City Council Moves Forward with Children’s Museum Development

Meeting behind closed doors, the Santa Barbara City Council approved the start of real estate negotiations for a nonprofit hoping to start an interactive children’s museum on a vacant parcel of land near State and Montecito streets. The land is currently owned by the city’s Redevelopment Agency and has been considered in the past as a possible site for a new surface parking lot. Advocates estimate that the museum would need to attract 75,000 to 90,000 visitors a year to be viable.