Goleta council authorizes $43 million in bonds to speed up crib wall repair, San Jose Creek trail

The Goleta City Council on Dec. 3 unanimously authorized two bond series — local Measure A transportation sales tax revenue bonds of up to $20 million and lease revenue bonds of up to $23 million — to accelerate funding for a set of priority capital projects, principally the Cathedral Oaks crib wall replacement and the San Jose Creek multi‑use trail.

The council voted 5‑0 to approve resolutions authorizing staff to proceed with document preparation and to seek market financing, with the city’s financing team saying the two issuances are intended to produce about $37 million in proceeds and to preserve the city’s ability to capture outside grants.

Why it matters: Council members said the crib wall on Cathedral Oaks Drive poses a public‑safety and access risk when storms occur, and the San Jose Creek trail is a long‑planned north‑south bicycle and pedestrian connection that has attracted outside grant dollars that could be forfeited if the city does not secure matching or gap funding. Issuing tax‑exempt bonds lets the city accelerate construction now rather than waiting years to save the same funds.

City staff and municipal advisor Wing C. Fox told the council the plan is to pair the county Measure A sales‑tax stream with a lease revenue financing to reach the $37 million target. “Instead of paying, again, saving up the money to pay for the projects, [the bonds] allow us to accelerate the money upfront by issuing bonds and then repaying them with the anticipated annual Measure A revenue streams,” Fox said. He said Stifel’s pre‑sale modeling in November estimated roughly $18.3 million could be produced from the Measure A revenue stream that sunsets in 2040, and the lease bonds would cover the remainder.

The financing team described the two borrowing vehicles as follows: the Measure A transportation sales tax revenue bonds are repaid from the…