| City of Goleta | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
| Aerial photo of the Goleta area from offshore. | |||
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| Nickname(s): The Good Land | |||
| Location in Santa Barbara County and the state of California | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | California | ||
| County | Santa Barbara | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Edward Easton | ||
| • Mayor Pro Tem | Margaret Connell | ||
| • City Council | Michael T. Bennett Paula Perotte |
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| • State Leg. | Sen. Tony Strickland (R) Asm. Das Williams (D) |
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| • U. S. Congress | Lois Capps (D) | ||
| Area[1] | |||
| • Total | 7.975 sq mi (20.654 km2) | ||
| • Land | 7.903 sq mi (20.467 km2) | ||
| • Water | 0.072 sq mi (0.187 km2) 0.90% | ||
| Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 29,888 | ||
| • Density | 3,747.7/sq mi (1,447.1/km2) | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | ||
| ZIP codes | 93111, 93116-93118, 93160, 93199 | ||
| Area code(s) | 805 | ||
| FIPS code | 06-30378 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 1660687 | ||
| Website | http://www.cityofgoleta.org/ | ||
Goleta ( /ɡəˈliːtə/; Spanish: [ɡoˈleta], "schooner") is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, USA. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated, populated area in the county. As of the 2000 census, the Census-designated place (CDP) had a total population of 55,204, however, a significant portion of the census territory of 2000 did not incorporate into the new city. The population was 29,888 at the 2010 census.
It is known for being near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, although the CDP of Isla Vista is closer.
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The area of present-day Goleta was populated for thousands of years by the native Chumash people. Locally they were known by the first European settlers as Canaliños (for the canoes they built for travel to the Channel Islands). One of the largest villages, S'axpilil, was north of the Goleta Slough, not far from the present-day Santa Barbara Airport.[2]
The first European visitor was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who sailed past in 1542. During the 1980s, discovery of some 16th-century cannon on the beach led to the advancement of a theory that Sir Francis Drake sailed into the Goleta Slough in 1579, where he may have spent several weeks repairing his ship.[3]
In the 18th century, two Spanish expeditions came to the area. The second founded the Presidio of Santa Barbara and Mission to the east, and began the work of converting the Chumash to Roman Catholicism. During the 19th century most of the area, formerly covered with oak trees, was deforested, and ranching was the principal land use during this time. Nicolas A. Den, grantee of the Rancho Dos Pueblos Mexican land grant and his father-in-law Daniel A. Hill, grantee Rancho La Goleta, became wealthy in the late 1840s by selling locally grown beef to the thousands of miners who came to the California Gold Rush.[3]
The Goleta Valley was a prominent lemon-growing region during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was largely agricultural. Several areas, especially the Ellwood Mesa, were developed for oil and natural gas extraction. In the 1920s, aviation pioneers started using portions of the Goleta Slough that had silted-in due to agriculture to land and takeoff. As former tidelands, the title to these lands was unclear. Starting in 1940, boosters from the city of Santa Barbara lobbied and obtained federal funding and passed a bond measure to formally develop an airport on the Goleta Slough. The necessity for an airport – or at least a military airfield – became more apparent after a Japanese submarine shelled the Ellwood Oil Field in 1942. This was one of the only direct-fire attacks on the US mainland during WW II. The Marine Corps undertook completion of the airport and established living quarters on the site of the current University of California, Santa Barbara campus.[3]
After the war, Goleta Valley residents supported the construction of Cachuma Lake, which provided water, enabling a housing boom and the establishment of research and aerospace firms in the area. In 1954, the University of California, Santa Barbara moved to part of the former Marine base. Along with the boom in aerospace, the character changed from rural-agricultural to high-tech. Goleta remains a center for high-tech firms, and a bedroom community for neighboring Santa Barbara.[3]
Goleta was incorporated as a city in 2002 after several unsuccessful attempts. A significant urbanized area remains unincorporated between the town of Goleta and the city of Santa Barbara, largely consisting of the area which polled against incorporation prior to the 2002 election (this area was excluded from the city boundaries to facilitate approval of incorporation). There has been some discussion of annexation of this area (sometimes dubbed "Noleta") by the city of Santa Barbara. In addition, the student community of Isla Vista directly to the south was deliberately excluded, even though the communities share a ZIP Code and many community resources. The LAFCO executive director cited "political infeasibility" as the reason, although the only poll on the issue indicated a city of Goleta including Isla Vista would have passed at the ballot box. The current boundaries of Goleta are shown in the city's map.
