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Rendering of the planned playground in San Mateo’s Central Park.
A new “adventure village” playground, one of the major projects as part of San Mateo’s Central Park renovation plan, is moving ahead with lower costs and a reduced scope.
The project budget is about $13 million — largely bolstered by development impact fees — but the estimated cost is now at $8.5 million based on changes to the design. Last year, the council was faced with a funding shortage based on the original plans and bids, which were all higher than anticipated.
Most of the changes come from relocating and decreasing the size of a children’s playground, meant for kids up to 5 years old. The plan includes reducing the amount of new lighting and fencing in the area, according to a staff report. The playground meant for 5- to 12-year-olds will remain, with slight design changes, though the overall size and scope remains largely unchanged. In 2021, the City Council approved the adventure village themed-playground, emphasizing play structures surrounded by nature.
The new plan also calls for a prefabricated restroom, which may also reduce construction timeline and simplify the picnic area’s roof design.
Organized community workshops and council conversations on updating the area kicked off during 2019, although it had been a topic of discussion for years prior. Despite pandemic-related days, Councilmember Lisa Diaz Nash said she was excited to see the progress thus far.
“I think this was a real great effort by a cross-functional team to maintain the design integrity and the intention that all the parents and children who contributed to this playground had in designing it this way — while still realizing that we still have to live within our means and we have to make budget tradeoffs,” Nash said. “I think these are very wise budget tradeoffs.”
Deputy Mayor Adam Loraine said he is glad some of the key elements of the plan were not fully eliminated.
“While I’m sorry to see the 2- to 5-[year-old] play area is reduced, I know last year it was one of the bid alternates and there was talk of removing it completely potentially, so I’m glad to see that hasn’t happened, and we’ve come up with a plan that’s under budget that still retains that important area and that we’ve been able to put in the safety that goes with it,” Loraine said. “The prefab restroom also sounds like a prudent approach.”
The council unanimously approved a $9.7 million contract with Suarez & Munoz Construction, which includes the total project estimate and contingency.
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Join us in celebrating the end of another beautiful summer here in Half Moon Bay - and with … Read moreSummer's End Music Festival
Dirk van Ulden said:
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(2) comments
It is disappointing that the City has scaled back the long awaited improvements to this playground. This is especially frustrated given the financial mismanagement demonstrated by the City Council. The Council recently moved towards spending $3M to rip out bike lanes in North Central, despite a plurality of neighborhood residents supporting the bike lanes. Why - so that residents wouldn't have to park in their driveways or garages.
I wish that the Council prioritized the recreational and safety needs of our kids instead of spending millions on the convenience of wealthier residents who can afford 3+ cars.
Streets are made for Transportation.
"Parking" can be part of "Transportation", but only meant to be temporary endeavor (let's say 1-4h max) - you need throughput. Once the vehicle is staying overnight, 'parking' happens outside of the governmental definition of being part of the economy. Anything that stays overnight, for 72h or for weeks at a time is by definition "Private Vehicle Storage" and not a government's responsibility anymore.
In other words "Parking" can be a boon to the economy.
"Private Vehicle Storage" however is the bane of society.
If people with too many cars had to pay the $2,000 per year or more on-street parking costs, building a playground would be super easy. The common denominator here might be that the city manager and the city council have a low opinion of children.
Luckily the council thinks weed shops are more important - maybe that makes sense of recent council decisions and lack of budgeting skills.
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