REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Review and Adopt the Parks and Recreation Master Plan and Adopt a Resolution Approving the Plan
Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In September 2023, City Council authorized an agreement with Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC (WRT) to prepare a comprehensive Citywide Parks & Recreation Master Plan (Plan). The Plan is intended to guide the acquisition, development, operations, maintenance, and funding decisions of the City's parks, recreation facilities, open space, and programming over the next 15-20 years.
On March 9, 2026, the final draft of the Plan (Attachment 2) and the accompanying presentation (Attachment 3) were presented to the Parks & Recreation Commission (Commission) for review. The Commission approved of the Plan with a 6-0 vote and recommended it to the City Council for adoption with no additional feedback.
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara (City) operates and maintains a comprehensive parks and recreation system that includes approximately 308 acres of parkland, five community centers, nine reservable park buildings, nine swimming pools, and several sports fields (Youth Soccer Park, Reed and Grant Sports Park, Marsali Ballfield, Fatjo Fields, Carmichael Ballfield, and others), joint-use facilities, natural areas, as well as three regional trail corridors. Many of the City's parks and facilities were developed decades ago. Several major facilities are more than 50 years old, and aging infrastructure has resulted in increasing repair, modernization, and lifecycle replacement needs.
To address these issues, the City Council adopted a goal to enhance community sports and recreational assets in September 2013. However, the City did not have a comprehensive understanding of the system-wide parks and recreation needs and deficiencies.
In April 2017, the City hired Kitchell CEM to perform a Facility Condition Assessment Report (Kitchell Report) across 47 parks and 65 buildings. The report identified significant immediate and lon...
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