The 2000 census figures reflect the census-designated place of Goleta, which was somewhat larger than the incorporated city.
Much of Goleta is considered to be a quiet suburban community while Santa Barbara tends to attract most of the tourists and the area's residents. Goleta has successfully combatted suburban sprawl and urban decay although it does exist, the latter especially around the Old Town area.[4]
In 2008, the Gap Fire, a wildfire that consumed more than 9,000 acres (36 km2) over a period of several weeks, was finally contained on July 29.[5]
Goleta contains a mix of land uses, lacking only heavy industrial zones. North of the US Route 101 freeway is a region of predominantly tract housing built between the late 1950s and the 1970s, intermingled with newer condominium developments, a few gated communities, and adjacent to a lower-density residential zone in the lower foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains which contains larger homes. A commercial strip along Calle Real is one of the town's several business districts. South of the freeway is Old Town Goleta, centered on the stretch of Hollister Avenue between Fairview Avenue and the Highway 217 overpass; adjacent to this commercial area is a region of older, and occasionally substandard housing; some of the south county's least affluent people live in this zone. Between Old Town Goleta and the airport, and running along south Fairview Avenue, are some light industrial zones, some of relatively few in southern Santa Barbara County. Farther west, near the intersection of Storke Road and Hollister Avenue, is a large shopping mall, including "big box" stores, which draws business from outside the local area. This area is called the Camino Real Marketplace. There are also several business parks including Cabrillo Business Park, Fairview Business Center and the area along Castilian Drive. Adjacent to the mall and extending more than a mile farther west is a residential area, most of the housing in which dates back to the 1960s; it includes some high-density apartment blocks which accept some of the overflow student population from nearby UCSB.
Goleta has several significant parks, including Stow Park, Lake Los Carneros, and the Coronado Butterfly Preserve[6] providing street access to the Ellwood Mesa Open Space[7] on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean with beach access from UCSB.[8] Goleta Beach County Park is just outside of the city limits.[4]
Goleta is about 8 miles (13 km) west of the city of Santa Barbara, along the coast (the coast runs east to west in this portion of southern California). Nearby is the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California and the student community of Isla Vista.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 26.4 square miles (68 km2), of which 26.3 square miles (68 km2) are land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (0.38%) is water.
Monarch butterflies spend the winter in several eucalyptus groves near the Ellwood mesa.
Goleta has an exceptionally mild climate. High temperatures typically range within ten degrees of 70° throughout the year; low temperatures rarely fall below 40°.
However, despite this, Goleta experienced one of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the United Stages. The city's geography at the base of the Santa Ynez Mountains sometimes subjects Goleta to sudden, extremely hot winds locally called "sundowners", similar to the more infamous Santa Ana winds in the Los Angeles and San Diego regions. They are caused by high pressure drawing dry air from the inland side of the mountains, whereupon they can become superheated as they rush down on the city's side. On June 17, 1859, a sundowner wind passed through Goleta and rapidly raised the temperature to 133 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 56 degrees Celsius) in a matter of minutes. People were forced to take shelter immediately; when they emerged they saw that most animals and plants had been killed. It was the highest temperature recorded in the United States until 1913, when a one degree higher temperature was reached at Death Valley.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation is based in Goleta. Raytheon, Citrix Online, FLIR Commercial Vision Systems, ATK, InTouch, and Transphorm are just a few of the many high-tech businesses located in Goleta which is sometimes referred to as "techtopia".
