Anonymous
Source: City of Santa Barbara
Fans of City of Santa Barbara parks have a few new rules to keep in mind, all of which focus on making local parks safer and more enjoyable places to recreate. Three changes to the Santa Barbara Municipal Code, approved last month by the City Council, put consistent park hours in place, protect playgrounds as safe children’s play areas, and provide guidance on the use of portable barbecues in City parks.
“These changes are something we considered carefully, and we took into account feedback from the public when drafting the ordinance,” said Parks and Recreation Director Jill Zachary. “You won’t have to wonder when a park is open, because they all close at the same time now—a half hour after sunset. There are clear rules about who should be using designated children’s play areas, such as any of our 22 City playgrounds. And we created a simple standard so picnickers will know where they can use portable barbecues. Overall, the new rules are clear and consistent, and they should minimize confusion for everyone who enjoys using our parks.”
Park Hours
Beginning October 17, all parks—with a few exceptions—are open to the public from sunrise to half hour after sunset. Sunrise and sunset on any particular day as determined by the National Weather Service, making it easy to check online when planning a visit to the park.
The three parks that are exceptions to this rule are: Skofield Park, Franceschi Park, and Hilda McIntyre Ray Park. All have caretakers living on site, so gates will open in those three parks at 8:00 a.m. and close, as with all other parks, at a half hour after sunset.
Other exceptions are still made for permitted special events, recreational activities, and rentals. For instance areas with lighted sports fields, such as Cabrillo Ball Park, Dwight Murphy Field, Pershing Park, and the Municipal Tennis Courts, may be open after dark for approved activities.
Playground Use
Adults (18 and older) are only allowed to enter City playgrounds when accompanying a child 12 or younger. An exception to this rule is if an adult is accompanying a person aged 13 years and older with special needs.
By establishing rules limiting access to playgrounds by adults maximizes the usability of the equipment by children, reduces wear and tear, increases the longevity of the equipment, and supports safe play conditions.
Portable Barbecues
To provide safe and well maintained amenities for visitors new guidelines for portable barbecues and camp stoves usage have been established. Portable barbeques and camp stoves that are self-contained, enclosed with a lid, and raised at least six inches off a surface may be used in any park picnic table or on a City beach.
The exception is Parma Park, which does have a picnic area, but portable barbecues are not allowed in the park due to high wildfire danger.
Barbeque users must remove hot coals and ash from the park, unless a hot coal disposal receptacle is provided. Currently, three parks have hot coal disposal receptacles: Oak Park, Shoreline Beach Park, and Leadbetter Beach Park.
For additional information visit SantaBarbaraCA.gov/ParkRules.
Questions
To stay informed about this and other Parks and Recreation Department initiatives, sign up for our email list atbit.ly/LoveParksAndRec and follow the Department on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About the Parks and Recreation Department
The City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department proudly maintains a wide range of parks, facilities, and programs designed to serve community needs.
The Department’s mission is to provide clean and safe parks, beaches, and recreation facilities; to enhance Santa Barbara’s beauty; to promote stewardship of resources; and to provide quality recreation, cultural experiences, and community services to improve quality of life for Santa Barbara residents.
So if I am walking by and want to sit down for a second and take a swing for a twirl for a moment or two I’m not allowed? Thats bs. Tax payer here. Discrimination.
Playgrounds are for kids. Put a swing in your yard if you must. You can indulge your whim to twirl for as many moments as you like.
That’s how laws work, they can inconvenience you to the benefit of some other group. But most of us can see the benefit of limiting access to children by adults not related to them. I hereby give up my right to swing as outlined in the 34th amendment to the US Constitution.
SEABIRD – yes, unless those kids are 13 or over. My son is 13 and still likes playing on the playground with his little brother. Now he is breaking the law if he wants to play with his brother?? This is total garbage!
As a parent I fully support these new laws. I’m sure Law Enforcement can use their discretion. But, at least this gives them another tool to keep out the vagrants.
@1:39 Read a little more carefully. Nothing in the rules prevents a 13 year old from playing on the playground.
“Adults (18 and older) are only allowed to enter City playgrounds when” what defines the boundaries of a playground? I can understand not allowing the “use of playground equipment” but if I choose to sit on a bench that is considered within a playground am I at risk for a ticket or worse?
72TORINO – Hey smartypants, “Adults (18 and older) are only allowed to enter City playgrounds when accompanying a child 12 or younger.” That means, by reading carefully, that I can NOT go with my 13 year old son to the playground.
