Residents won a victory in 2011 when the City of Goleta’s Redevelopment Agency acquired 4 acres at 170 South Kellogg Ave. in Old Town to build a neighborhood park.
A sign advertising the home of a new park in Old Town Goleta has been in place since 2013, on the undeveloped space near the intersection of Kellogg and Hollister avenues, as the project stalled due to ownership issues and some other hurdles.
Construction started last year and is nearly done, so the city officially set an opening date of March 30.
City officials and others will cut the ribbon on the new Jonny D. Wallis Neighborhood Park at 11 a.m., and a grand opening event will be held at the park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the city.
Residents helped choose design elements for the park and contributed suggestions for its name, with the City Council voting to dedicate it to Wallis, one of the original City Council members when Goleta incorporated in 2002. She died in 2013.
The park has a handball court, concrete ping pong table, bocce ball court, pickleball court, pedestrian and bicycle paths, exercise equipment, a restroom building, a skate park plaza and playground.
“The Jonny D. Wallis Neighborhood Park is the largest park in Old Town Goleta and will be an important gathering and recreation place for people of all ages and abilities,” city spokeswoman Valerie Cantella said. “The city is thrilled to be able to open this to the public after so many years.”
Funding for the park comes from a $910,000 grant, and $3.8 million in Park Development Impact Fees.
The city has to finish the park project by June or risk losing the grant money.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
