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 
The meeting is scheduled against the weekly Sunset Market (5-9pm), so parking will likely be difficult.
> Do you think the City would really intentionally do this to limit attendance? Have you considered that this may help increase attendance to capture folks at the market?
One of the two plans is unsafe, something that the consultants and the city didn’t notice
> Why would you imply the consultants didn’t notice? Do you know them/were you involved? There are countless factors that influence design, impossible to make all to the preferred ideal of one person.
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 Coastal Rail Trail will eventually provide the connectivity between the two sides of the Loma Alta Marsh and will further evolve the concepts of connectivity from the Coastal Rail trail to the La Salina site. The Costal Rail Trail is also separate but has been integrated in to the Buccaneer Park Plan. At previous workshops, representatives from both projects have attending and shown graphics to convey this connectivity.
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.
> The existing playground can be considered unsafe being tucked away in the corner out of view, with access to train tracks. The playground for Concept #2 is 50 to 150-ft away from Pacific St, buffered by trees, bushes, and large walkways and is in better view from all portions of the park. Dense bushes or fencing can be easily incorporate as well. You didn’t provide any graphics or links for Concept #2 to let others see and understand for themselves.
Does not show reuse for the La Salina plant.
> The La Salina Treatment Plant has been discussed relative to Buccaneer park but is being considered separately intentionally, due to many additional complexities in decommissioning the facility and converting to new space (i.e. the land is further behind in process than Buccaneer Park). Waiting for La Salina is possible but would require delay of any improvements to existing Buccaneer park for many years. The two spaces are completely separated by the marsh, only connected by Pacific and future rail trail, so interaction between the two spaces is naturally very independent and separate.
Does not show the Creek restoration
> this occurs on the north side, not in Buccaneer Park
Does not show the rail trail
> the concepts do show and integrate the rail trail
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The plan looks the same. The grass is unusable because of mud conditions.
Would like to see a fitness park with different stages along the sidewalk encouraging people to stop and exercise. Dogs should have an area to run.
The parking is too big. Driverless cars are five to ten years away, no need for a oversized parking lot.
Thank you
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