"Exceeds landscape carrying capacity." That is how the Piedmont Sustainable Parks Management Plan describes resident demand on the city's parks. Planning firm WRT wrote the plan after eight months of study and input from more than 500 residents, and City Council received it at its July 7 meeting. The same report found that the city's core maintenance is strong. It also flagged irrigation, stormwater and slope stability as problems in some parks.
The work this fall follows from that finding. The new swings at Piedmont Park, the new turf at Hampton Field and the concrete path at Dracena all repair ground that heavy use has worn down. The plan adds no acreage, and the City says it was never meant to. So every improvement this season happens inside the same footprint, with one fewer off-leash dog area than Piedmont had before April 2025.
What is under construction, park by park
The City's September "Piedmont in 2" update named three upgrade projects: Hampton Field, the Piedmont Park tot lot and Dracena Park. It gave no dates. The September 2 Park Commission minutes and the Council's July staff report fill in most of the detail.
| Park | Work | Status at the latest public update |
|---|---|---|
| Piedmont Park tot lot and swings | Air spading around the Heritage oak, California native plantings, ADA-accessible engineered wood fiber, new bucket swings | Plantings and surfacing in place as of September 2. Swing area closed until the new swings arrive |
| Hampton Field | Old artificial turf and pad removed, drainage tested, new turf installed | Completion expected the week of September 7 |
| Dracena Park | Asphalt path, heaved by tree roots, replaced with concrete | Done, using the annual path funding |
Piedmont Park is the biggest of the three. On July 6, staff recommended awarding the ADA and swing contract to Modernscape Innovations for $156,364, within an overall construction budget of $172,000. The contract covers demolition, sand removal, a new sidewalk, a curb, wall and handrail around the swings, storm drainage and landscaping. The swings and the playground fiber are installed separately. The staff report expected work to run from late August into early October, with the swings going in during October. At the September 2 meeting, Parks and Project Manager Nancy Kent said the swing area would stay closed until the new bucket swings arrive, and that the benches will be reinstalled.
Hampton went faster than expected. A sports field consultant tested the drainage system first and found no repairs were needed before the new turf went down. At Dracena, Public Works Supervisor Nick Millosovich told commissioners the path was replaced because tree roots were coming through the asphalt and creating tripping hazards.
Why these parks wear out first
The plan's site assessments explain why this year's repairs landed where they did. WRT counts about 42 acres across Piedmont's parks. Much of that ground is steep, shaded or already heavily used.
Erosion and unstable slopes are acute in three places: the Dracena ravine, the Piedmont Park canyon and Linda Park. The consultants blame runoff, steep terrain, heavy use and bare soil. Their first responses are slope stabilization, native replanting, barriers to keep people off and repairs to streambanks and retaining walls. In Piedmont Park, the plan points to erosion along Bushy Dell Creek, aging retaining walls and paths, ivy that still needs removing, and trees under stress. Dracena's ravine has a dense canopy, but its mature trees are declining and its irrigation is fragile.
The sports fields show the same pressure. The plan names Hampton Field and Coaches Field as places where demand for natural turf is beyond what the grass can sustain. It recommends scheduling fewer uses there and, where possible, giving the turf seasonal rest, rotating wear zones and hydroseeding. Linda Beach Field is mostly synthetic turf, and its cork infill can wash around in heavy rain, so the focus there is drainage and infill management.
Crocker Park, the one-acre lawn at Crocker Avenue and Hampton Road, has a different problem. It has lost many mature trees without fully replacing the canopy, and sprinkler overspray and poor drainage are harming the trees that remain. Crocker also has the plan's example of a fix that works. A fenced planting bed there has protected native plants from trampling and deer.
Fencing and barriers come up again and again in the recommendations. Across the system, the plan calls for protecting sensitive plantings with signs, edging or fences. Its draft specifically mentions leash-law compliance, plus barriers or dense groundcover to keep dogs out of sensitive areas. For people who use these parks every day, this means more fenced-off ground over time, not more open ground.
