Members of the Chumash tribe are calling on Santa Barbara’s Parks and Recreation Department to turn a long vacant lot next to the harbor into a space dedicated to their culture, practices and ancestral land.
The West Beach Wading Pool, first constructed in 1939, has been closed since 2014 due to a major leak. Currently, its shell sits vacant next to the Los Banos del Mar swimming pool. In 2018, the parks and recreation department initiated plans to turn the empty wading pool into a children’s splash playground, but the progress was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Santa Barbara’s Chumash community is urging the city to scratch the splash pads and take the vacant land as an opportunity to honor Santa Barbara’s indigenous heritage. Several Chumash people spoke on the topic at a Thursday night Harbor Commission meeting, where the commission eventually voted unanimously to support a Chumash cultural center.
“It would create a space as a reminder that Chumash people are not just a part of Santa Barbara’s history,” said Chumash community member Vanessa Hernandez. “But also a living part of our culture today.”
Hernandez brought up the Tomol, a traditional Chumash canoe that represents the tribe’s connection to the Pacific Ocean and history in the Santa Barbara Channel. She and several others proposed that the cultural center be centered around the Tomol, similar to the “Tomol House” at the Santa Ynez Chumash Museum.
Another Chumash member, Vanessa Vance, brought up that the Chumash reservation in Santa Ynez makes up only 1% of their original 7,000-square-mile territory. Currently, the only Chumash cultural center is on the reservation.
“Most people that live here don’t come into contact with Chumash culture and aren’t educated with it,” said Chumash public commenter John Koos. “They don’t have a place for storage of current Chumash facilities that’s viewable.”
Several felt that the splash playground plans are counterproductive. Harbor commissioner Spenser Jaimes emphasized that with droughts becoming more extreme due to climate change, it doesn’t make sense to put in another water feature.
People pointed out other climate concerns too, like the impact of loud children playing around the protected species of birds that nest in nearby trees. But more emphasized that for the Chumash, the environment is about much more than just birds.
“It’s important for you to understand how we consider the environment,” said Annette Cordero. “Not only the birds, but also the grass, the water, the air, the trees. Those are my relatives as well.”
The 2018 plan for the splash pads was a $3 million concept. In 2023, the department studied the project again and found many safety code concerns. A new restroom facility, filtration system and other improvements would be needed—and implementation would be expensive. Other public commenters were concerned with the dirtiness of splash pads.
When it came to deliberations, Jaimes said that choosing to impose a Chumash cultural center over the splash pads would be a step in the right direction for the city’s relationship with Santa Barbara’s indigenous people.
“There’s a lot of land acknowledgements that happen in Santa Barbara,” Jaimes said. “But it’s time that the city acts on acknowledging Chumash much more.”
In response, Parks and Recreation Director Jill Zachary said the department has done work with the Chumash people. She referenced the Chumash Cultural Project at Ambassador Park. However, Jaimes shot down this excuse, saying the community didn’t ask for it and wasn’t involved.
“It’s hard to honor our culture if you’re doing something that they didn’t ask for and didn’t want,” Jaimes said.
The parks and recreation department hopes to bring the proposal to the City Council in early 2027.
