San Anselmo moves toward more Memorial Park projects

San Anselmo officials have updated the Memorial Park master plan to include $4.5 million in prospective changes.

The Town Council approved the amendments at its meeting on June 11. The changes involve the south portion of the park and set forth new potential projects.

The prospective projects include replacing the tennis courts; installing a new parking lot with a dropoff and pickup area off Sunny Hills Drive; relocating the skate park; and adding picnic areas, a new concession building, a storage building, new restrooms and a multiuse sports court.

The new restrooms would be behind the improved concession stand. The multiuse court would include painted lines for basketball and futsal, or hard-court soccer. The skate park would be relocated near the dropoff and pickup zone for better visibility and flow.

The amendments also call for a quiet zone and outdoor fitness area. They also incorporate an entry plaza, signage, fencing, promenade trees, landscaping and access under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The $4.5 million initial cost element does not include design or construction management costs. The cost exceeds town resources and would require a fundraising effort, according to a town staff report.

Opened in 1926 at 1000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., the 3.2-acre park includes sports fields, a playground, a garden, a skate park, a snack shack, tennis and basketball courts, grassy areas, a picnic area, hiking access and restrooms.

Councilmember Steve Burdo said the council should put together a plan now to ensure that the changes do not stagnate.

“I really support the plan where it stands now. I love the design. We heard a lot of public input,” he said.

Sean Condry, the town’s public works director, said costs had been reduced at the site with new irrigation plans. He said the parking lot work at the site was recently finished, but the planned new additions remain at the “concept level.”

The town has solicited comments from the public on the master plan in recent months. A first round of survey results was released to the commission in February. A second set of responses was discussed at a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Tuesday. The latest survey involved students at White Hill Middle School, San Domenico School and Archie Williams High School.

In 2019, voters defeated a proposed tax measure that would have provided more than $8 million in funding for the renovations. In 2020, officials renovated and expanded the Memorial Park skate park and repaved paths.

Field renovation was approved in 2021. The council estimated that improvements to the park at that point had cost about $675,000.

The town gets about $100,000 a year in funds from Measure A, a quarter-cent county tax to support parks and open space, sustainable agriculture and recreation. San Anselmo allots 70% of the funds for Memorial Park and 30% for the open space fund.