Peabody Stadium Breaks Ground
About seven years in the making — starting with an idea to provide Santa Barbara High School students with a regulation track-and-field facility — Santa Barbara Unified School District broke ground this morning, August 23, on a comprehensive and expensive plan to replace Peabody Stadium. Wielding golden shovels, a row of elected, appointed, and newly contracted earthmovers kicked off the estimated 20-month project, which includes all new storm drains, landscaping, lighting, concrete grandstands, and many other features filling out a price tag now approaching $40 million.
While the graduating class of 2018 will walk at the Santa Barbara Bowl, the new stadium is scheduled to host ceremonies for the class of 2019. “We really need to thank the taxpayers,” said Superintendent Cary Matsuoka, referring to Measure I bond voters, who last fall approved $135 million for improvements to the district’s junior high and high schools.
