May 6, 2024 at 1:40 pm by Amitha Bhat / Daily Nexus
The Isla Vista Recreation & Park District held a bike tour of Isla Vista Parks on April 27 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m to assess park amenities, including outdoor seating and lighting.
The tour began at the Isla Vista Recreation & Park District Office and proceeded through Little Acorn Park westward and concluded in Anisq’Oyo’ Park before Gauchos for Recovery’s midday Music in the Park concert. Amitha Bhat / Daily Nexus.
The tour began at the Isla Vista Recreation & Park District (IVRPD) Office and proceeded through Little Acorn Park westward and concluded in Anisq’Oyo’ Park before Gauchos for Recovery’s midday Music in the Park concert. IVRPD offered bicycles to attendees to use during the event, as well as coffee and bagels at the District office.
IVRPD Board of Directors Chair Pegeen Soutar said the purpose of the bike tour is to look at I.V. parks with IVRPD staff and evaluate what amenities need attention, such as pathways, lighting and other park components. Soutar said IVRPD wants to begin hosting the tours every quarter.
Soutar elaborated further on the process of the bike tour.
“We usually pick a theme, you know, and this time it was amenities … staff gets a feeling from the board and the community of what they like. And then, their job then is to kind of figure out different costs,” Soutar said.
Throughout the tour, board members discussed ways for community members to enjoy the parks while seated, highlighting seating materials and forms. IVRPD Assistant General Manager Luis Valerio spoke to community members about the low maintenance needs and the durability of the stone benches at Pelican Park.
“But it is nice, again, durability-wise, super durable, long-lasting. Maintenance wise, very easy … it’s a more permanent seating area, right, so once they’re in, they’re kind of in,” Valerio said during the tour stop at Pelican Park.
In addition to seating, they also discussed other amenities such as reactivating the bocce ball court at Little Acorn Park, adding warm lighting along the Trigo-Pasado pathway and including a dog washing station at Sueño Park.
IVRPD board member Ash Valenti elaborated on the proposed lighting for the Trigo-Pasado Park pathway.
“I think it does make sense to light this path with very subtle, low lighting that’s gonna have minimal disturbance to the wildlife, minimal of that, like, over-contrast effect that I’m complaining about,” Valenti said.
IVRPD general manager Kimberly Kiefer supported the proposed implementation of a dog-washing station at Sueño Park.
“Something that, you know, as we’re trying to evolve opportunities to gain revenue and also provide services, we think that this is a really, really great, golden opportunity,” Kiefer said.
Kiefer informed attendees about the difficulty of vandalism on park amenities while at Pelican Park.
“One of our biggest challenges with our amenities is vandalism, unfortunately, and we had a couple of tables that were here that were vandalized,” Kiefer said.
Following the conclusion of the bike tour at Anisq’Oyo’ Park, Soutar reflected on her personal highlights of the tour.
“Those are the two big things: the super beautiful, creative benches and tables and then just the beautiful little pocket gardens that we’ve got going,” Soutar said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 6 of the May 2, 2024, print edition of the Daily Nexus.
May 6, 2024 at 1:40 pm by Amitha Bhat / Daily Nexus
