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Clark: City’s success result of balancing three key strengths By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Carpinteria’s success is based on a balancing act between the city’s three strengths: the environment in which it finds itself, its small downtown businesses, and the people who live there. That was the theme of Mayor Al Clark’s speech at last week’s State of the City luncheon hosted by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce. Carpinteria’s vision is codified in its General Plan, Mayor Clark told audience members. “And I quote: ‘The goal of the community is to preserve the essential character of our small beach town, its family-oriented residential neighborhoods, its unique visual and natural resources and its open, rural surroundings while enhancing recreational, cultural and economic opportunities for our citizens.’ “Carpinteria has been called the Last Little Beach Town in Southern California,” the mayor noted. “But why has Carpinteria succeeded to remain a classic little beach town while others, like Huntington Beach and Balboa, have failed? “Based on my interpretation of the General Plan Goal, I believe Carpinteria’s success is based on a balancing act between three strengths of the town. These three strengths contribute equally to our small-town identity.” Its most important asset is the location in which it finds itself, he said. “We live in a place of spectacular tranquil beauty, in a narrow strip of real estate between the mountains and the ocean, and we have views to the mountains and the ocean and, in some places, to the ocean and the mountains at the same time. “The city proper is bordered by an important urban-rural boundary which keeps us small and keeps a green agricultural border around us. There are many places for passive and active recreation such as walks on the clean beaches or hikes in the mountains, visit the natural creek or the Harbor Seal rookery or the Salt Marsh and the many parks or the cute little working downtown. “The environment is so important. It is why people want to come and visit and want to buy a house in Carp. The environment is our most important asset, financial and otherwise. The environment is like money in the bank. And we make investments to maintain and add new lands to our inventory of open space. We continue the community’s stewardship of our heritage of natural treasures.” The second element of why Carpinteria is successful is its small downtown businesses, Mayor Clark said. “They provide convenient goods and services to tourists and residents alike. We rejected Costco as a killer to our small local businesses. We have made an ordinance to restrict Big Box stores. We also are currently working on an ordinance to restrict Formula Businesses. We have seen the data that show how much more money is retained in a community with a small local business than with a chain store.” In addition, he said, “we keep our downtown to one or two stories, and you can see the mountains and the ocean from Linden Avenue and the sunshine pours in.” The third element of the city’s success is the very people who live in Carpinteria, he said. “We are a tourist economy, yes, but we are also a community of residents. The citizens are very active in volunteering to help each other, help protect our little town and to participate in government. And there is an over-the-back fence communication system that gets the word out faster than any media. “We continue to develop recreational and social activities that help people, and we

SB TOT brought in $2.1M in March

The city has collected $22.7 million through March, the ninth month in the city’s fiscal year. The city’s adopted TOT budget for all funds is $28.3 million, of which $23.6 million is budgeted in the General Fund. The City’s TOT tax rate is 12%, of which 10% goes to the City’s General Fund and the remaining 2% goes to the Creeks/Clean Water Fund. – Neil Hartstein

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

Carpinteria Mayor Al Clark

Carpinteria. “And, at the end of the day, you need to be wide awake to keep a sleepy little town. This implies participation,

communication, and transparency.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

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The City of Santa Barbara collected $2.1 million in Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOT) for March 2023. Although TOT revenues in March 2023 were about 11% below the monthly budget, year to date they remain at a healthy level of approximately 12% over budget.

need to further cultivate vital communication with our residents to know their priorities.” Government needs to be transparent and democratic, he stressed. “Power should be shared across political and demographic lines until the lines are blurred.” This balance between residents and Carpinteria’s tourist economy is reflected in the city’s primary sources of revenue, Mayor Clark said. “Residents and businesses provide Property Tax. Businesses provide sales tax as passed through from tourists and residents. TOT is contributed to by tourists.” And steps taken by city leaders and residents have ensured the city stays in the financial black - despite problems that test their resolve and pose a threat to the city’s solvency and way of life. “Our fiscal policy has been very conservative with higher than average reserves for a rainy day. (But) the recession which started in 2009 shrank revenue. In response, the citizens passed an increase to the TOT, the mayor said. “By 2015 things hadn’t picked up that much,” he said. “Adding to the problem were significant increases to costs for our Police services contract and deteriorating infrastructure. We were taking money from our reserves to balance the budget.” That’s when residents stepped up, he said. “In 2018 citizens passed a sales tax increase, Measure X, to provide general support,” he said. “Measure X has been wildly successful. We have been able to accelerate road repairs, help deliver a skate park, the library, the move toward building a senior community space, and initiate a Senior Services program.” Despite this success, potential overdevelopment and the housing shortage pose real threats, the mayor said. “I mentioned the beauty of our surroundings but is this beauty also a challenge?” he asked. “Because we are desirable, we have always been threatened by overdevelopment. Some have said we need to take every project that comes along or we might miss a gem. But, in our history, we have managed to help new development both thrive and harmonize. “We are not anti-growth,” he stressed. “We know that we will change and that we will grow. We are merely being selective and we try to find the perfect partner so that we maintain our small town. “There is finite real estate in Carpinteria. Prices are skyhigh. Lower income people can’t find housing. The demand has been exacerbated by short term rentals and second homes. This has dramatically reduced housing stock and raised rental prices. “We have passed an ordinance to cap the number of STRs and our staff is enforcing it. But second homes remain a challenge.” Also challenging are the new state housing laws. “They offer no pathway to finance low-income housing,” he said. “We have a strong city staff that is working diligently to find solutions such as streamlining ADU design and permit processing and costs. “They are looking at every small detail and trying to find other infill projects that are our preferred way to make new housing,” even as county housing proposals threaten to establish a precedent of moving Carpinteria’s urban-rural boundary and replacing agricultural land with high density housing, he said. Concluding his remarks, Mayor Clark noted with the challenges that lay ahead, “I believe that, in any decision we make, if we honor each of our three strengths and balance them and do not overly favor one over another, then we will be successful at meeting our challenges. “If at each decision point we check which element will benefit and which will lose in any proposal and then adjust that project to respect all three equally then we hopefully can then move forward and keep Carpinteria

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