REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Central Park Master Plan Guiding Principles
Report
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara's 52 acre Central Park was designed in the early 1960s and built in several phases with federal, state and local funding. Since 2000, there have been various projects proposed that would improve, enlarge, or replace different park and recreational assets such as Library expansion, International Swim Center (ISC), Community Recreation Center (CRC), Lawn Bowls Clubhouse, Tennis Center, ballfield and parking, Park Maintenance Yard, Arbor Center and Playground, and Creek Trail.
In October 2017, Gates & Associates was contracted to assist the City with a Central Park Master Plan Update ("Plan"). The focus of the Plan is to create a coherent vision that will integrate and guide Central Park's future improvements by establishing a set of principles, community supported priorities, and appropriate professional design criteria. The Plan, when complete, will help the City to: maximize green space within the park; improve access, circulation and parking; and, include new park facilities and recreation elements that will serve all ages, abilities and interests.
DISCUSSION
Community input was solicited from October 2017 to March 2018 and included a review of existing studies and data, community input meetings and events, an online survey, stakeholder interviews, and Commission input. The following set of twelve (12) Central Park Master Plan "Guiding Principles" emerged:
* Honor its legacy, history and blend of passive public park and active recreational uses in Central Park;
* Provide public visibility for the park amenities, trails, and open green space;
* Provide context sensitivity to the local community, minimizing impacts on neighbors;
* Preserve green space;
* Provide connectivity to adjacent uses and accessibility for the greater community;
* Create community and "sense of place" places by re-imagining the public event spaces and reinves...
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