This Thursday at 6pm in the Community Room of the downtown library, the City will unveil its latest thinking on the “Buccaneer Park Re-visioning.” There are a few problems:
- The meeting is scheduled against the weekly Sunset Market (5-9pm), so parking will likely be difficult.
- One of the two plans is unsafe, something that the consultants and the city didn’t notice before drafts were shared with South O reps this week.
- The proposal says nothing about how the revised park will connect to new parkland on the site of the (soon to be closed) La Salina treatment plant — the whole point of Save South O’s repeated calls for a Buccaneer Park master plan.
Still, the proposal give the community a chance to see the city’s thinking and offer feedback for the existing Buccaneer footprint east of Pacific and south of Loma Alta Creek.
Reject Concept #2
The consultant prepared two concept proposals. Save South O recommend immediate rejection of Concept #2, because it moves the playground (for 2-5 and 5-12 year-olds) next to Pacific Street. Any parent who’s lost track of their child for 30 seconds — or watched a kid chase a ball into the street — would understand why this is an unnecessarily dangerous plan for exactly those families it intends to serve. It is inexplicable that this idea has gotten this far without someone calling out the potential risk.
Concept #1
Below are the “Concept #1” plan, along with an aerial view of the existing park
The major changes
- Moving the restroom from the west to east side of the parking lot
- Expanded/reworking of the playground area
- Some additional space around the concessionaire (Buccaneer Cafe).
- Space at the east end of the park to connect to the final segment of the Rail Trail currently being planned.
Some potentially controversial choices (based on informal discussions):
- No more shower in the bathroom. The city could have a shower inside, a shower outside, or no shower (relying on the existing shower on the beach to shower off).
- The option (during busy times) to move the coffee cart away from the Cafe.
- The addition of a basketball court reduces the existing park area.
The city has a series of questions about the proposed design.
Begging the Question
Save South O has been pushing the city since 2019 to reveal the complete picture of what is going on around Buccaneer Beach and Park. This workshop
- Does not show reuse for the La Salina plant. Our consistent position has been that South O needs to know what uses are planned for north of Loma Alta Creek before rebuilding the existing park. (For example, basketball, tennis or pickleball are separate uses not tied to the existing beach or picnic area that would make more sense in the La Salina location).
- Does not show the Creek restoration (where the city already has a grant)
- Does not show the rail trail (although it leaves room for it)
The Save South O recommendation: the city should hold off implementation of any Buccaneer Park redesign until it can share a complete vision for all of Buccaneer Park—including any expansion until the former La Salina plant.
Save South O 