Three places to let a dog run, and a plan that keeps it at three
Linda's off-leash run closed in April 2025, after stormwater runoff led to complaints and unsafe conditions. The ordinance change took Linda Park off the city's list of designated off-leash areas. The closure and hydroseeding were meant to let plants grow back and to address the erosion and runoff. According to the plan, the native replanting at Linda is working in the area erosion damaged, and interpretive signs are planned for the oak woodland restoration. The plan's draft says the hillside is not planned to reopen for off-leash use.
The City's Dogs in Parks page now lists three off-leash areas:
- Bushy Dell Creek in Piedmont Park. The paved, hilly trails along the creek behind Community Hall. The most direct entrance is on Wildwood Avenue next to Witter Field. An off-leash permit from the Police Department is required, and the big lawn is on-leash only.
- The upper dog run at Dracena Quarry Park. It sits in the narrow Redwood Canyon, and the Dracena Avenue entrance leads straight to it. The lower lawns are on-leash.
- Blair Park. An unlandscaped natural area on Moraga Avenue between Coaches Field and Maxwelton Road. Parking is very limited.
Dogs must stay on leash at Hampton Field and Crocker Park. Dracena's upper run did get one improvement nearby. The City lists its Dracena ADA project, which added accessible parking, a path and seating for the upper off-leash area, as completed.
Two of the three remaining areas are the same ravines the plan flags for erosion: Bushy Dell Creek in Piedmont Park and the Dracena canyon. The third, Blair Park, is 8.2 acres of undeveloped open space used for walking and off-leash dogs. The plan says outright that Blair was not part of its analysis.
A resident commenting on the Exedra's coverage wrote that the plan's community survey found off-leash dog areas to be the most popular part of the city's parks. The same commenter said the plan says almost nothing about maintaining those areas or replacing Linda. At the September 2 Park Commission meeting, Garrett Keating said the city needs more dog parks and asked for an assessment of viable space. He also asked for more tables and for enforcement of existing park rules. The minutes record his comment and no Commission action on it.
The plan's own scope explains the silence. It offers guidance on how to evaluate amenities like fenced dog parks and off-leash areas. But the City describes it as a stewardship and management roadmap. It is not a parks master plan that decides to add or remove facilities or activities. A new off-leash area would take a separate decision, and no meeting has scheduled one.
Where the next park decisions come up
The plan is already showing up in small, specific work. At the September meeting, staff reported talks with a homeowner about replacing dead and struggling street trees with California native species. Staff also confirmed the City is working with its landscaping contractor on rebates to swap gas mowers for battery models. On Pacific Avenue, the Liquidambars PG&E had topped near the power lines are being replaced with Chinese Pistache, and the homeowners have agreed to the new trees. Staff reported 12 newly planted trees at that meeting. One was knocked over by a car and has since been replaced.
Public Works has also started preparing for El Niño rains with sandbags, and the existing wattles will be replaced with compost wattles from a local supplier. Commissioner Tom Smegal suggested monitoring the steep areas named in the plan. That puts this winter's maintenance on the same slopes as the plan's erosion findings and two of the three off-leash areas.
The Park Commission's October 7 agenda includes:
- Updates on the Piedmont Park ADA access and swing project and the Hampton turf replacement
- An update on implementation strategies for the parks plan
- An update from the subcommittee on non-functional turf
- The September maintenance report for parks, open space and street trees
Two later dates matter more. Kent confirmed that the update on capital projects for park facilities is set for the November meeting. Smegal agreed to start work on the Commission's annual report in October, ahead of the city's budget planning workshops. The annual report goes into budget planning, so anyone hoping for a new dog area or more seasonal rest for the turf can raise it there. Both meetings are open to public comment.
The Anthony Riggins Team follows Piedmont's public spaces closely, from Dracena's canyon paths to the fields at Hampton and Coaches. If you would like a Piedmont-specific read on how the city's park work affects the streets around them, we would be glad to talk. Work With Us.
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