Thanks to the forty community members who joined us on April 11th for our second virtual community meeting in our public engagement to determine how to spend the $6 million of 2020 Health & Recovery Bond funding that was designated for capital improvements in McLaren Park under the Citywide Parks Program.
Rec and Park staff reported on the assessments, focus group meetings, and preliminary design work to date and shared summaries of proposed improvements in three categories: infrastructure, program areas, and connectivity. We acknowledged public interest in road and drainage improvements and shared that staff are actively seeking transportation grant funding in order to complete this work while also improving pedestrian and bicycle access and enhancing connectivity throughout the park. And we noted how some of the improvements that have been requested by the public in recent months are currently incorporated in other capital projects that are currently in planning or design phase.
The meeting slides are available for viewing here. At the meeting there was significant public support for prioritizing infrastructure upgrades to enhance people’s experience of the park while keeping it wild and naturalistic.
Several community members asked questions about the future of Gleneagles. In 2022, the current operator of Gleneagles informed us that he no longer wanted to run the golf course as it was not economically viable. Since that time he has reconsidered and is interesting in continuing to operate. We are extending his lease through this next year and plan to launch a request for proposal for a longer-term operator in early 2024. If you have questions you can reach out to RPDinfo@sfgov.org.
Moving forward with this planning effort, staff will be conducting surveys and visiting standing neighborhood meetings in the coming months, before sending potential project scopes to a professional cost estimator. We anticipate hosting a third community meeting sometime this summer, to seek community input on project prioritization for bond funding.