The Future OF ALTA PLAZA PARK

THE HISTORY 

Over the course of many years, Alta Plaza Park has suffered from neglect due to a diminishing allotment of funds to the city's Recreation and Parks Department maintenance operation. Pathways are disintegrated and dangerous, benches are splintered, concrete regularly falls off walls in large chunks, trash cans are missing fronts and tops or simply not where they need to be.   The park has also been subject to inappropriate and ineffective efforts to "improve" it.  One example is the south side of the park, which is now covered in a sad and sorry mess of fescue (also known as no-mow grass), the result of a water conservation project that was completed in 2012 (and which seems, in fact, not to be conserving water at all).

The sidewalks on the perimeter of the park have been problematic for more than 25 years; however, the Recreation and Parks Department now has a plan to install a system of French drains to fix the problem.

Friends of Alta Plaza Park decided in early 2014 that it was time to come up with a Master Plan for the park's renovation that would address the needs of the community for a safe, beautiful, and usable park.  After six community meetings and multiple iterations, the Master Plan was presented to the Parks Commission and was accepted in 2016. It has served as the blueprint for many improvements that were implemented in conjunction with a major irrigation and water conservation project overseen by RPD and DPW.