The late, great historian Walker Tompkins wrote: “The only thing more destructive to historical landmarks than a bulldozer, is procrastination on the part of preservationists.”

Even though he wrote that back in the mid-1960s, it holds true today. And one of Goleta’s favorite historic landmarks that has managed to hang on for nearly 100 years without any help from preservationists is the Barnsdall Rio Grande service station.

It’s still just sitting there. Right where it’s been since 1929, when prosperous businessmen decided to build a showpiece service station to celebrate the good fortune they had at their Ellwood oil field. And to do it in a style that would please Pearl Chase.

They spared no expense and hired an exclusive architecture firm to build an exquisite building in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. It won several awards for design and beauty, and it was a successful business for decades, until the rerouting of the highway isolated it from traffic.

By the early 1950s, the station was closed to the general public. (You can read more of the history at Goleta History.com).

So there it sat, unused and abandoned, but not unnoticed. Throughout the years and the decades, generations of folks enjoyed the beauty of the little building and wondered what the future would hold for it.

As Goleta changed and grew, it stayed the same, and became a symbol of Goleta’s past.

In January 2015, I started a petition to preserve the Barnsdall service station. The response was overwhelming.

I quickly learned that this little building means a lot of things to a lot of different people and they were very passionate about it. People were eager to share their personal memories of the building.

Nearly 3,000 signatures were quickly collected, hundreds of community members offered to help with the restoration, and people came out of the woodwork with ideas and dreams they had for the building.

The petition got a lot of media attention, from local papers and the evening news to NPR. In February, 2015, we presented the petition to the Goleta City Council and several people spoke eloquently on behalf of the structure.

On June 11, 2015, that same City Council called a media press conference to proudly announce they had worked out a deal to save the historic gas station for future generations.

Beanie billionaire Ty Warner, owner of the Sandpiper Golf Course and the Barnsdall station, had generously agreed to donate the building and one acre of land to the city of Goleta. He was thanked and praised, and everyone celebrated a great victory. But the celebrations were short-lived.

Goleta city attorneys, doing their due diligence, found some fine print in the deed that they could not accept.

The problematic clause started back when ARCO owned the Barnsdall station land. When they sold it, they required that any future transactions include a provision barring any future owners from terminating the nearby Ellwood Onshore Facility.

This did not sit well with the city of Goleta, which had wanted that plant gone for years, so they had to refuse the gift. The Barnsdall station was back to square one.

The years flew by and we all continued to wait and wonder when Ty Warner and the city of Goleta would find a way to save this iconic structure.

Today it appears the time has come to try again. Mr. Warner would like to remodel the whole Sandpiper Golf Course, and saving the Barnsdall station is included in his plan.

The new plan completely restores the original building inside and out, bringing it up to modern codes for earthquake, etc., while using as much of the original material as possible.

Inside the building will be a historic exhibit with photos and the story of the building and the surrounding area. (We all know there is plenty of history around there.)

Additionally, they want to build a small coffee shop next door with a large garage type door that will be open to the public. A new parking lot will be built to the east of the station and a large covered public seating area will be to the west of the station.

The folks at Sandpiper recognized that their current snack bar is very popular with bicyclists, so they’ve decided to make this new cafe bike friendly to encourage that. There will be multiple bike racks all around, and where the old gas pumps used to be there will now be electric bike charging stations.

Further improvements include building a new sidewalk along Hollister Avenue, putting all the existing power lines underground and building a new crosswalk to allow easy access to the neighborhood across the street.

All-in-all, a very generous offer made by Ty Warner to save this historic structure.

Even if you’re not a golfer, the environmental improvements made to the course will be very good for Goleta in general.

They’re going to remove more than half of the existing turf and replace it with natives, greatly reducing the need for irrigation and fertilizers.

Also, the outdated septic system currently in use will be replaced by a modern-day sewer system. The new clubhouse and restaurants will be open to the public; new open space in Bell Canyon will be made public; and new trails will make public coastal access easier.

But the best part of this offer? Warner will pay for 100% of it.

We all know that if the city had accepted his donation back in 2015, they would still be struggling to find the funding to restore it. This avoids that entire problem.

It doesn’t happen very often, but I agree with the developer and probably even the Chamber of Commerce on this one.

In fact, every history-minded person I know is very much in favor of approving this project.

We have a developer offering to make a 1970s era golf course more modern and more environmentally friendly while providing a list of other public amenities. And besides all that, they have the restoration of a popular historic building already in the budget.

This plan will go before the Goleta Planning Commission at 6 p.m. Monday, April 27 at Goleta City Hall, 130 Cremona Drive.

If you care about finally saving this historic structure once and for all, come to the meeting, or email your comments to the city of Goleta at PERmeetings@cityofgoleta.gov

Let’s save this important piece of Goleta history once and for all.

Go to www.goletahistory.com and type “Barnsdall” in the menu search bar to read more about this historic building.