Fun by design

Using a city-specified standard of 3 acres of parkland per 1,000 of population, the assessment divided the city into seven sections and then considered the number, size, and availability of parks within each. The assessment determined that the area encompassing Redwood City’s downtown needed the greatest amount of parkland to bring it up to standard: a whopping 25 acres.

Having received the assessment, the next visible step in the downtown parks process took about 10 years to take. In 2018, the city published its “Downtown Parks Site Assessment and Feasibility Study,” which looked at six city-owned downtown properties and evaluated their suitability to become parks. Of the six potential sites, four are parking lots, one is a mini-park (in combination with a portion of Spring Street to increase its size), and the last comprises the banks of Redwood Creek from Bradford Street to Highway 101.

Armed with public input from workshops and various public meetings, the city settled on three: the parking lot on the east side of the downtown public library plus the adjacent Roselli Garden; the City Hall/Main Street Parking Lot (behind City Hall and the Jefferson Avenue post office); and the banks of Redwood Creek. These, along with walking and biking connections between them, will combine for an “urban recreation corridor” connecting downtown Redwood City to the waterfront and the Bay Trail.

The central portion of the city’s “Downtown Parks and Bay Connectivity Project” — the City Hall/Main Street Parking Lot — will face challenges, given the great many parking spaces in the heart of downtown Redwood City that would be lost. Perhaps to avoid the issue for a time, the city broke the project into phases, and has left the implementation of that park to a later phase. The first phase, though, includes the entirety of the park that would sit immediately adjacent to the library, from design through construction.

Last Saturday, the city held a workshop at the library to gather input from the public on who and what the library park should be for, and what sort of amenities it should contain. I attended that workshop, where I worked through a handful of stations throughout the library.

The first station, in the lobby, simply communicated the extent of this first new park, which would not only replace library’s east parking lot and the adjacent garden, but also may consume some of the parking lot behind the library. Up one flight of stairs I came to the second station, which displayed several possible uses for the library park along with possible amenities. There I was given an opportunity to both suggest additional uses and amenities, and to vote for my preferences.

The third and final station was in the library’s Teen Center. There I was given a paper map showing the potential scope of the park’s first phase, and offered pencils and colored pens, pages covered with graphics representing several potential park amenities, and scissors and tape allowing me to affix my chosen amenities to my map. With these, I sat down to design my perfect library park. I spent the most time at this station: I had to give a lot of thought to the various challenges that this particular site faces, such as noise from passing trains, traffic noise from Middlefield Road and Main Street, and safety issues with being so close to those busy streets. My design ended up with a stage backing on Main Street facing a generous amount of lawn, a play area behind the library, some picnic grounds and a creek-like water feature flowing through the park to honor Redwood Creek.

I’m delighted to see this project continuing to make progress, and look forward to seeing the library park’s final design. While it’ll be years before the remaining two parks come to fruition, something is better than nothing, and our many downtown residents will undoubtedly be thrilled to finally have a proper park just a short walk from home.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.