A grass-less De la Guerra Plaza with a “bubbler” water feature and an arcade pavilion is inching closer to reality.
The Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission and the De La Guerra Plaza Revitalization Design Advisory Committee held a joint meeting last Friday to hash out their differences.
The project is not ready for a final vote, but the meeting marked a moment of much agreement between the two entities as well as a sign that consensus may not be that far away. The subcommittee and the HLC will need to review the project again before eventually sending a proposal to the City Council.
“As you know, the plaza is functioning more as a back-of-house for trash and recycling, and it is an inadequate parking lot,” said Brad Hess, principal project planner for the city. “But it’s not a park. I guarantee you when people say they are going off to the park, they are not referring to the plaza.”
Many diverse viewpoints still exist about the plaza, but a majority of the commissioner members indicated through comments that they could support a “bubbler,” or water feature that shoots water at low levels, which can be turned on and off remotely. They support a so-called “arcade,” which they now are calling a “pavilion,” as an architectural attraction, with a raised stage area for speaking and entertainment. The project also calls for new bathrooms in the plaza.
The most controversial part of the proposal at this point is the proposal to move the grass. The proposal also calls for eliminating the horseshoe roadway and flattening the plaza to the same level all around.
The parking in the plaza would be removed, but angled spaces would be added on De la Guerra Street, next to City Hall. The Anacapa Street side of City Hall also would get an overhaul, with the goal of making that side of the building the main entrance.
Hess said the goal is to create a “beautiful, civic plaza” that can both respect its history and facilitate activities year-round.
The project, however, has featured clashes over the modern look of the proposal by RRM Design Group, and the historic nature of the plaza.
“We’re trying to create a civic plaza that works for everyone’s needs,” Hess said.
The design also calls for changes to the Anacapa Street side of City Hall, including a garden with heavy landscaping and demonstration gardens.
“I don’t have any issues with upgrading the front door to City Hall,” Commissioner Robert Ooley said. “We all go in the back door, but there’s a lovely front door.”
Commissioner Ed Lenvik raised concerns about removing the grass turf from the plaza.
“I am very, very leery of hard-surface paving in the plaza,” Commissioner Ed Lenvik said. “When I see how filthy the sidewalks are on State Street and the side streets, I can’t imagine it’s going to be anything other than a mess and very difficult to keep clean on a long-term basis.”
He suggested decomposed granite as a surface, if necessary, instead of grass.
Most of the commissioners agreed that the proposed arcade was far away from approval.
“This thing is small and almost a mockery of what an arcade should be,” Lenvik said. “That arcade is an insult to the term arcade.”
HLC chair Anthony Grumbine agreed.
“The expression of that pavilion isn’t there yet,” Grumbine said. “It is trying to find its place.”
Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon serves on the De la Guerra committee and said she was pleased with the workshop and the progress that was made by bringing the two groups together.
“This has been extremely helpful as a workshop,” Sneddon said. “We spend a lot of time guessing about what HLC might say or think, but to have the opportunity to be able to have this dialogue and back and forth — and it is an opportunity for you, too, if you have questions about why we are so attached to something.”
Preservation activist Lanny Ebenstein told Noozhawk after the meeting that he has concerns about the grass removal and that the issue is far from decided.
“It would be a mistake to remove all grass from De la Guerra Plaza,” Ebenstein said. “The lawn area is important to the use and history of the plaza, which extends back more than two centuries. The Committee to Save De la Guerra Plaza will soon submit historic landmark designations for De la Guerra Plaza, including to the National Register of Historic Places, to ensure there is adequate environmental review.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
