Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan

Master Plan Executive Summary

The Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan Booklet is available for review at the San Bruno Recreation Center, San Bruno Library and the Senior Center.

We have prepared this executive summary of the Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan (CPRFMP) as a brief, yet clear approach to understanding and addressing the immediate and long-term future of the City of San Bruno’s Parks and Recreation Facilities

The Master Plan described within the following document details how through a process that involved site analysis, historical data, public comment, City staff input and project research, a base of knowledge was assembled.  This information was then applied to the entire Parks and Recreation Facilities system to create a vision or program for the next 10-15 years.  The program identifies the fundamental goals and objectives of the Master Plan; however, the Master Plan does not provide all the answers.  The CPRFMP is a living document which needs to be strong, yet flexible and will require attention from time to time as the City, citizens and their needs change.

The San Bruno Parks and Recreation Facilities were generally introduced to the City in the current form during the late 1950’s and except for some improvements, which occurred in the early 1980’s, has generally been maintained as the status quo.  The result of this long period use with little capital improvements taking place has created the need for substantial reinvestment into the Parks and Recreation Facilities as the City looks toward the future.  The capital requires to implement the Master Plan would most assuredly necessitate organizing a bond measure for public approval, based on current funding levels to the Parks and Recreation Facilities Departments and the quantity of modernization required.

The three areas identified as the most important priorities for the San Bruno Parks and Recreation Facilities in the CPRFMP are first, addressing the number of public health, safety and welfare issues present in all of the parks and recreation facilities.  Second, removal and development of the entire city playground system to reflect current national safety and accessibility standards while utilizing current trend in playground design.  Third would be to bring a level of equality to the Parks and Recreation Facilities.  This would include developing programs for currently underrepresented user groups such as senior citizens and teens, providing quality athletic equipment throughout the park system for all organized sports, and modernizing systems that take advantage of technologies that can reduce man hours and other resources to create a more efficient and cost effective system.

While a bond measure would be the most effective approach to gaining necessary capital needed for the park and recreation facility recommendations contained herein, that process is a timely and complex one requiring important decisions to be made by the city and its citizens.    

If the City chooses to not pursue a bond measure as the primary source of capital required for major modernization, our recommendation would be to develop a plan to modernize all of the pocket parks and neighborhood parks in terms of safety, accessibility, playground redevelopment and site infrastructure improvements.  This course of action would bring the park system back to the neighborhoods by encouraging public recreation at the neighborhood level and re-establishing the parks most accessible to all the citizens of San Bruno.  This strategy communicates an immediate forward movement in reestablishing the parks into the community through tangible improvements.

However, another direction in the City may choose to pursue would be to concentrate all available resources into redeveloping some of the larger parks located throughout the city.  These parks could include Pacific Heights, Monte Verde, Lions Field, Commodore and the City Park.  This approach would create five community parks offering an improved level of service throughout the city.

In conclusion, the City of San Bruno’s Park and Recreation Facilities are a vital and integral part of community fabric.  As you look into the future, though many tough decisions will need to be made regarding evolution of the aging currents system into an operationally efficient, forward thinking, modern Parks and Recreation Facilities Department.