday, Dec. 12. The ARB will review the project’s architectural and landscape design in conformance with the City’s development standards and design policies, and will provide feedback to the project applicant and Community Development Department staff. The ARB will also provide a recommendation and comments to the Planning Commission and City Council for their consideration of the project.

Story poles will be installed to represent the project’s general siting, massing and scale in compliance with the City’s Story Pole Guidelines in advance of the Dec. 12 ARB meeting. Due to the location of the project occupying a portion of City Parking Lot #3 (at the intersection of Fifth Street and Linden Avenue), the story pole installation will require partial closure of the parking lot beginning on Nov. 25.  Perimeter fencing will be installed surrounding the story pole installation to ensure the safety of the public. The story poles will be removed and the parking lot will reopen by Jan. 9, 2025.

Environmental review of the project will commence after feedback is provided by the ARB. A hearing date for consideration of the project by the Planning Commission will be determined after the environmental review has been completed, which is anticipated to take several months.

Public noticing for both the ARB meeting and the environmental review process will be forthcoming, and the public can track the progress of the Community Development Department’s review of the project application by visiting the City’s webpage at: https://carpinteriaca.gov/city-hall/community-development/linden-inn-project/

The City of Carpinteria is currently recruiting for a part-time Literacy Coordinator.

Our new Literacy Coordinator will support the planning, implementation and monitoring of library literacy programs at the Carpinteria Community Library. This individual will play a key role in fostering literacy and lifelong learning in the community by coordinating all literacy-related programs, addressing inquiries and supporting tutors and students.

The deadline to apply is Sunday, Dec. 1. Learn more and apply at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/carpinteriaca/jobs/4721795/literacy-coordinator?pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs