What do you do when you have two buildings that are falling apart, but the community wants to save them? That is what the Santa Barbara Airport is trying to figure out.

Airport officials are reaching out to members of the community for ideas about what to do with the General Western Aero Hangars at Hollister and Fairview avenues.

On Tuesday, the airport held an open house at Direct Relief to talk to residents, introduce them to different proposals, and receive ideas about what the airport can do with the buildings.

Airport Director Christopher Hastert said the meeting was just the beginning of the airport’s effort to gauge community input and will be part of a longer process.

“There was a public petition that went around for us to look at potentially preserving those hangars,” Hastert said. “Originally, they were slated to be demolished in one of the earlier master plans that we had. So, we listened to the public and brought this to our City Council and to our Airport Commission, and we received support to try to work with different groups to potentially preserve those hangars.”

The two hangars were originally built in 1931 and were the beginning of what is now the Santa Barbara Airport. The hangars were used by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s and later by the U.S. Marine Corps.

The buildings were used off and on in the years since but have deteriorated after years of neglect.

At the open house, a group of well more than 50 people showed up to talk to airport staff and some of the people submitting proposals for the hangars.

Guests were given stickers and invited to place them on various boards in the meeting room to express their interest in different ideas or options.

One board asked people to place up to three stickers on a list of proposed projects, such as an aviation museum, an automobile museum, educational programs and more.

Another board asked residents if they would like to see any potential projects bankrolled as a public project, or if the operators should raise the funds through outside sources.

Residents were also able to submit their ideas or just leave a comment about what kind of project they would prefer.

The event also was attended by organizers who are already proposing ideas for the space.

One of the attendees was Kevin Haeberle, the founder and president of the Community Hotrod Project. Haeberle and his organization are hoping to turn one of the hangars into a vocational workshop and the other into an automotive and aviation museum.

If selected, the Community Hotrod Project hopes to teach young people how to fix cars and how they can be used in different trades.

Haeberle, who grew up in Goleta, says that most people do not know about the connection between the airport and automobiles. According to Haeberle, the hangars are at the site of the first sanctioned drag race in the United States.

“I’ve known about the hangars my entire life, participated in many of the different events between the car and air shows and stuff in the past, and always had a heart to want to see the hangers restored and used for something unique for the community,” Haeberle said.  

Another one of the organizers at the meeting was Val Selvaggio, the owner of the Xanadu Skate Boutique, a skate shop in Santa Barbara.

Selvaggio and her skate group are hoping to convince the airport to turn the hangars into a skating rink for the community.

She said the group thought there was going to be a skating rink built in downtown Santa Barbara a few years ago, but the rink never materialized.

“Every day, literally every single day, people come into my store and say, ‘What happened to the roller rink that was supposed to open?’ And I have to tell them it didn’t happen,” Selvaggio said.

Selvaggio said the group is unable to find a place to skate and has been kicked out of other locations. One of the biggest challenges is that most places in Santa Barbara and surrounding areas are not safe or made for skaters.

“Kids, parents, adults, we need somewhere, and people want to gather,” she said, “and it just would be an amazing space for all ages, for the community, for tourists.”

Other guests included members of the community who have a connection to the airport and want to see the hangars remain part of its history.

Michelle Leiphardt, who was born and raised in Santa Barbara, has been flying for 36 years.

She said she hopes the hangars are used to celebrate the history of aviation. However, she would like to include the history of automobiles and motorcycle racing as well.

“I’m very passionate about the history of the Santa Barbara Airport. It’s where I took my first flight. I would hang out at the airport when I was a kid,” Leiphardt said.

Moving forward, Hastert said the information and ideas from the attendees and different groups are being summarized into a report. The airport then will put out a request for official proposals for the hangars.

Once the proposals are submitted, the Airport Commission will review them and present recommendations to the City Council.

Hastert said he expects the request for proposals to go out in about 60 days and hopes to have a final decision on the hangars in the next six months.