February 13, 2025
Via email: CityMgr@cityofpaloalto.org
CC: Ed.Lauing@CityofPaloAlto.org
Subject: Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Comment on Boulware Park and Synthetic Turf
Dear Mr. Shikada,
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter would like to bring your attention to a regrettable disservice to Palo Altans, but especially to people living close to Boulware Park.
During 2019 and through 2021 there were multiple Community Meetings to discuss the upcoming project, and Community feedback was solicited and recorded. In 2022 Staff changed those plans apparently without contacting anyone from the Community or Council. Specifically, “mulch” in the planned dog park was replaced with “synthetic turf.” More egregiously, “synthetic turf” was added to the Boulware children’s playground area, previously assumed by the community to be natural grass.
The City should remove synthetic turf from Boulware Park. It was never the public intention to allow plastic grass anywhere in the park but it appears to have been added in the final plan, somewhat surreptitiously, and in several areas.
By now nearly everyone has surely read the following Palo Alto Online news story published February 4, 2025, in which Palo Altans object to the use of plastic grass, underlaid by a layer of pour-in-place synthetic rubber, in Boulware Park.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2025/02/04/as-boulware-park-nears-completion-turf-concerns-surface/, which contains multiple statements from residents
However, anyone visiting the City webpage on this project, started in 2019, will notice an odd thing, namely that in the Community Meeting notes and comments there is no mention of ’synthetic grass,’ ‘artificial turf,’ or ‘plastic.'
There is a mention by the Staff of ’Open Turf' but it’s obvious that no reasonably informed member of the public would think this meant plastic grass. Note Community comments such as “ ’Turf’ can also be native, like I’ve seen giant yarrow-based lawn that worked well,”
In fact the well-recognized terms “synthetic,” “artificial,” or “plastic” are not to be found in anywhere in the Community Meeting #1, #2, or #3 presentations, schematics, questionnaires, or comments made by either Staff or residents. The Proposed Park Schematic Layout Plan for Meeting #3 is copied below. Note the date in the URL at the top, from July 27, 2021 and that the Dog Park is labeled “Fenced Dog Park .25 Acre (Mulch)."
Under Project Description there is the sentence, "Commission meetings were held between 2018 through 2021 to obtain guidance and input on the overall park design” followed by "On June 19, 2023, City Council approved a construction contract for the project. Construction is anticipated to start in summer/fall 2023 and will last approximately 14 months, during which the park will be closed.”
Note that the 2021 CEQA documents below do not mention synthetic, artificial, or plastic turf.
https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2021120357 and
https://files.ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/274812-1/attachment/_EhSAqp0xGK4YrGo68Z1-EMCne1tAre4xQ3eDuBO2w7-JDbkjdkpRr-UIh5IMq4bi4QLWwhCUfmQmj2d0
These environmentally damaging changes happened between the Community Meetings and the CEQA documents, ending in 2021, and the construction contract approved on June 19, 2023.
Note “Project Image Boards” below the Project Description on the webpage. There are four (4) PDFs, “Park Plan Exhibit,” “Playground Equipment Exhibit,” "Park Facility and Furnishing Exhibit," and “Public Art Exhibit” inserted in 2022. In the copied Schematic below, the date seen in the URL at the top, is September 27, 2022. Also note that the Dog Park is now labeled “Synthetic Turf Dog Park", a change from the approved “Mulch”.
How did such significant changes happen? Where is the public input on this change? Where is the presentation to the City Council? Where is the environmental impact of these changes studied?
At the Council meeting on June 19, 2023, approval of the Boulware Park was tucked into the Consent Calendar. There were resident comments in favor of the park but the Staff report doesn’t mention the significant changes, from 2021, that the community clearly and publicly opposed, except on page 6 of 7 where there is a single mention of “synthetic turf in the dog park,” We note there is clearly no mention of proposed synthetic turf in the playground area. https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/meeting/document/2121.pdf?name=Item%207%20Staff%20Report
Instead, to find multiple mentions of “synthetic turf,” it would be necessary to search through the long, dense Attachment A - Bid Summary Table. These important changes were not discussed at the June 19, 2023 Council meeting with Council or brought to the attention of the public. https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/meeting/attachment/1863.pdf?name=Attachment%20A%20%20Bid%20Summary%20Table
The citizens of Palo Alto who live near the Park are rightly extremely upset, and the City should do the right thing by removing synthetic turf from Boulware Park.
Sincerely yours,
Susan Hinton
Chair, Plastic Pollution Prevention Committee
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/plastic-pollution-prevention
CC:
Mike Ferreira
Chair, Political Committee
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
Gita Dev
Chair, Conservation Committee
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
James Eggers
Chapter Director
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter