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Formerly the planner for San Benito County, Arielle Goodspeed became the city planner for San Juan Bautista in November 2025. It was not her first time working with the city officials. She helped shepherd an agreement between the city and the county just months earlier that gave San Juan more say in planning decisions outside its city limits.
On Jan. 9, Goodspeed sat down with BenitoLink to discuss subjects ranging from her experience as a planner and what the job entails to how she hopes to work cooperatively with people seeking to build or modify buildings in the city, and how she considers being part of the city a “fortunate gift.”
BenitoLink: How did you get into the field of planning?
Arielle Goodspeed: My undergrad was in environmental policy at Humboldt State, and in my last semester, I took an environmental impact assessment course instructed by local planners. That was my introduction to planning, and I knew that was what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I knew I liked policy, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I would do with it. But being able to apply policy to projects, you worked a lot with people in the community. I personally found CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act] interesting.
What’s interesting to you about CEQA?
You’re studying the impacts projects can have, then disclosing them to hopefully mitigate them and achieve better project outcomes. It involves public comment, so it’s really about bridging the gap between hard sciences and that public process.
Where did you go after graduation?
That was 2013. I was looking for jobs, and every job application said “master’s degree preferred.” So I went to San Jose State and earned my master’s in urban regional planning, with a focus on environmental planning. After graduating in 2018, I looked for work and was hired by the county of San Benito in July 2019 as an assistant planner.
What were your responsibilities?
It was very much an entry-level position. You’re doing a lot of the front counter, zoning verifications and plan checks for building permits. You work a little bit on more administrative permits. In a small jurisdiction, you learn everything and do everything. I had worked in the trades, which gave me opportunities to take on more complex projects pretty quickly. Then, in early 2022, I was promoted to principal planner.
What’s involved in being a county planner?
You work on current planning projects, conditional use permits, subdivisions, parcel maps, town subdivision maps, administrative permits, and lot line adjustments. You have policy-level documents like development agreements, zone changes, and general plan amendments.
I also got to work on a lot of long-range planning while I was there. I worked on developing the joint habitat conservation plan and national community conservation plan, the housing element, numerous different zoning code updates, and comprehensive zoning code updates. I worked on developing and revising policy, public meetings, and running ad hocs. You become a jack of all trades a little bit.
Why did you leave the county and come to San Juan?
I wanted to keep growing and learn more about city governance, and honestly, why not San Juan? It’s a gem. It’s a beautiful place, and I’m really excited about having the opportunity to serve and help organize the department.
What does the work here involve?
I’m tasked with community development, reducing our dependence on consultants, bringing things in-house, and really having that one-on-one with the community. Which is my favorite thing. I love interacting with people, hearing their problems and concerns, and helping to find solutions. It was really important to me that, if I was leaving the county, I was still serving this community.
What were your first priorities?
There had been a few items that needed some progress. One being getting the development agreement done for the Alameda gas station. My first week, we also were doing the Dia de los Muertos event. Month two was getting our housing element to adoption. Next on the list is going to be working on trying to finish the infill study, and a general plan amendment is going to be needed in order to tie the change of the sphere of influence back to the city limits.
How does shrinking the sphere of influence down to around the city’s borders impact planning?
The main thing about spheres is you’re planning for future growth—20-year horizons, generally speaking, usually to coincide with the general plan. That’s why we’re conducting an infill study: we need to confirm that all these areas within the city limits are sufficient for any future growth over that time horizon. It’s just about being able to plan for that growth.
Given that the community does not want to expand beyond what we legally have to expand, how does this impact your work?
Our role as planners is to listen to the community and what they want. We bridge those gaps between state regulation and local policy, and plan with that vision. It’s not my vision or your individual vision. It’s this city’s vision. We’re here to help facilitate what the community wants to see. We have to conduct research and data, and add different state, local, and federal laws to come up with different alternatives and options. Then it’s the community’s and the City Council’s decision to decide what’s best.
How hard is it to balance ongoing water and sewage projects with planning for new homes or developments?
Any time a new project comes in, you have to show you have capacity for utilities (water and sewer) or, if you’re not on city services, septic or well capabilities. It is not lawful to build a project without those water, sewer, or septic capabilities. It is vital to any future development.
How do you start assessing whether a big project is going to be possible?
A project must demonstrate there is capacity for the future project, so we must obtain that capacity for the project to move forward. My role is mainly to understand the future capacity for our jurisdiction and for growth, even if the growth is within city limits. Even if someone has a house and wants to do a multi-family, that still requires capacity. That’s the relationship between planning and services. You need to have the services to plan.
How do you see your role in relation to the community?
There’s always building—it’s a daily task. You have people coming in: “I want to remodel my bathroom,” or “I need a re-roof.” One of the key things I heard as I was coming in was that the community as a whole wants to come into our office and that they have someone they can talk to, as they want to do something and know what the next steps are. I would say customer service is number one. Working with businesses to ensure they understand which permits are needed and the steps required. Really providing that one-on-one customer service.
What do you see in the immediate future for San Juan?
We’ll focus on identifying what can be done at the administrative level compared to the planning commission level. Also, making it very clear to the public when a historic permit is required or when a historic evaluation is required. Businesses on Third Street might want to change out a sign, so maybe looking at how some of those types of things can be done at an administrative level. We’ll start to take a look at that first.
What do you like about San Juan?
What’s not to like about San Juan? I try to walk the town at least a few days a week to get my steps in, but part of planning is also understanding your community well, seeing it, and interacting with it. I’ll walk different streets, and there’s so much passion here. There are so many people who care deeply about this place and have such rich backgrounds and histories, and it’s just special. I have the fortunate gift of being part of it.
What would you like people to know about you?
I’m here and available for whatever the community needs. They can come in anytime or call me anytime about anything, and I’m here to listen and help them. I don’t want them to feel like going to community development or City Hall is a project. I want to hear people’s feedback, even if it’s bad. I want to make San Juan better, and I love to problem-solve. That’s my happy place.
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