A pair of existing open spaces will get a face lift in the coming months.
Five small parcels of land on Ocean Park Boulevard are being improved and added to the City's existing park program while a busy section of Palisades Park will be refurbished into water wise garden.
Palisades Park
The Southern entrance to Palisades Park will be revamped to include three drought tolerant gardens in place of turf.
The 26.4-acre Palisades Park occupies a narrow strip of land along Ocean Avenue. The Southern entrance has become an extremely busy pedestrian zone with thousands of visitors congregating at the mouth of the pier, tour buss drop-offs, taxi lines, food trucks and street performers.
Staff said that section of the park now has a direct connection to the newly constructed Colorado Esplanade and is likely to see even more foot traffic now Expo has opened a few blocks to the east.
“The heavy use of this popular entrance to Palisades Park has made it very difficult to adequately maintain the turf. The turf areas are continuously trampled by large crowds and pedestrian traffic causing the turf to turn to mud and dirt,” said the report. “Considering the substantial use of this portion of the park, and anticipated increase in use with the opening of the EXPO light rail, a decision was made to convert the turf areas closest to Colorado Avenue into a drought-tolerant landscape that is protected from pedestrian overuse.”
The Project would convert 6,600 square feet of grass area to drought-tolerant landscape. The three sections are adjacent to the cannon circle and border Colorado and/or the Pier Bridge.
The gardens will utilize species identical or related to those already in the area. The project includes a new drip irrigation system and a two-foot high fence to keep visitors out of the plants.
City Hall has approved $169,450 for the project and anticipates work will be complete by July 1.
Ocean Park green space
Santa Monica owns five small parcels of land along the southern edge Ocean Park Blvd. between 2nd St. and Highland Ave.
In 2015, the Ocean Park Association said the parcels had been inadvertently neglected and asked that the properties, totaling less than a half-acre, be formally added to the City's park space. The organization said the “micro parks” with trees, foliage and footpaths would be a welcome addition to a city that lacks enough park space for its residents.
The City's Public Landscape Division has worked on the parcels for the last few months to remove dead plants, trim hedges, repair irrigation and add decomposed granite to the access paths.
Staff is also surveying the parcels that range from 2,200 to 6,000 square feet in size, to determine their precise boundaries.
According to the report, staff hopes to bring the newly refurbished parcels into the park system early next year in conjunction with the opening of Ishihara Park, located on the north side of Exposition Boulevard between Stewart Street and Dorchester Avenue (formerly known as Buffer Park) and the renaming of Stewart Street Park to Gandara Park.
