Goleta city staff will present the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan to the city council on Tuesday.
The plan includes the following subject areas: a plan goal; financial assistance; support for commercial and residential tenants; collaboration with regional partners; communications, marketing tools and resources; business-friendly policies and programs; continuing development projects; Santa Barbara County RISE Guide for Reopening; and an economic development strategic plan, among other content.
Along with being asked to adopt the plan, council will also be asked to authorize a grant of $100,000 for the emergency rental assistance program, add $66,500 to the memorandum of understanding between the City of Goleta and the Santa Barbara Foundation and issue a request for proposals for an economic development strategic plan.
“Attempting to plan for the future in some orderly way, and to outline a plan for economic recovery has been increasingly challenging,” the staff report reads. “Recovery plans tend to work well when there is some sense of a finality to an event (i.e., fire, flood, terrorist attack) as opposed to what we are facing now which are conditions largely controlled by a public health and economic crisis that is constantly changing.”
In other business, staff will be asked to adopt an ordinance clarifying the temporary moratorium on residential evictions to comport with recent changes in state law and setting forth the facts constituting such urgency.
Under Goleta’s eviction moratorium ordinance, residential tenants are not obligated to pay rent if they can’t afford to do so because of COVID-19, but they’re obligated to repay it beginning March 1 and finish by Feb. 28, 2022. When Goleta lifts the local emergency and the repayment period is over, tenants may be evicted for nonpayment of rent.
Senate Bill 91 delays and shortens the repayment period from March 31 through Feb. 28 to Aug. 1 through Aug. 31. The city’s repayment period is preempted by SB 91, so the ordinance must be amended to conform to state law.
“The City Council could choose not to adopt this ordinance amendment; however, the repayment period provided for in SB 91 would still pre-empt the City’s repayment period. Not amending the existing ordinance would create confusion as portions of it are now inconsistent with state law,” the staff report says.
The council will also receive a presentation regarding the status of the Draft Santa Barbara Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan and Airport Runway Safety Zones, but no action is required.
They will also proclaim February as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, and can be viewed on Goleta Channel 19 or online at https://tinyurl.com/GoletaMeetings.
email: gmccormick@newspress.com
