The Cupertino Courier
News
Residents get a peek at what park may look like
By Cody Kraatz
Land does not come cheap in Cupertino and when the city decides to dedicate some to parkland, it tries its best to make residents happy. This, it turns out, requires some careful compromises.
About 20 residents attended a special Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on May 3 at the Rancho Rinconada community center. They came to check out landscape architect Bruce Hill's three design options for a park the city wants to build on Sterling Boulevard at Barnhart Avenue.
The meeting made it clear that while most neighbors are excited to have a park, each has a slightly different vision of what it should look like.
"It's a great example of how a community can work well in the city," said Jeanne Bradford, the commission chairwoman.
Pat Bustamante, who lives several houses from the future park, was so excited she said she would throw a potluck block party there when it opens.
"I think I understand what people want. Of course you can't have everything you want or everything that everybody wants," said Therese Smith, Cupertino's director of parks and recreation.
Smith said the project will cost approximately $800,000. She will present this estimate at the council's June 4 budget workshop, when it will start planning its capital and organizational expenditures for the next five years.
"It's a prioritization exercise really, because they budget for five years. They have to look at their cash flow and decide which year they want to put it in," said Smith.
The city is already going to spend about $1 million to buy the land for the park from the San Jose Water Co. Funding will come from the planned sale of two city-owned lots.
The commission wants to take input at its June 7 meeting before making its final recommendation to the council. Smith plans to present a final design proposal by then.
The city is creating an online poll and sending out mailers directing residents to the city's website for more information, said Smith.
Despite its popularity, some nearby neighbors strongly oppose the idea of a park.
"We are totally against it because this area cannot handle that kind of traffic. We also have enough trouble with that trail," said Sepi Vafaie, who would share a fence with the park. She worries about vandalism and loitering, which she said is already a problem on the Saratoga Creek Trail in the neighborhood.
Vafaie said she has not attended any of the meetings because she works in the evening and has not expressed her concerns to the city. She has three children ages 7, 14 and 15, who all play soccer.
Hill's designs incorporated the most common requests--a playground, grass, trees, shade, benches and tables--and some others that represent special interests.
"These options get increasingly harder, in other words, more hard surfaces and basketball and more activity," said Hill.
There was a lot of give-and-take among the options.
A tennis court was nixed because it takes up a lot of space and the city already has enough courts nearby. A basketball court is possible, but would eliminate grass that could be used for a city-rented volleyball net.
The park is mostly child-focused, said Annedore Kushner, who called for more adult activity. Bocce ball was one idea she liked, but some questioned how much use it would get.
Most of the residents at the meeting liked Hill's interpretive element, which he said would be a fun learning experience for children and adults.
To learn more about the city's plans for the Sterling Boulevard park, go to www.cupertino.org and click on the Rancho Rinconada park meeting link. For more information, call 408.777.3110 or email parks@cupertino.org.
