As open space continues tightening and the city’s population expands, the city is looking to get creative when it comes to bolstering its parklands.
To that end, the city is exploring a joint-use agreement with the Santa Clara Unified School District for open space areas at Peterson Middle School.
The city has agreements with other school districts within the city’s boundaries, where the city maintains the fields and in exchange, the district makes the space available to the public when not in use by the schools.
According to Sunnyvale communications officer Jennifer Garnett, the city has a joint-use agreement with the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) for the open space at Braly and Ponderosa schools that is very similar to the ones it has with the Sunnyvale and Cupertino school districts.
The agreements include all school open space associated with elementary and middle schools that are within Sunnyvale city limits, just not for Peterson Middle School.
“In years past, the city and SCUSD had an agreement that allowed the city to issue permits for the use of open space at Peterson, but that agreement did not include the city maintaining the fields,” Garnett said. “The city and SCUSD have always had a very cooperative relationship and a variety of agreements over the years; however, a new agreement for Peterson was not pursued by either agency.”
The open space at Peterson would have to be upgraded to meet city standards, but it is unclear at this point what the cost of such improvements would be or how the terms of use would be dictated.
“The report to the city council will include a general cost estimate; however, detailed cost estimates will have to be provided by an architectural [or] engineering consultant at a later date, should the agencies determine to move forward with developing an agreement,” Garnett added.
The idea to explore a joint-use agreement was proposed by a Sunnyvale resident who earlier this year voiced concerns about the increase use of Raynor Park after its sale to the for-profit, private Stratford School.
The city held public meetings in June attended by nearly 50 people and initiated a survey in June to collect feedback on the idea. July 18 is the last day to answer the city-sponsored survey available online at parks.insunnyvale.com.
Residents will have more opportunities to share their thoughts on the matter when it goes before the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission on Sept. 10 and the city council on Oct. 28.
