by Rebecca Caraway, Noozhawk Staff Writer
September 28, 2024 | 7:59 pm
The Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District has some big plans for Children’s Park in Isla Vista.
The redesigned park will have brand new play equipment, a designed space for community gatherings and staff, a demonstration garden, picnic areas with barbecues, and new bathrooms.
The Parks District is partnering with Pacific Coast Land Design on the $5.2 million project, which is expected to begin construction next fall and be ready for kids in fall 2026.
The parks district last week invited the community to Children’s Park to view renderings of the future facilities and provide input before the design goes to the district’s board of directors for approval.
Michael and Jessica Shaheen bring their two children to Children’s Park, at the corner of Camino del Sur and Picasso Road, practically every day.
“We’ve been waiting a long time to watch this project come alive, and just knowing that they’ve been working really hard, letting us know exactly what they’re going to do has been great,” Michael Shaheen said.
While many think Isla Vista exclusively houses a revolving door of college students, the Shaheens are one of many working families that call Isla Vista home and need a place to take their kids.
“Isla Vista, really, if you look at it, is for the college students; but there is a workforce that lives here, families that work with kids, we need more parks like this,” Michael Shaheen said.
Jessica Shaheen said she’s excited to see barbecues back in the park and to have a space to have birthday parties and connect with other families.
“I’m happy to see all that stuff come back, and we can spend more time out here with our family and hopefully get to know more people around here that have families that come out,” she said.
In July, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved $250,000 from the settlement with UCSB to go to improvements and upgrades for the community room.
The district hosts some after-school programs at the park and right now only has a closet for storage. The plan is to take the bathrooms out of the existing building, construct new bathrooms, and then turn the building into more of an office space for staff.
Another part of the building will turn into an enclosed sunroom for the after-school program, and a new part of the building will be constructed to host community gatherings and will be available for the community to rent out for events.
The Parks District has hosted numerous community meetings on the project in the past few years to get insight on what the community wanted. From those meetings the design became focused on nature-based play inspired by the local monarch butterfly population.
The park will house a caterpillar-themed play area for 2-5 year-old children and a butterfly-themed play area for older kids.
Parks District General Manager Kimberly Kiefer said the nature-based playground is her favorite part of the design.
“They took our feedback and our interest in making a pollinator experience and nature playground both literally and figuratively, having nature as a part of that, so that the students and the kids can play and have imagination — to me that’s everything,” Kiefer said.
The park will also feature a raised deck area and amphitheater, a meadow, and the existing open space will remain with some landscaping improvements.
There is currently about $4.4 million going to the project. Eric Berg of Pacific Coast Land Design said they still need $750,000. They hope to receive $500,000 from two grants for which they’ve applied.
Additionally, Breanne Dunn said they are working with the Parks District to identify sponsors that could help contribute funding to the park.
The project already has a coastal development permit, and the Pacific Coast Land Design team is working on preparing the designs and plans to submit for a building permit.
“We’re hoping to essentially submit our application for that by the end of the year, with that process probably taking six or seven months, which leads us to next fall for the end of that process,” Berg said. “Once we have those permits in hand, we can take the project to bid for construction.”
Luis Valerio, assistant general manager of the Parks District, said he’s excited to have a premier park to better serve the families of Isla Vista.
“There really are generations of family here in Isla Vista that get forgotten about, so to be able to provide a park for them, so that they continue to live here and have improved the quality of life I think is really important,” Valerio said.
