Three of seven Goleta Beach Park parking lots will begin to get repaved in January after sustaining damage in past storms.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved $1.2 million on Tuesday for a paving contract with PaveWest LLC to repair 112,000 square feet of parking lot.
The construction includes structural repairs and 4 inches of asphalt in the parking stall areas and 6 inches in the drive aisle areas.
“That helps because 1.5 million people each year go to Goleta Beach Park,” Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps said.
Construction is expected to begin on Jan. 5, with completion in February, according to Jill Van Wie, capital program manager.
This phase of improvements will repair the remaining three parking lots. Four were previously repaired.
Last year, the Board of Supervisors approved $2 million for initial parking lot improvements to repair four out of the seven parking lots alongside lawn and park restoration, according to Jesús Armas, director of the Community Services Department.
In total, $10 million has been invested for the park’s improvements, Capps said.
The repairs come after high surf from major rainstorms in 2023 and 2024 flooded the lots and washed up debris.
After the storms, heavy equipment from County Flood Control was used to remove the debris and clear sediment from the parking lot, but it left behind damage. Soil that supports the asphalt on the east side parking lot was washed away.
Armas expressed his appreciation on Tuesday for the board’s support of the improvements.
The county applied to receive reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency but was denied.
A new application was submitted to receive partial reimbursement from FEMA and CalEMA for $803,652 under federally declared disaster No. 4683. The county doesn’t expect to receive a response on its appeal until the end of December.
Visitors to the park in January can expect to find the parking lots west of the main park entrance temporarily closed.
However, the lawn area, the playground, restrooms and the pedestrian path as well as some picnic areas still will be open, Van Wie said.