UC Regents Committee Approves Long-Awaited UC Santa Barbara Ocean Road Housing Project

A UC Regents committee approved a new 540-unit residential project for the UC Santa Barbara campus to house faculty and staff at a May meeting after years of planning and debate.

The project will include 180 two-to four-bedroom for-sale townhomes, 360 one-to three-bedroom rental apartments, and retail space and parking facilities. 

UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang emphasized the critical need for affordable housing in Isla Vista at the May 18 meeting of the UC Regents Finance and Capital Strategies Committee. 

The Ocean Road Housing Project is part of the 2010 UCSB’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), a planning tool designed to address community issues and concerns and environmental impacts, while allowing for manageable growth in the student population.

“We have had extensive consultation with the community, the City of Goleta, with Santa Barbara County, with the Coastal Commission,” Yang said. “We have gone through all of the processes, so now we present before the regents for your approval.”

Construction of the project will require the reconfiguration of Ocean Road, including the series of bike and pedestrian pathways that creates the border between Isla Vista and the UCSB campus, and eucalyptus tree windrow.

The UCSB Student Health Building and parking structures will additionally be deconstructed to maximize the 16.7-acre site, located at the western boundary of the main campus.

New housing will meet a minimum of 25% participation from disadvantaged, disabled veterans, and women-owned business enterprises.

In November 2019, the UC Regents reviewed the project and determined it would not require major revisions to the 2010 LRDP’s EIR.

The project is in compliance with the university’s Sustainable Practices Policy to encompass sustainable practices for building designs and operations. Sustainable features will include dense parking structures to reduce parking and heat island effect, native plant landscaping that doesn’t require fertilizers or insecticides, and pre-wired EV charging circuits. 

Construction of the Spanish-style housing will commence in two phases. Phase one will focus on building 120 rental homes and 23,600 square feet of retail space, in addition to 142 for-sale townhomes. This preliminary phase will also realign Ocean Road.

Phase 2 will build 240 rental homes and 9,500 square feet of retail space, plus 38 for-sale townhomes.

UC Regent Richard Leib, who voted to approve the project, also requested a future discussion focused on housing affordability.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m of course in support of this project, specifically in regard to the need for housing at UCSB which is of paramount need,” Leib said. “I do think that we do need to put some conditions on the… permanent affordability options that we could have. I think that that could be done as negotiations continue, so I’m willing to support the project right now as is with the understanding that continued negotiations will occur to satisfy the Regents in terms of affordability.”

UCSB has faced criticism and allegations of violating the Long Range Development Plan due to recent student housing shortages. 

The city of Goleta filed a lawsuit against UC Santa Barbara claiming the university breached its 2010 Long Range Development Plan Settlement Agreement, which ensured that UCSB’s planned enrollment growth would be met with the construction of more on-campus housing.