Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday 11/16/19 for our 1st Trail Walk in the concept design process! This was the first of several opportunities for the McLaren Park community to provide input into trail design in the four priority areas identified in the 2017 Vision Plan.
On the foggy Saturday morning, we gathered near the McLaren Community Garden for an overview of the McLaren Trails Project, stretching, and introductions. The community garden, adjacent PUC rain garden, and the new connection from Leland Ave into the park were recently completed, and the new trail will enhance park connectivity with these new features.
Staff shared that adjacent to the Visitacion Avenue trail, the following RPD projects are also in the works:
- A new cross walk will be installed across Visitacion, between the Middle School on the east and the fire road on the west, which connects to the southern loop and larger trail network. This project is currently in design and will be constructed as soon as possible, likely summer 2020.
- A new sidewalk will be installed from Hahn to the middle school, biting into the road and reducing road width. This project is in an early planning phase, and still waiting for funding appropriation. Construction will be at least a few years out.
- Herz Playground, a Let’sPlaySF! Initiative project is in the planning phase and construction won’t begin before the end of 2021.
- A new Herz Recreation Center is being planned at the corner of Hahn and Visitacion, in partnership between Rec and Park, Mercy Housing, and Related California. This project is also in the early planning phase, and timelines have not yet been determined.
In addition, there is a private development being built east of the Park in the near future, adding five new houses adjacent to the Park between Leland and Raymond.
We confirmed that a single multi-use trail (5’ wide with Park Tread® surfacing) is planned between Hahn and the Middle School. The idea is that the trail will provide more of a meandering nature experience than the planned sidewalk. While we will be adding native plants, Lisa Wayne, Manager of RPD Natural Resources, noted that plantings will be lower height, especially between the trail and road in order to promote safely and not to create hiding places. Together we walked from south to north, flagging the proposed alignment. As part of the recent volunteer effort that roughed out the trail corridor, granite steps were installed at the corner of Hahn and Visitacion. While we will maintain a pedestrian trail from those steps at the corner, the multi-use trial will have bike-friendly access to the sidewalk a little further north on Hahn.