CityofGoleta
By the City of Goleta
The City of Goleta is looking at options for the removal of the treasured Lake Los Carneros Footbridge. This popular, scenic bridge has been closed for more than a year due to significant rot of the wooden structure. The 30 plus year old bridge has provided countless visitors an up-close and personal look at the wetland habitats and wildlife at Lake Los Carneros. The City knows the community is eager to see a functioning bridge at this important recreation spot.
Goleta’s Public Works Department is putting together an independent team to design and seek regulatory agency permits for removal of the footbridge. Various conceptual designs for a replacement bridge will also be developed for the community’s feedback. Removal of the existing bridge is anticipated to cost over $500,000. The cost to replace the bridge is currently unfunded and is estimated to be well over $2 million.
City of Goleta Parks and Open Space Manager George Thomson said “Lake Los Carneros is one of the City’s premier open spaces and the footbridge provided generations of Goletans inspiring opportunities to observe wildlife in their natural habitat. The City is balancing a variety of high-priority programs and projects in our parks and open space system. Removing the rotted bridge, while protecting the sensitive wetland habitats, is the initial phase of this project. As bridge replacement designs are developed in 2023, we look forward to collaborating with the community to ensure the new bridge is compatible with our limited funding, can be easily maintained, and will provide the next generation a window into the wonders of Lake Los Carneros.”
Once a team is put into place it will create designs for the bridge, develop bridge removal and replacement costs, and coordinate state and federal regulatory permits. The community will play an integral role in providing design input and ensuring the project is financially and ecologically sustainable.
The footbridge was closed in 2020 when it came to the City’s attention that it may not be structurally sound and a structural assessment was conducted. An independent, licensed structural engineer determined the bridge should remain closed for all operational and service usage and that it should be demolished and removed due to the significant level of decay. The report found that the level of deterioration was beyond repair considering American with Disabilities Act requirements for accessibility and updated building code requirements.
For questions or concerns, please contact George Thomson, Parks and Open Space Manager, at gthomson@cityofgoleta.org or (805) 961-7578.
Significant levels of rot in the wooden footbridge supports require demolition of the existing structure.
$2 million is a lot more than the cost of the materials required to replace the existing bridge and the labor to do the work. Why so expensive?
Let’s be generous and allow $100k for lumber and materials. That would leave $1.9 million for labor. That’s enough to pay 10 people $100 an hour to work on the bridge full time for a year! I think this project could easily be done for 1/10 of this budget
I think I just might do that thomas. I need to get in on this sweet government work gig.
Chip-Because they can.
Looks like the SF $1.7M for a single bathroom has arrived here in Goleta. I can guess about 2/3 of this is completely unnecessary government administrative waste. A bridge already exists at this spot – so lets not do “environmental impacts” and “archeological oversight” and “architecture reviews” for the “impacts” of nearby residents?
For $500k I’ll remove it myself! I could get it done working alone in a week, I’ll even do it by hand to be sensitive about the water in the man made reservoir it spans.
Will the proposed sales tax increase (Measure B) pay for the replacement of this bridge? Will it fund the construction of Fire Station 10 in West Goleta? Will it pay for the replacement of the crib wall along Cathedral Oaks? If Measure B passes, that money will go into Goleta’s General Fund and can be used to finance anything that 3 members of the City Council choose to fund.
Goleta now has 114.775 full-time employees (FTE). There were 46 FTE in 2009 and 88 FTE in 2019.
The number of FTE’s and their pensions will only continue to grow, and so will the % of Goleta’s budget needed to fund them. Are these new FTE actually improving Goleta efficiently, or could the funds be better spent on improving the city, or simply not collected as much from the taxpayers in the first place?