According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[9] the top employers in the city are:
| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raytheon | 1,573 |
| 2 | Sansum Clinic | 965 |
| 3 | Citrix Online | 544 |
| 4 | Bacara Resort | 527 |
| 5 | Yardi Systems | 380 |
| 6 | Allergan | 350 |
| 7 | FLIR | 325 |
| 8 | Goleta Cottage Hospital | 325 |
| 9 | Karl Storz | 300 |
| 10 | Goleta Union School District | 278 |
| 11 | Mentor | 265 |
| 12 | Jordano's | 182 |
| 13 | ATK | 156 |
| 14 | Costco | 150 |
| 15 | The Home Depot | 140 |
The 2010 United States Census[10] reported that Goleta had a population of 29,888. The population density was 3,747.9 people per square mile (1,447.1/km²). The racial makeup of Goleta was 20,833 (69.7%) White, 469 (1.6%) African American, 283 (0.9%) Native American, 2,728 (9.1%) Asian, 26 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 4,182 (14.0%) from other races, and 1,367 (4.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9,824 persons (32.9%).
The Census reported that 29,687 people (99.3% of the population) lived in households, 23 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 178 (0.6%) were institutionalized.
There were 10,903 households, out of which 3,416 (31.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 5,265 (48.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,069 (9.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 472 (4.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 659 (6.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 88 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 2,732 households (25.1%) were made up of individuals and 1,090 (10.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72. There were 6,806 families (62.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.23.
The population was spread out with 6,335 people (21.2%) under the age of 18, 3,790 people (12.7%) aged 18 to 24, 7,966 people (26.7%) aged 25 to 44, 7,749 people (25.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 4,048 people (13.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.5 years. For every 100 females there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males.
There were 11,473 housing units at an average density of 1,438.7 per square mile (555.5/km²), of which 5,844 (53.6%) were owner-occupied, and 5,059 (46.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.5%. 16,222 people (54.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 13,465 people (45.1%) lived in rental housing units.
Demographic data for 2000 is for the Goleta CDP, the Goleta Valley area, and not just the half that is the City of Goleta.
As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 55,204 people, 19,954 households, and 13,468 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,102.1 people per square mile (811.7/km²). There were 20,442 housing units at an average density of 778.4 per square mile (300.6/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 78.61% White, 1.27% African American, 0.82% Native American, 6.43% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 9.23% from other races, and 3.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.33% of the population.
There were 19,954 households out of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.1% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.5% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.18.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 23.1% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.1 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $60,314, and the median income for a family was $67,956 (these figures had risen to $69,242 and $81,862 respectively as of a 2007 estimate[12]). Males had a median income of $44,770 versus $32,127 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $28,890. About 2.9% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.8% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.
Most local students attend schools in the Goleta Union School District and the Santa Barbara High School District. There are also a host of smaller private schools.[13]
The five City Council members take turns as mayor. The City Council also serves as the Planning Agency. City Council, Planning Commission and Design Review Board meetings are televised on the local Government-access television (GATV) channel and available on the City's website.
All public transportation is provided by the county. Multiple MTD bus lines run through the city.[17] The main artery of the city is US 101, with the major streets being Hollister Avenue and Cathedral Oaks Road. Other significant streets include Calle Real (which is broken into sections), Storke Road/Glen Annie Road, Los Carneros Road, Fairview Avenue, and Patterson Avenue.[18]
Intercity transit is provided by Amtrak at the Goleta Amtrak Station.
Santa Barbara Airport is located near the central southwestern portion of Goleta, near the intersection of Hollister and South Fairview avenues. The airport serves the greater Santa Barbara area and is serviced by seven airlines, to 10 non-stop destinations.
On January 30, 2006, Jennifer San Marco shot and killed seven people, including six postal workers, before committing suicide at the postal-processing facility where she had been previously employed. In addition to Charlotte Colton, 44, and Beverly Graham, 54, the dead included Ze Fairchild, 37, and Maleka Higgins, 28, both of Santa Barbara; Nicola Grant, 42, and Guadalupe Swartz, 52, both of Lompoc; and Dexter Shannon, 57, of Oxnard. This incident is believed to be the deadliest workplace shooting ever carried out in the United States by a woman.[19][20]
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