September 1, 2026
Email: citycouncil@dalycity.org;
cityclerk@dalycity.org
Subject: Public letter on a Proposed Public-Private Contract for Westlake Park
Dear Daly City Mayor Sylvester, Vice Mayor Proaño and Honorable Councilmembers,
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter encourages the Daly City Council to reject plans to semi-privatize and cover Westlake Park with plastic grass.
According to documents on City web pages, at less than 1 acre of public park per 1000 residents, Daly City has considerably less than the state prescribed percentage of 3 park acres per 1000 residents; Daly City needs to triple its acreage to meet state standards. See p. 4 of 149, https://www.dalycity.org/DocumentCenter/View/989/416-Recreation-PDF
Open space grassy areas foster imaginative play, well-being and biodiversity
As importantly as acreage, parks should allow residents to enjoy everything people enjoy at a public park, such as walking, running, improvising games, staking volleyball nets or tents, setting chairs for a picnic or gathering, walking pets, kicking a ball, rolling on the ground, throwing a frisbee, etc. While team sports are desirable, most people, including families with children and seniors, regard parks as open space for a broader range of activity. Plus, when a park includes maintained unfenced grassy fields, team sports, including pick-up games, are also possible.
Researchers have found that the more biodiverse an area is, for example a grassy field bordered by trees hosting birds and squirrels, the more that location is associated with feelings of well-being. Researchers at Kings College London published a study in the journal Nature, examining the mental health impact of everyday encounters with different levels of natural diversity. Though there are many studies indicating that focus and well-being are enhanced by natural surroundings, this study is notable for its scope and clear results. During a period from 2018 to 2023, with nearly 2,000 participants, in addition to determining that environments with a larger number of natural features were associated with greater mental wellbeing, they found that the benefits last up to eight hours. Imagine every child imbued with a sense of well-being that lasts well past the actual experience. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240416115936.htm
Paved fenced areas reduce free-play, serendipity, biodiversity and general well-being for a broad range of people
When an area is paved, whether with asphalt or plastic grass, its use is constrained, and when an area is fenced, it further discourages access. A family, possibly with their dog, walking across the field for a picnic are no longer welcome. In addition to the lack of biodiversity, no one will gain a sense of well-being in an area from which they are excluded.
Plastic grass must be protected from general use as food, drinks (except for water), staked volleyball nets, chairs, tables, tents, the wrong shoes, wheeled wagons and so forth, can harm the surface, which causes them to be forbidden and explains why plastic grass is usually fenced. The purpose is to keep everyone off the surface except for athletes who are coached to obey the many rules associated with plastic turf. Sandpoint City Field Turf Use Policy, https://www.sandpointidaho.gov/media/11151
Westlake Park grass fields
Westlake Park hosts a community center, senior center, a library, a clubhouse rental, tennis courts, an outdoor fitness court, a playground and two large grassy baseball diamonds. Leaving aside indoor activities, the park’s outdoor sites, except for the grassy area, are designed for constrained use, such as tennis or calisthenics. While the playground invites imaginative play, it’s designed for a particular age range. Only the grassy baseball fields, while designed for games of baseball, are versatile in that people may picnic or frolic as they please when there are no games.
In Daly City this makes the open grass fields both rare and valuable for citizens, especially since other nearby options are not available. For example the formerly open Westlake Elementary School fields are now fenced from the neighborhood, and other nearby, walkable green areas are privately owned and managed, making them off-limits.
Furthermore, Daly City is able to use purple-pipe (recycled) water on its fields, saving the City money while utilizing a renewable resource. Bravo Daly City! https://bawsca.org/members/profiles/daly-city#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Daly,Park
Mitigating cost
Unfortunately even recycled water, though discounted in cost, is not free. However if Daly City has not explored more drought tolerant grasses designed for sports play in the Western U.S., administrators may be pleased to learn that there are management practices, as well as grass breeds, that can help reduce water use and therefore cost, especially when compared to traditional management practices designed for grasses that flourish in the naturally wetter Eastern U.S.
There are even nonprofit programs designed to help cash-strapped cities migrate from older management practices and grasses to newer ones. In one example, the nonprofit organization Beyond Pesticides has a Parks for a Sustainable Future Program that may help with fees or training. https://mail.beyondpesticides.org/resources/power-organic-parks-program
Alternatively, Daly City could contact the City of Menlo Park about Menlo Park’s experience in transitioning eight athletic fields at Burgess Park from more traditional grass management practices to its current, more sustainably managed fields. While long-term cost savings take several years to settle, an immediate mostly cost neutral trade-off involves declining costs in areas such as water usage and (fossil-fuel based) synthetic soil amendments, while increasing costs are likely to involve increased labor, for example in weeding, and, where needed, organic soil amendments. https://www.menlopark.gov/Government/Departments/Public-Works/Maintenance-Division
Public-private land-use partnerships may harm city tax revenue
We urge Daly City to avoid creating a public private partnership for Westlake Park. In Daly City the last published plan would halve the times available to residents during periods most desired by residents, after work or school and on weekends.
Though not immediately obvious, removing an open, unprogrammed vegetated space may lead to a housing price decline. Conversely, having “urban greenspaces” defined as “parks and other public vegetated spaces” has been shown to provide an 8% to 11% premium to nearby properties. Cities can benefit from better property values. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/3/483
Alternatives for budget-constrained localities in caring for open space
Many South San Francisco Bay localities have deficits, and though Daly City and San Mateo County have a unique situation for their deficits, a broad swath of cities across the entire San Francisco Bay Area are struggling.
Though not a panacea, when it comes to managing vegetated public areas, including parks, median strips and more, Daly City might take a look at Richmond’s civic minded Adopt A Spot program. This program allows residents to become civic torchbearers by partnering with staff to care for, maintain and beautify outdoor spots around the City. There are two parks in particular, Nicholls Park and North Richmond Ball Park, where sporting fields have been adopted and tended by residents. In addition landscaping and other tools are made available through a lending tool program.
https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/3910/Adopt-a-Spot-Program
https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/3711/Richmond-Tool-Library
In short, though budgets are tight, Daly City can surely maintain a primary outdoor resource without resorting to a public-private arrangement. Sometimes imagination and grit will help devise a superior solution.
We respectfully urge Daly City to keep Westlake Park’s green open grassy area available for all of its citizens, infants to seniors, to enjoy as they wish. Reject plans to semi-privatize and pave Westlake Park with plastic grass.
Sincerely,
Susan Hinton
Conservation Committee, Chair
https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/conservation
Plastic Pollution Prevention Committee, Chair
https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/plastic-pollution-prevention
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter