Author Archive | Kellam de Forest

An Open Letter to the members of the Lobero Foundation by Kellam de Forest

The Lobero Theatre is a landmark and is so designated by the State and the City.  Your board is currently engaged in a fund raising campaign to fund extensive remodeling to this historic building. As your Encore Lobero brochure explains the current theater lacks heating and air conditioning, modern seating and adequate restroom facilities.  Such modernization is commendable and deserves community support.

Artist Rendering of Esplanade

As you are surely aware through letters and blogs that many object to your plans for a walled level terrace called an esplanade.  Such a major alteration will destroy the historic character defining. 1924 entrance designed by George Washington Smith with landscaping by Lockwood de Forest. Continue Reading →

By Kellam de Forest

There’s a job opening in the city staff for an Urban Historian.

The post of urban historian in the Santa Barbara City Community Development Department evolved from the necessity of the City to provide information and guidance to the Historic Landmarks Committee after it the El Pueblo Viejo District was established in 1960.

A Charter Amendment approved by the voters in November 1993 established the Historic Landmarks Commission with authority within landmark districts and to oversee historic public and private structures having architectural significance. Miss Mary Louise Days, a Santa Barbara native, who joined the Planning Division in 1974, tirelessly fulfilled the duties of urban historian.  It was not until just before her retirement in 1996 that she was given the title.

This post became vacant in August with the forced retirement of Jake Jacobus due to heath reasons. It was feared due to budget restraints he would not be replaced. Happily it was learned that the City has advertised for applicants.

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Special Report by Kellam de Forest

Here is what happened at the Historic Landmarks hearing yesterday:

Santa Barbara might have still another large condo on Chapala Street. The Historic Landmarks Commission gave final approval to the plans for 517 Chapala Street on a 4 to 2 vote. The Commission felt that they were forced into this reluctant acceptance by the City Council’s upholding the appeal by the applicant back in 2010. Commissioner Craig Shallanberger expressed the frustration of the Commissioners by saying that the failures of the past should not be held against the applicant today.

Readers, please alert Santa Barbara View to any proposed project that might affect the ambiance and history of Santa Barbara. Maybe us citizens can prevent such developments. Pearl Chase did it with what is now the Alice Keck Memorial Garden.

Letter to the Editor: proposed remarks I plan to make at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 23., Item 9 on the Consent Calender.  “Contract for Conceptual Design for the Police Station Replacement Project” – Kellam de Forest

Dear City Council:

Santa Barbara Police Station

You are being asked by staff to spend $356,176 for a conceptual design report for a new police station to be built on the site of the existing one.  Before you authorize the spending of this money, kindly consider the citizens of Santa Barbara.  From the communication I have received and read, the majority of Santa Barbarans are not fully convinced that the relatively new station (only 53 years) needs to be torn down just because the Police Chief and City staff says so.

Another point to consider is, if the public is convinced that a new police station is necessary, they have to be convinced that rebuilding an entirely new police station on the site of the old one is the only choice.  In June, I proposed to Council the possibility of the bankrupt Chapala One as a site to consider.  This suggestion spawned a number of favorable responses.   There are other sites that seemed to have been rejected without sufficient explanation, e.g. the main post office on Anacapa, the Cota Street farmer’s market parking lot  (the State might be willing to sell the unemployment office building and parking lot adding to the square footage), the Castillo commuter lot, the National Guard Armory on Canon Perdido. The Army Reserve Center at State and Las Positas.

I commend the Ad Hoc Committee for asking for community outreach, but I think the community would be more readily accept the proposal if it didn’t perceive that it was already a done deal as this agreement implies.  Kindly hold off on this agreement until the public is convinced for its need, and, if needed, the necessity of tearing down a building that could be converted to other uses.  Is this the sustainability the new General Plan espouses?

“The Historic Resources Element needs to be included as an essential part of the Santa Barbara General Plan,” says Kellam de Forest.  “It should not be shunted off to some committee.” Below is the the text for the proposed Historic Resources Element.

The City of Santa Barbara has been blessed by farsighted citizens who have recognized the uniqueness of the city and have preserved not only historic structures and sites, but also their setting and context. Setting and context are primarily addressed by community design policies included in the Land Use Element. The preservation and the adaptive reuse of existing structures are necessary to a sustained environment.

The City of Santa Barbara already has a number of existing ordinances, policies and programs relating to the preservation and maintenance of the City’s historical and archaeological legacy.

The goals, policies and implementation actions presented here provide guidance for further historic conservation, use and development.

• Protect and enhance Historical and Cultural Resources. Protect and enhance the community’s historic and cultural structures and sites, through the protection, preservation, and enhancement of historic and archaeological resources.
• Increase Awareness and Appreciation. Increase public awareness and appreciation of Santa Barbara’s prehistory and history, and of its historic, archeological and paleontological sites.

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by Kellam de Forest

Kellam de Forest, a Santa Barbara native, is a founding member of the Pearl Chase Society, and currently the chair of its Preservation Committee. He is the son of the well-known area landscape architects, Lockwood de Forest and Elizabeth Kellam de Forest.

The spirit of Pearl Chase lives with the society that proudly bears her name. Wishing to continue the preservation vision of her Plans and Planting Committee, Pearl Chase inveigled other community leaders to found the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve, restore and reconstruct historic sites in Santa Barbara County.

The focus of this organization was to rebuild El Presidio de Santa Barbara the last of the four military presidios built in California to secure Spanish interests at the end of the 18th Century. In order to obtain funding for this ambitious project, arrangements were made with the State of California for the Presidio to become a California State Historic Park under co-ownership with the Trust.

Due to the state sponsorship of the rebuilding of the Presidio, Miss Chase’s goal of preserving other historic sites was shelved. In 1995, a group of Trust members formed a rump committee to fight the threats to historic sites throughout the County. Because of its ties to the State, this committee could not function under the umbrella of the Trust, so the Society bearing her name was formed.

The Pearl Chase Society continues to advance and enlarge upon the founding vision of Pearl Chase. To learn more, please visit www.pearlchasesociety.org