With all audience seats in the council chamber filled and walls lined with standing community members, Los Altos City Council and members of the public heard from – and provided feedback to – city staff and contractors about a proposed downtown park during a special session last week.
The goal of the Feb. 24 meeting was to gather feedback from council related to the preferred park location, parking options and when community engagement should be conducted.
Anthony Carnesecca, assitant to the city manager, described the park to council as an addition to the city to “support the unique downtown.” Currently, the goal of the downtown park is to provide an active community space and attract downtown visitors – Carnesecca added that increased traffic to downtown would contribute to the city’s economic vitality.
“Ultimately, these options really try to improve our existing … parking portfolio, as well as present solutions for parking to make sure that we adequately plan for future parking needs,” Carnesecca said during the meeting.
Parking plazas four, five and six – the central parking plazas – were identified for improvement for at-grade customer parking, while seven and eight are currently identified as potential sites for future housing sites. Plaza nine was not identified for a park because it is only partially owned by the city, and plaza 10’s irregular shape would have made development of the project difficult, Carnesecca said.
The Downtown Performing Arts Center would also have an impact on the park project.
The development of a Downtown Performing Arts Center – which is currently in the process of fundraising – is pending. Currently, the Los Altos Performing Arts Center (LAPAC) volunteer group has an active memorandum of understanding with the city of Los Altos until Nov. 18, 2027 as volunteers work with Indigo Skies Consulting, a fundraising consulting firm.
Members of City Council and many residents wanted more community outreach as soon as possible, regardless of the status of the Downtown Performing Arts Center. Some of the concepts consultants presented to council integrated the Downtown Performing Arts Center into the design.
Park concepts
Proposed concepts, inspired by the local area, resulted in four themes: the grove, the meadow, the orchard and the garden. All park concepts would take up parking plazas one, two and three, Carnesecca said – though in some designs, changes were only made to two of the three parking plazas. The plazas were initially identified as preferred locations for the park project last year.
Karthik Kumar, a Moore, Iacofano, Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) representative, said the concepts were informed by community engagement the planning consultant company and city staff conducted. MIG representative Noé Noyola said the engagement process included “more than 1,000 conversations, roughly” with community members.
Engagement included 48 city-hosted community events, which included pop-ups, meetings and workshops. The majority of the engagement included pop-ups that allowed for connection with residents in different areas of the city, including libraries, coffee shops, the Los Altos Farmers Market, the Arts and Wine Festival, Headwest Market and Los Altos High School.
Staff also attended local group meetings, like those put on by the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, Los Altos Community Coalition and the local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs.
The grove, inspired by Los Altos’ Redwood Grove, integrates tall redwoods with the downtown scape. It would include a lawn for gathering, shaded places to sit and introduced topography and nature-based play areas for children. The meadow, featuring pollinator gardens, would also include a lawn, shaded areas for rest and play areas for children. Inspired by Los Altos’ orchard history, the orchard concept integrates a programmed orchard with places for rest and gridded geometry. The garden, as the name suggests, includes richly-planted spaces, places for rest and introduced topography-integrated play areas.
The most affordable concept presented was the meadow ($9 million for the park, $27.4 million for parking), followed by the garden ($13.6 million for the park, $32 million for parking), the orchard ($14.4 million for the park, $32.8 million for parking), and the grove ($15.4 million for the park, $62.9 million for underground parking). The park would be paid for by funds in the park impact (formerly park in-lieu) budget and potentially a California park grant, Carnesecca said.
Response
Council members expressed disinterest in underground parking. Any designs that are created, council members told staff, should provide either net-neutral or net-positive parking. Councilmember Pete Dailey also expressed concern about old Chinese pistache trees – those vibrant, deciduous trees that bring warm hues to downtown Los Altos during the late fall and early winter months – and instructed them to preserve them.
“This was a study session. We were looking at concepts, not designs,” said Mayor Sally Meadows during the meeting. “I know they look like designs – I couldn’t do something like that, I would consider it the design if I did that – but it’s a concept. And so that’s what we’re talking about. There’s been no decisions made. This is part of the process. There’s going to be more, more outreach, and so that’s what we’re talking about. There’s been no decisions made.”
More than 20 residents made public comments, the majority of which were against a downtown park and instead in support of upgrading existing parks and adding parks where there are none currently.
“I was told by a council member that the park in-lieu fees must be spent downtown. This is not the case – the fund allows for other park improvement projects that still serve our community,” said Los Altos resident Cindy Andrews. “Think park land north in Los Altos, where none exists. Think rehabbing our historic dilapidated Halsey house in Redwood Grove that’s been waiting since 2008 – do not think downtown, where five parks exist within a five-minute walk.”
Questions, including concerns related to outreach and the “why” of why a downtown park is needed if community members didn’t first express interest in one dominated public comment.
“The existing environment in downtown Los Altos is priceless. Every year I see hundreds of families come downtown to take their pictures with the old pistache trees and the way they turn color, everything is just priceless. The concept of having a three-story parking garage and having a theater downtown breaks my heart,” said Los Altos resident Juno Szalay. “I do feel that this is a rush to spend the $19 million that you have in park funds, and wish that those would go towards other parks that we have. We have a grove, we have a meadow, we have a pollinator garden. Seems like we have everything. They are in walking distance within town, also all of the outside dining areas that were set up after COVID provide these areas for families to sit and dine outside, if that’s what they desire.”
