McKinley joint-use field plans at a stalemate

By Michael Crane | SDUN Reporter

What once looked like the perfect opportunity to create more park space in North Park has reached a standstill with little hope of resolution in sight.

Once-promising plans for a joint-use field at McKinley Elementary may not come to fruition in the near future. (photo by Michael Crane)

After years of effort to develop a joint-use field at McKinley Elementary School, plans are again on the verge of collapse due to the conflicting visions of parents, neighbors and the City’s Parks and Recreation Department.

For many parents, installing natural landscaping within the schoolyard has been the main priority throughout the process. However, the City has pushed artificial turf as the more affordable alternative.

“As a parent, it’s very disappointing because I was hoping that there would be an opportunity to create a natural play space for the kids,” said Robert Barry, who sits on the North Park Planning Committee, the North Park Recreation Council and has two daughters at McKinley Elementary. “Replacing gravel with artificial turf doesn’t really fit the desires I think of the community or the students, and doesn’t really provide anything of a natural basis for urban kids to have a chance to experience.”

The four-acre lot, which sits adjacent to McKinley Elementary at 3045 Felton St., is currently divided between a small portion open for community use and a larger, fenced area that is reserved for school use only. The public side is a grassy field while the school section is almost entirely covered by asphalt and decomposed granite.

Under the most recent iteration of the General Development Plan (GDP), created by Estrada Land Planning, Inc., 1.2 acres within the fence would become a joint-use field and would mostly consist of artificial turf and a running track, according to Katie Keach, chief of communications for Interim Mayor Todd Gloria. The joint-use section would then become open to the public after school hours and during weekends.

However, any natural turf or shade trees would still be absent from this area reserved for school use.

“For smaller fields of less than two acres and high recreation use, the natural grass will likely wear out quickly, requiring more extensive maintenance and grass renovation to keep the field in healthy, safe and playable conditions,” Keach wrote in an email. She cited water conservation and lasting durability as reasons why synthetic turf is the best option.

Neighbors who use the unfenced, grassy section to exercise and walk their dogs have been adamant that it remain outside the joint-use area. This adds yet another obstacle to the prospect of natural turf within the schoolyard, as the city feels the remaining joint-use section would be too small and heavily-used for natural grass to be effectively maintained.

With prospects of natural landscaping undermined by both the city’s maintenance standards and the demands of community members using the unfenced portion, some parents are losing faith in the entire process.

“ I think what I am leaning towards, it’s probably better for us to not do anything than to accept what they are proposing,” said Gabrielle Dumka, mother of a fourth grader and soon-to-be kindergartner at McKinley Elementary. “I felt like the City was saying ‘take it or leave it.’ It didn’t seem like a good deal for the school.”

Of the estimated $1.7 million total project cost, $179,500 is currently set aside for design and preparation of the GDP. However, if the North Park Recreation Council and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department are unable to agree on a vision for the field, the funds will be repurposed, and not necessarily for use in North Park.

“If this isn’t the right opportunity to create a park that’s usable for everybody’s needs, then maybe it doesn’t happen this time around,” said Barry.

Keach says the GDP will be brought before the North Park Recreation Council once more in the next few months. Unless someone gives some ground, it may well be a dead issue.

“If the community doesn’t want it, I’m not going to vote for it,” said Vicki Granowitz, chair of the North Park Planning Committee and member of the North Park Recreation Council. “I doubt that the issues are resolvable.”