Santa Barbara Creeks Division outlines Creek Week, Urban Creek Trails, business certification and stormwater rebate rollout

At the Aug. 20, 2025 meeting of the Creeks Restoration and Water Quality Improvements Citizens Advisory Committee, City of Santa Barbara Community Engagement Supervisor Liz Smith presented an update on the Creeks Division’s education and outreach programs.

Smith said the Creeks Division’s outreach is guided by the city’s stormwater permit and public awareness surveys. The update highlighted Creek Week events in September, the Urban Creek Trails program and Mission Creek Bridges tours, youth watershed education, a business certification program, a newly launched stormwater rebate program and an expanded digital and paid-media campaign.

Why it matters: outreach supports compliance with stormwater requirements, increases public awareness of actions that protect creeks and beaches, and helps the city promote best practices among businesses and residents.

Program highlights

- Creek Week and events: The Creeks Division will host multiple site visits, tours (including the popular Land Shark tour), talks (including a microplastics presentation by Jill Marie) and art displays. Staff said last year’s Creek Week included about 35 events and that the division will publish the current year’s schedule online at sbcreekweek.com.

- Urban Creek Trails and mission Creek Bridges: The Lower Mission Creek Trail launched during Creek Week and the division recently completed a Mission Creek Bridges tour covering 19 bridges; printed rack cards will be distributed to hotels and visitor centers.

- Youth and volunteer programs: The division contracts with Explore Ecology to provide lessons and field trips (3,541 students reached in FY25) and provides staff-led presentations (55 students in FY25). The division supports volunteer cleanups and coordinates with partners including Channelkeeper and the SB Urban Creeks Collective.

- Business certification and assistance: The certified business program now includes 167 businesses across sectors; the city recently certified its first hotel. The business assistance program can provide basic equipment (berms, shop vacs) to help businesses meet certification requirements.

- SB Connect reporting and communications: The division encouraged use of the SB Connect app for reporting creek-related issues, noting it accepts photos and geotagged reports. The department reported about 63,000 website visits in FY25 across creeks-related pages and that the department-wide newsletter has about 40,000 subscribers.

- Stormwater rebate and SWIMP outreach: The division launched a residential and business stormwater rebate program and is finalizing a visual lookbook and quick guides to help architects, designers and residents understand stormwater BMPs. Smith said printed lookbooks and tier guides will be available within weeks for community distribution.

Committee response

Members praised the breadth of outreach and asked clarifying questions about program materials and distribution. One member said printed materials would be useful for a neighborhood block party in early October; staff confirmed the lookbook is finalized and printed copies can be provided. Another member asked about partnerships for the steelhead art display; staff confirmed coordination with local artists and galleries.

Next steps

Staff will finalize distribution of printed materials, continue Creek Week programming and implement the stormwater rebate outreach. Committee members received the update; no committee action was required.