Santa Barbara, CA
Sometimes our role as team-player and consensus builder is as important as designer. In the role of Landscape Architect, we helped the City bring about positive acceptance of a park that was controversial from the start.
Through a series of ten City organized community meetings—neighbors were concerned that the park not attract too much traffic to the area—consensus to create a passive, 25-acre open space park, designed to look as though it had always been there, was achieved.
Thus, Sheffield Reservoir was converted from an open reservoir to a park disguising two enormous buried tanks.
Entirely native plantings were propagated from a nearby City nature park to preserve the local gene pool. Regional plant communities including Riparian and Oak Woodlands, Oak Savannah and Chaparral were created on the site in response to new topography and microclimates.
Bioswales planted with wetland species create habitat and clean water runoff before it enters Sycamore Creek.
Meaningful elements of the original reservoir, dam and native stone drainage channels were preserved, and made a part of the trail system, resulting in visual hints of the history of this site.
The community now has park in the place of treated water behind chain link, its rolling hills and extensive pathways always there for them to explore.
