Edited
From: Don Frischmann, Los Altos Tennis Club member

Review of Plans for the Rosita Tennis Courts

The meeting with the Rosita Park/Civic Center architects at the Los Altos School District Board Room on Tuesday, April 7, was attended by 25 people. Five of the attendees were tennis players and members of LATC, but could not formally represent LATC since they are not members of the LATC Board. This is among the best showings of tennis player support since the town began its civic center/Rosita Park planning process.

The current plan calls for the addition of a third court at the Rosita facility. There was talk of a possible fourth court, but that was pretty much dismissed by the architects as not really feasible since space is tight. The architects said there would be one more town review in June before the final plan was presented to the City Council.

I asked two questions of the architects and City Council Member David Casas who also spoke. The first question was whether or not the plan called for the resurfacing of the existing courts when the new court was added. The answer was no. They did not plan to resurface the existing courts and were surprised by the question. After I and other tennis players complained that one of the courts were unplayable and dangerous, they architects and Casas said they would consider adding resurfacing of the existing courts to the plan. This needs to be tracked in the next iteration of the plan.

The second question was about ongoing maintenance. I asked if there was a cost assessment or budget for maintenance of the new facilities. The answer was that there was neither. However, after the meeting David Casas told me that the City Council budget was currently spending $1.3 million on park maintenance, but they were going to divert the money for town projects. When asked where the money for ongoing park maintenance would come from, Casas indicated that it would come from the taxpayers in the form of increased taxes.

The Rosita Park plan also calls for a concession stand and public bathrooms. The concession stand would be a shed with a hot dog cooker and a small refrigerator similar to what the Little League of Los Altos Hills currently has. It would be used for Little League and Pony League games and be managed by one of the leagues. The problem of litter cleanup was discussed, but there was no resolution.

The old gym on the site will be torn down in the next few weeks. The new parking lot would provide spaces for 95 cars. The local residents were concerned about traffic flow on both Rosita and La Prenda streets. There is traffic mitigation planned for Rosita but not for La Prenda.

Timing and Next Steps

The architects will take the input from the meeting and refine the plan, which will take from one to two months. When the work is complete, there will be another opportunity for the public to see the updated plan.

Approval of any site plan for Rosita Park is dependent upon City Council making a final decision on setting aside space for an aquatic complex at the Civic Center. This decision is expected to be made in June. After that vote, the master plan for Rosita Park will be finalized. The plan will be looked at by the Traffic Commission, the Parks & Recreation Commission and the Los Altos School District, and then go to City Council for final approval and funding.

If approved and funded, detail design work would begin. This work could take six to eight months. Once the design is complete and funded, construction would start, taking about six months. The earliest possible completion date would be mid-2011.

History:

Community Center and Rosita Park
Rosita Park 2
Compare the courts
Rosita Park 4