Shady Oaks Park Master Plan Community Meeting

Shady Oaks Park Master Plan Community Meeting
by Deb Kramer

Ballfields? Lights? Walking trails? Cricket field? Heritage walnut trees? What are the best ideas for the use of a 60 acre park?

Shady Oaks Park from Google Maps

The neighbors of the Shady Oaks Park along Coyote Creek have been working on a Master Plan for this park with the guidance of the City of San Jose's Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services since June, 2014. Over the past three meetings, the ideas for the park have raised many concerns from neighbors about too much development, but there are residents in the city who believe additional developed uses, such as sports fields and courts.

Shady Oaks Master Plan drawing

As an observer and interested party to this master plan on behalf of Coyote Creek, I've seen the diverse interests of the San Jose community in action. Coming together as a neighborhood, the residents to the neighborhood park desperately wanted to keep the park as natural as possible. Currently, the park has a large grove of walnut trees that provide a place for many animals and birds to live. Since this park is adjacent to Coyote Creek, there is ready access to recreation, including the Coyote Creek Trail, used by many for walking, biking, and running. Across the creek is the Silver Creek Sportsplex, a private facility offering a huge range of activities, including field sports and indoor sports. 

The neighbors worked together with the Parks Department and Public Works to develop and refine a proposed Master Plan for this park through a deliberate process. At the second meeting, a map of the park was overlaid with tracing paper for about 8 groups, and nearly all the groups had a similar vision: keep the walnut grove; add a path along the creek; include interpretive signs; add some sort of courts (tennis, basketball, or sand volleyball); add and repair park benches.

Element Priorities by Participants

At the last meeting on October 22, the combined ideas were laid out, and 30 participants were invited to rank their choices from 1-4. Overwhelmingly, the trail next to the creek and cultural/restoration of the walnut grove area were most popular. The financials were also discussed to inform the residents about the budgetary constraints, including Neighborhood funds compared to Community funds.

Next step: Approval by the Parks and Recreation Commission and CEQA reviews. I look forward to seeing the natural parts of this park preserved and improved for the benefit of nature and people. This process has been wonderful to follow as I was able to see how it evolved in a civil manner.