The County has it backwards. Items 2 and 3 should be done in the first two years. They are the real park items. Soccer, lacrosse, bike berms only go to help a few enjoy the park. Menlo Park should have accepted the park then it could have restricted use and be a wonderful city park with local MP resident input deciding improvements.

Isn’t a park first and foremost supposed to be a place to enjoy the beauty of nature and the outdoors? I don’t see how replacing old trees with 60ft tall floodlights and a soccerfield helps the majority of the community enjoy nature. Night time floodlights will create visual blight during both the day and night. The urban developments across the freeway have already created enough visual pollution. Don’t get me wrong, the park does need improvements, and I am excited to see it fixed up, but please prioritize nature above ugly structures!!

OH NO A PARK!!!!! So we're concerned about the traffic caused by people taking children to a park for sports but we are fine adding more housing and businesses that are going to make traffic and congestion worse and for no other reason than to make the city officials proud of taking away the beauty and smallness of Menlo Park

@clunge:

the park is run by the county, not the city. The county doesn't care about our problems.

Given the enormous impact of Facebook and other changes on the east side of US-101, the traffic changes in Flood Park is pretty trivial. I'm not saying it doesn't matter, I kinda' would like the city to throw all of their efforts into solving the real traffic problem first.

@Menlo Voter -- I understand the county runs it - I've been in Menlo Park 50 yrs. I played baseball at Flood Park and I miss that park dearly. My point is that the Menlo Park City Govt is adding MORE traffic to our (my) beloved City with rows and rows of apartment complexes, hotels and businesses that will make getting from the East side of the tracks almost impossible to get to the West side of the tracks. The City does not care about our problems either.

I back up to Flood Park. I have lived here for many years. The peaceful nature of this park does not lend itself to bright flood lights, loud noises, or organized sports. Other than baseball that has been played in the park for many past years.

The sounds of laughter, families gathering to enjoy time together in a beautiful natural setting are all part of the charm of Flood Park.

It would be such a shame to destroy the quiet beauty the park now possesses. I doubt people are in favor of removing mature trees
for more sports fields.

In these busy times, Flood Park is a throwback to a time when we weren’t so inundated with so much traffic and all the trappings that go on today.

Please maintain the core values of this park. Newer is not necessarily better.

Nice plan, but what is going to happen with the artificial turf that has been stored there for many years? How much did that cost us tax payers? Soccer and La cross, Looks like the High School District wants to use this park as additional playing fields. Move those fields to bay front park, as the city has wanted all along. Keep the quite and personal touch for locals. Forget about the fees the county can change for those private sport clubs...

Alan, the traffic impacts wouldn't be "trivial" to those of us who live in the neighborhoods along Bay Road, and who would be affected ~ possible to the point of being virtually unable to traverse Bay Road, which is literally the only way in and out of Suburban Park, Lorelei Manor, et al ~ by traffic increases which the EIR calls "significant and unavoidable."

And it's insane to remove mature trees to make way for a sports field. You can't replace a redwood tree with a sapling, whether the replanting ratio is 1:1 or 10:1. As much as I'd love to see improvements made to Flood Park, the current plan is flawed and needs to be re-examined on several fronts.

Three council seats are up for renewal in Nov 2018: Kirsten Keith, Peter Ohtaki and Rich Cline.


Remember their traffic if they run for a third term.

Just because you live beside the park doesn't mean you get to dictate what it should be for the whole community. I'm sure those complaining come to my part of town to go shopping, to church or whatever. But somehow we're supposed to leave that massively underused park alone, and leave our kids with minimal facilities for an area of our size and wealth.

The park is in bad shape and needs a massive upgrade. They're not proposing building offices on it......they're simply upgrading it to meet the needs to the entire community.

David Berlin, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not saying Flood Park should be left as is, nor am I trying to dictate to the entire community. What I said was:

1) The traffic impacts on Bay Road need to be taken seriously, because Bay is literally the only way those of us in Suburban Park and other enclaves along Bay Road can get in and out of our neighborhoods. If you live downtown, you have multiple routes in and out of your neighborhood. Would you be as sanguine as you expect us to be, if the single route to and from your home was burdened with an ever-increasing amount of traffic, with no end in sight?

2) Mature redwood trees should not be cut down to make way for sports fields. I have kids who play sports, so I'm hardly anti-field, but I think the fields should be built in a location that doesn't necessitate destroying a redwood grove, and doesn't excessively impinge on the privacy of nearby homes. The fields at Jack Lyle, Hillview, Burgess, et al don't have floodlights, and they contain a buffer area separating them from nearby homes. People living adjacent to Flood Park should have the same amount of buffer that people living near these other fields have.

It will be great for Flood Park to be revitalized and accessible to more Menlo Park families, but it isn't fair or reasonable to expect park neighbors to shoulder excessive burdens of traffic and noise in order for that to happen.

Regarding the quiet nature of the park ... the last time I was there, a little over a month ago, there was incredibly loud music... I was shocked that it was allowed to go on.

However - it was not from the park. It was a from some sort of a event a few blocks north of there, blasted over loudspeakers. I'm not sure how the people could stand how loud the music was. A baseball game would be comparatively quiet ...

You wouldn’t put a soccer field in the middle of Muir Woods! Why contemplate removing heritage oaks and redwood trees,some of which are older than me for the convience of a playing field. Seems like too big of a sacrifice.