Buellton drafts motel reversion ordinance to help ‘revitalize’ Avenue of Flags

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Some motels along Buellton’s Avenue of Flags gradually evolved into offering long-term housing without city permission over the past two decades, City Manager Scott Wolfe recently told the Planning Commission.

Wolfe also described the motel conversion trend as contradicting the city’s vision for the area as a commercial corridor, which is outlined in the Avenue of Flags specific plan.

Between 10 and 20 years ago, “those motel uses were transitioned in violation of our municipal code into these long-term residential uses,” Wolfe explained at the Buellton Planning Commission’s July 17 meeting.

“Somewhere along the line after that, the state through legislative means and administrative interpretations of those pieces of legislation have deemed those long-term residential uses to be permanent residential uses and therefore protected under law,” Wolfe told the commission, before introducing a draft ordinance that aims to revert motels on Avenue of Flags back to short-term lodging without breaking state or local housing laws.

One piece of the ordinance allows current long-term residents of the affected motels to remain living in their units as long as they register on waitlists for any of three Buellton developments with affordable housing: the existing Pollo Village Project or the incoming Village Senior Apartments or Buellton Garden Apartments projects, both of which are currently in construction.

“Those units will probably open in late spring, early summer of 2026,” Wolfe said, referring to the projects in development. “[Those waitlisted] would be allowed to remain in their existing units until that point.”

However, long-term residents of Avenue of Flags motels who don’t qualify for affordable housing or those who choose not to apply would need to find alternative housing if the ordinance gets adopted, Wolfe said.

In those cases, “the owners of the motel units would be on the hook for things like relocation assistance,” Wolfe explained, “and there’s other possible renter assistance programs that they as landlords would need to undertake.”

After Wolfe’s presentation, Planning Commissioner Shannon Reese asked if staff could add leniency for long-term motel residents who end up qualifying for waitlists tied to affordable housing projects outside of Buellton’s city limits.

Wolfe recommended that the commission attach a six-month time limit to that revision, to avoid situations where applicants qualify for projects that are more than a year from their openings to occupants.

Reese agreed. She seconded Planning Commissioner Marcilo Sarquilla’s motion to send the ordinance forward to the City Council with the commission’s recommendation. It passed 3-0 (Planning Commissioner Kasey Kump was absent).

“It really does make sense to do this on a systemic level to get these people into permanent housing,” Reese said. “It makes sense to me.” 

This article appears in Jul 24 – Aug 3, 2025.