A new concept for one of Sunnyvale’s parks left the city council weighing several competing goods.
At the meeting on Nov. 19, the Sunnyvale City Council approved the renovation of Lakewood Park, but the item stirred several concerns among residents. Among those concerns, three issues were most prominent.
The first was balancing the benefits of grass with those of turf. Just as before, sports enthusiasts and environmentalists weighed in extolling the virtues of both options.
The heart of the problem is twofold. First, grass is more costly to maintain. Second, the number of hours turf can be used throughout the year dwarfs that of grass.
Chip Taylor, the city’s public works director, told the council some options that allow grass fields to get more use, but the problem is that they are far more costly.
While the baseline option of grass costs $9 a square foot, the option that allows the most play time is $28 a square foot. The high-performance option would add between $2 million and $3 million to the cost with between $500,000 and $800,000 a year in maintenance.
“It is essentially a plant that you are stepping on, so as you use it more, it needs time to rest and recover, so when it doesn’t get that, it is hard to recover from that,” Taylor said. “The challenge with [the other options] is you don’t necessarily get that much more play time for a much higher cost.”
Opponents of turf say it is harmful to the environment and is unsafe because of how hot it gets. Proponents emphasized the demand for field use and how the installation of grass cannot meet that demand because of how few hours it is available.
“You will be limiting our youth-group-sports reservations … youth sports groups will suffer,” said Sandra Todd, a long-time Sunnyvale field user.
One opponent, Cynthia Fan, implored the council to look into whether the designer, Verde, Inc., has any ties to the turf industry.
“I fear the possibility they may design grass to fail and blame failure on construction of field management,” she said.
However, Mark Baginski, co-owner of Verde Design, Inc., assured the council the company wasn’t “on anybody’s payroll.”
Further, City Manager Tim Kirby assured the council that the city does its due diligence with respect to those it hires.
“We don’t just pick vendors who we know or because we like them,” Kirby said. “It is an important public service that we open up the market to all vendors and that we provide a fair and competitive playing field.”
Taylor said there is not a “perfect solution,” saying all options “have pros and cons.”
The second issue was making the best use of the available space to accommodate a variety of activities. The park’s design incorporates a cricket pitch, soccer fields, a baseball/softball diamond and batting cages.
Finally, many decried the park’s transformation into a sports complex as opposed to a community park.
Kim Gully, a public commenter, said the emphasis on sports robs neighbors of a space to sunbathe, play with their dogs or have picnics.
The council stayed the course, unanimously approving the recommendation from city employees to install grass and approve the new design.
Council Member Richard Mehlinger said the option city employees presented allows for “fiscal responsibility,” the city’s need to “maintain environmental stewardship” and “provide suitable playing fields.”
“At this point, I believe this is the best approach in front of us and the most cost-effective approach and the one that best balances the competing needs of our community,” he said.
City Buys Land For Housing Complex For The Poor
The city also purchased a parcel of land to assist the developer in construction of a below-market-rate housing complex.
The 170-apartment development is set to be located near Sunnyvale’s CalTrain station at 1171 Sonora Court. The city purchased the land for $12.5 million, the same price developer MidPen Housing paid for it in 2021.
In doing so, the city locks in tax credits that MidPen can leveredge to assist in the project’s construction. Construction of the development is part of Sunnyvale’s plan to revitalize the area.
Located on a 1.3-acre site, the development will offer apartments with rents that are affordable for those earning 50% area median income. At least 20% of the apartments will be earmarked for those earning 30% area median income.
Those apartments could provide permanent supportive housing for the homeless, depending on county funding, said Jenny Carloni, the city’s housing officer. The purchase ensures the land will be used for below-market-rate housing “forever,” she said, but the ground lease ensures MidPen will do so for 85 years.
The city will take over the lease with occupant Tech-Star Industries, collecting $25,000 a month. That money will go into the city’s housing mitigation fund.
Council Member Alysa Cisneros called the project a “slam dunk,” saying it is a “really great” project.
Her colleagues concurred.
“This is one of the things Sunnyvale is doing well,” Mayor Larry Klein said.
The project is slated to break ground in 2028.
City Spiffs Downtown Walking Mall
The council also approved a new design for its pedestrian mall. Located on Murphy Avenue in downtown Sunnyvale, the plan aims to spruce up the area to be more inviting for mall-goers.
“As a gateway to our city, really being the place that you come off CalTrain, you come off the highway, you want to go somewhere in Sunnyvale, this is a very good way to put our best foot forward to the broader Bay Area community,” Cisneros, whose district the mall is in, said.
The elements of the plan do well to make the dynamic of the mall more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, she said. Not only is the mall good for Sunnyvale economically, it is good for “morale,” she added.
Mike Johnson, executive director of the Sunnyvale Downtown Association, said his group approves the redesign. The association looks forward to working with city employees as the process progresses to give a “ground view” of the needed considerations, he said.
Klein said the plan “fixes some of the details,” adding that it makes the area “more welcoming” while “clarifying some of the rules.”
The council approved the plan unanimously. The facelift is set to begin in late 2025 with completion in early 2026.
Consent Calendar Spending
The council approved the following spending in one motion via the consent calendar:
- A $3.5 million increase to the construction contingency for the water pollution control plant site preparation project. The contractor for the project is Ranger Pipelines, Inc.
The council meets again at 7 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 3 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave. in Sunnyvale.
To submit public comments ahead of the meeting, visit http://Sunnyvale.ca.gov/PublicComments; Meeting online link: https://sunnyvale-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/96111580540; meeting call-in telephone number: 833-548-0276, meeting ID: 961 1158 0540
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