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City Beat
'Creating Community' is city's 20-year plan
Council reveals its 'Greenprint' for park improvements, school partnerships
By Chantal Lamers
San Jose City planners are looking into the future. What they see coming up in their crystal ball over the next 20 years are renovated parks, sports facilities, perhaps even skateboarding and dog parks.
City staff from the city's Parks and Recreation Commission and District 6 Councilman Frank Fiscalini's office held a community workshop on April 13, about the project called Creating Community. The 20-year plan includes partnerships with school districts and community facilities to ensure that all residents have a park within a quarter-mile of their home.
Suzanne Wolf, strategic planning project manager, refers to the plan for improving parks, community facilities and programs as a District 6 footprint. Residents were asked to join the city and help prioritize changes they'd like to see take place.
The driving force behind Creative Community was actually the San Jose City Council with its plan in 1989. The plan, called Leisure and Life 2000, was the guiding plan that led city staff to start Creative Community. Wolf said the new plan is more comprehensive than the one researched more than a decade ago.
The plan encompasses four phases. The first phase includes an environmental scan in which staff conducted a massive telephone survey to get residents' comments on parks. The second phase includes a vision and strategy for the 20-year plan, with an overall goal. The third phase, strategy development, includes community meetings where residents can get some of their own ideas into the city plan. In the final phase, action plan development, staff will present the council with a "greenprint" of parks and facilities to be improved over the next 20 years.
Jim Norman, deputy director for San Jose parks, said since San Jose land is difficult to acquire, planners want to maximize what is available. Planners hope to build partnerships with school districts and improve softball fields and playgrounds.
Norman said the city's goal is to ensure three-and-a-half acres of park land per 1,000 residents. He added that these ideas are just possibilities at this point and all projects require funding approval by council members.
The estimated cost of the 20-year project is $250 million to $385 million. The money will come from city and county pockets, redevelopment agencies, and state and local bonds.
Some local areas that planners hope to restore include parks such as Lincoln Glen, Riverglen and Hamann. Planners hope to enhance recreational facilities at schools such as Broadway High School, Willow Glen and Booksin Elementary.
Developing district sports complexes are possibilities at Monroe, Markham and Hoover Middle Schools. Connecting trails such as Los Gatos Creek Trail to the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creeks to Kelly Park are also possibilities for the future.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
