Parks and Recreation Commission Approves Final Tinker Park Design

The Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously voted to approve a new layout for Tinker Park Wednesday night. But they also requested that the plan be augmented slightly.

The Commission would like the playground, which is located intersection of Santa Cruz Avenue and Elder, to have the largest amount of grassy area possible.

Catherine Carlton, Menlo Park Parks and Recreation Commissioner, fondly recalled the times that she spent with her family at the park during the discussion session, and expressed its importance to the community.

“The thing that moms like about this park is that you have a fenced in area with grass in it," Carton said.

“So the kids can run off and play, and then run back to have a bite of chicken, and then run off and play again," she added.

Menlo Park is working on a joint use agreement between the city and to share the cost of the roughly quarter acre park.  In September of 2009, The Menlo Park City School Board opted to preserve the park, instead of bulldozing it during the , which is going on now, to make room for more classrooms.

The city will contribute about $100,000 toward Tinker Park and be responsible for maintaining it, according to Ruben Nino, Assistant Director of Public Works for the city of Menlo Park.  The Final Draft of the city’s Five-year capital improvement plan dated January 27, 2010 allocated $500,000 for the project during the 2011/11 fiscal year.

Nino said, the park layout is approved as of today, but he would try to expand the grassy area past the benches as the Commission requested.

Residents can look forward to using it at the end of 2012.