Restricting long-term housing at motel properties along the Avenue of Flags would help maximize Buellton’s efforts in revitalizing the corridor, according to city staff.
In local attorney Mack Carlson’s eyes, the proposed ordinance amounts to “gentrification by policy,” he said during the Buellton City Council’s March 12 meeting.
“Let’s be clear about the decision before you: This ordinance would force the conversion of long-term affordable units into potential motel rooms designed to serve wine tasting weekenders from Los Angeles,” said Carlson, of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Santa Barbara.
The firm represents the owners of the Farmhouse Motel, which would be obligated to gradually phase out long-term renters if the new short-term rental ordinance passes its second reading.
The ordinance passed its first reading at the March 12 hearing with a 4-0 vote (Councilmember Hudson Hornick was absent).
During a previous meeting about the ordinance in July 2025, City Manager Scott Wolfe told officials that between 10 and 20 years ago, a handful of Buellton properties—including the Farmhouse Motel—began transitioning “in violation of our municipal code into these long-term residential uses.”
“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,” Wolfe said, “and therefore protected under law.”
In November 2025, city staff began meeting with the California Department of Housing and Development (HCD) on multiple occasions for input on the motel conversion ordinance.
In response to HCD feedback, Buellton staff pitched a way for long-term renters at the impacted motel properties to stay in their spaces for up to two years, if they can show the city proof that they’ve qualified to be on a waiting list for alternative low-income housing.
Wolfe told the City Council at its March 12 meeting that this extension resolved HCD’s concerns. As originally drafted, the waiting list route allowed a six-month stay extension.
“Even in the world where the stars align and all of these tenants find housing, the ordinance turns the city’s new affordable housing projects into mere backfill, replacing units lost by this ordinance,” Farmhouse Motel attorney Carlson said during public comment. “You don’t fix a housing shortage by shuffling lower income residents from unit to unit. That’s rearranging chairs, it’s not adding seats.”
Farmhouse Motel co-owner Kerry Moriarty also spoke during public comment.
“Changing the use of the Farmhouse back to a hotel or motel will do nothing to encourage redevelopment on the Avenue [of Flags]. I don’t get the calculus there,” he said. “This would be a real black eye for the city of Buellton from a public relations standpoint. Kicking out 22 people—low-income people.”
Before motioning to approve the ordinance on a first reading, Councilmember Elysia Lewis said that her decision-making on the matter was less about revitalizing the Avenue of the Flags than “looking at the human factor of things and making sure that standards are met.”
“The deciding factor for me is looking at short-term spaces that are designed for short-term use that are being used for long-term residency that don’t meet the requirements for long-term residency,” Lewis said.
This article appears in March 19 – March 26, 2026.