@4:12. Your comment was that “My son is 13 and still likes playing on the playground with his little brother. Now he is breaking the law if he wants to play with his brother??” You did not say anything about you going to the playground in your earlier comment.
72TORINO – so what? I don’t need to explain to you everything I’m thinking. The point is, before you jump on someone’s comment with your attitude, stop and think a little.
And claiming your 13 year old is breaking the law demonstrates stopping and thinking?
No-one is going to go up to a 13-year-old and ask for proof of age. These changes in the Santa Barbara Municipal Code are directed at keeping vagrants from sleeping in parks, keeping perverts away from the kiddie playgrounds/equipment and also telling people where they can use their own portable barbecues. There will be more than a bit of profiling taking place, seeing who looks disreputable and who doesn’t, so far as being at the playground areas. Keep your fly zipped and don’t take photos of kids who aren’t your kids.
As if I’m the only one around who doesn’t enjoy breathing in smoke and charcoal fumes.
If you can smell it, you’re breathing it in. Smell that burnt wood smell? That’s benzene and cancer-causing. No thanks.
As with all laws, you can probably get away with breaking the rules if you aren’t noticed. An adult couple walking past a playground in the moonlight can take a twirl on the swings for a few minutes—I doubt they’ll be arrested.
How sad that the Chi-Lites’ Have You Seen Her “One month ago today
I was happy as a lark
But now I go for walks
To the movies, maybe to the park
I have a seat on the same old bench
To watch the children play, huh
You know tomorrow is their future
But for me just another day
They all gather ’round me, huh
They seem to know my name
We laugh, tell a few jokes
But it still doesn’t ease my pain” would be unacceptable today. Also that story about a gentleman who would consistently sit on a park bench watching kids play, and when accused of lurking to kidnap a child sobbingly responded “I only come here because that boy reminds me of the son I lost to cancer last year”. Still, better safe than sorry I guess.
72TORINO – you’re right, perhaps I didn’t analyze my words carefully enough. Thing is, I have a life so I don’t fret too much about clarifying things to trolls. Check out a local hobby shop if you’re so bored….
In this town, special needs could most definitely be up for interpretation… where does one draw the line in the sand or wood chips?
Thank You Especially for the children who deserve to have a place to play and be children and not have to see things adults do especially not in their play structures like Kids World in Alameda Park. When I was a kid back in Hammond, Indiana the armpit of Chicago of all places no adults were allowed near playgrounds at all unless they were related to the child…Thanks, Again.
Well, have you seen the statistics by gender when it comes to child rape/molestation? 91% of molestation to children and women is done by men. Kind of hard not to judge that guy with no kids near playground with those numbers. Sorry not sorry.
If you had read a little more closely you would see that exceptions are made for “permitted special events, recreational activities, and rentals” so your “fiddle” music jam is safe. YEEEHAWWW
Too bad barbecues are allowed in any of the parks. No cigarette smoking or pot smoking is allowed. We shouldn’t be subjected to charcoal fumes, the nasty lighter fluid stench or wood smoke, either.
How would know if the guy sitting on a bench, near a playground , isn’t just a Dad, sitting on a bench, watching his kids play on the playground?
Bodyboard- the police can inquire.
Finally a common sense law that has an actual impact. The parks are scary place for kids- especially low income families that can’t go to the latest Iron Man 37 and for whom the park is a free place to play. Unfortunately they have to roll the dice one which homeless crazy will be sleeping under the monkey bars or asleep in the skate park at 7am before school as my kids have witnessed.
This is a good rule and no sense being cynical about it- the government is trying to take back our parks.
10:40 – If the smell of outdoor cooking bothers you so much, you might want want to avoid the parks where everyone else is enjoying themselves, or you could wear an air filter mask. Not really fair to expect everyone else at the park to stop what most people enjoy just to accommodate you.
Fires are one of those given rights that they can’t take away. I guess I would rather have people combusting in a park than in their backyard close to one of my open windows.
Santa Barbara keeps getting less and less fun or regular folks. Curfewing the parks is treating the symptoms, not the problems caused by the homeless. Now we see people wanting to ban bar-b-quing, as if banning vaping isn’t silly enough. Next maybe ban pets, because some do their business there. Pretty soon, nobody wants to go there except the puritan=vegans. Then, why should taxpayers support parks if most people can’t enjoy them? That’s my rant for the week, thank you.
So police will be stationed at the playground?