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The first design for the Dolphin Park Renovation Project was presented during a recent public meeting of Redwood City’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Department, according to director Chris Beth.
Preliminary concept plans for the park include new playground structures, upgraded adult exercise equipment, repaved pathways and an improved picnic area.
Located at Turkshead and Quay, and bordering the Redwood Shores Lagoon, the nearly 2.5-acre park offers a playground for kids and a convenient throughway for people walking their dogs or heading towards the water. But beyond occasional repairs, such as last year’s tennis court upgrade, the park hasn’t been properly renovated since it was built in 1978, Beth said.
“If you go to the park today…we have beautiful, brand new courts that are lit. And then again, all we have is the sad little swing set and the picnic table,” he said. “So it just needs a full refresh.”
During the Jan. 13 committee meeting, designers from O'Dell Engineering, an urban design landscape consultancy, presented the first renderings of the Dolphin Park renovation plans. Beth said the designs, which are based on a “play” and “park” inspiration, include a new play zone for kids with a new swing set, slides and a net climber, as well as a new drinking fountain with a dog bowl, security lighting, adult stretching and exercise equipment and two picnic tables with shade sails to protect from sap and pine needles.
Several members of the public spoke during the meeting, offering feedback and asking questions.
“First, this is so great! Anything would be an improvement, really, but this is like an out of the park improvement,” said a resident introduced only as Cindy. She agreed with concerns from a previous speaker that the design of the play structure might encourage kids to climb where they’re not supposed to and wondered if its proximity to the trees would exacerbate that.
Other speakers asked how the designers planned to mitigate pine tree sap and needles and whether plans were to install new trash cans.
One speaker named Alex wondered if the additional lights would be disruptive to neighbors living alongside the park.
“We were really thinking more of lights along the walking path,” said Beverly Yee, lead landscape architect with O’Dell, explaining that they would address the needs of people who walk at night or take their dogs out after dinner.
“We do understand that there are neighbors right next to this park, and lighting would be a concern. So, if we do put in lighting, it would be low lighting, just to light up the pathway so that people can see it. If it is pole lighting, it would be pedestrian level,” she said, adding that they would be roughly 8-10 feet high and would point downwards to keep the light concentrated along the walkway.
A young girl named Olivia joined to ask if the tanbark near the swing set would stay or be removed.
“The idea is, instead of having all the bark and so forth, we’re going to have the poured-in-place colored rubber,” Beth said. “And a big reason for that is accessibility. So if somebody’s in a wheelchair, they can get onto it better than the mulch.”
“I like that idea,” Olivia responded.
Discussions and budgeting for the renovation project began last year. The PRCS Department published an online survey and hosted a pop-up open house at the park on Oct. 23. Preliminary design plans were based on feedback from the 133 survey responses and over two dozen people who attended the in-person meeting, Beth said.
The committee plans to share an updated design based on feedback from the recent meeting in the next 2-3 weeks. Beth hopes to go out to bid for a construction company in early summer and begin renovations in the fall.
Funding for the project, which Beth estimates will cost around $350-400,000 for design and construction, will come from the city’s Capital Improvement Funds, ultimately supported by the utility users' tax.
The Dolphin Park renovation is one of several ongoing PRCS projects, including planning for the multi-year Downtown Parks Bay Connectivity Plan, expansion of the Jardin de Niños off of Middlefield Road and construction of Bayfront Park (which is part of the recent land swap agreement with the county) and the new Veterans Memorial Senior Center at Red Morton Park.
So far, feedback for the project has been positive, with support coming from parents and children alike.
“We had some very engaged kids and young adults, which is really wonderful,” Beth said of the recent public meeting. “I just love it, too, when kids are involved.”
He said he hopes the renovations will encourage more traffic to the park and give people a safe, convenient place to get outside.
“I think that a lot of kids in the neighborhood are really going to love this,” he said. “They don't have to go to another park in Redwood Shores or in the city—they can just go right down the street.”
