In 2016, the Fire Station 10 project was formalized between the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the City of Goleta, but not much has happened in the last eight years.

A sign on a vacant lot on Hollister Avenue reads, “Future home of Santa Barbara County Fire Department Fire Station 10.”

“I think a lot of it is… whose job is it? And it’s languishing in this undead state,” said Goleta City Councilor Stuart Kasdin.

One of the reasons for this is an unusual agreement between the city and the district, said Kasdin.

“Another unique feature of this agreement is that we collected the development fees for the fire station, but the city was not authorized to spend them,” Kasdin explains.

That totals about $4.8 million in transferred funds, and Kasdin says, “We’re just letting that grow because we’re not dealing with fire.”

Another reason delaying development is that responsibility for designing and building the facility rested with the city of Goleta, not the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. Kasdin says steps are now being taken to give the county fire department more control over the project.

“I think part of it is because we, the city, are taking a step back and saying some of these things should be redesigned – the type of fire station, how big it is, how many bays it has, what the building should look like, how it should be staffed,” Kasdin says.

Fire Chief Mark Hartwig was out of town to comment on the details of the new plan, but Captain Scott Safechuck says the need for an additional fire station remains a priority.

“Development in this area and throughout the county has increased, so it is important for us to provide comprehensive services to the public,” says Safechuck.

In the meantime, city and fire officials have formed the Fire Station Development Ad Hoc Committee, which is scheduled to meet this fall to move the project forward.