Email: office@leave93436.org
What’s at Stake for Vandenberg Village
Who Really Benefits?
The project narrative highlights benefits to:
- Contractors and military personnel at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
- County tax revenue through hotel bed taxes and increased assessed value.
- The private developer, who retains long-term ownership and control of both the apartments and mitigation parcels.
What is missing is any serious, long-term benefit to existing Vandenberg Village homeowners. History shows that dense rental and hotel projects placed in the middle of low-density neighborhoods often:
- Increase traffic and on-street parking pressure.
- Shift noise, lighting, and safety risk onto existing residents.
- Depress surrounding property values over time, even as tax burdens remain.
Key Concerns
Several elements raise serious questions about planning priorities:
- Traffic & Circulation: Constellation Road already handles school, commuter, and local traffic. Adding a 60-unit complex and an 87-room hotel will significantly increase daily trips and construction traffic.
- Roundabout at Hwy 1 / Constellation: A costly intersection redesign that residents did not ask for, justified primarily by the development itself.
- Unproven Hotel Demand: No established brand partner and no clear evidence that an additional hotel is needed, given existing lodging in the area.
- Mitigation Parcels: Open space purchased as “mitigation” but held in perpetuity by the developer, restricting community use and keeping control out of local hands.
Long-Term Risks to Homeowners
For Vandenberg Village residents, the risk is not just construction noise for a few years. The project could permanently change the character of Constellation Road:
- More traffic funneled onto residential streets and school routes.
- Greater pressure on emergency services and evacuation routes in a high-fire-risk region.
- On-going commercial-style activity (hotel turnover, late-night arrivals, service vehicles) in a neighborhood designed as a bedroom community.
These trade-offs are being made for the sake of meeting numerical housing targets and boosting private returns—not because residents asked for this scale or type of project.
Our Position & Next Steps
Leave93436.org believes that any major change to the Constellation corridor should:
- Respect the existing scale and character of Vandenberg Village.
- Be based on transparent traffic, safety, and infrastructure studies.
- Include real community participation—not just checkbox hearings.
As a California nonprofit public benefit organization and public charity under IRC § 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (EIN 39-3822308), we are working with residents, professionals, and partner organizations to track this project, file targeted information requests, and organize public feedback.
If you live along Constellation, Burton Mesa, or adjoining streets and want to be kept in the loop—or if you have expertise in land-use, traffic engineering, or planning—please reach out at office@leave93436.org.
Overview
Santa Barbara County has mandated aggressive housing production targets. In response, developers are pushing large projects into built-out communities under the label of “infill.” The Constellation Road corridor in Vandenberg Village is now the focus of two major proposals often referred to as the Apollo and Constellation projects.
On paper, the project is described as walkable and “close to schools, parks, and shopping.” In practice, it concentrates traffic and density in a quiet bedroom community whose roads, services, and evacuation routes were never designed for this level of load.