STOCKTON, Calif. — In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, Stockton city council members passed a plan to bring a sprawling 192-acre park to the troubled site of South Stockton's former Van Buskirk Golf Course.
"This is such a phenomenal opportunity and once it's complete, I think it's going to be one of the marquee parts within the area, if not the region," said Steve Noll, a representative with the firm hired to design the park. "It really represents a plan that represents the community that's going to use it."
The plan comes months after several community meetings and surveys meant to gauge the public's interest in new additions to the park.
Decades of golf at the site came to an end in Aug. 2019 after the city's lease with the former golf course's operator expired. The city let the lease expire due to low usage and in hopes of renovating the now 66-year-old facility originally donated to the city by Charles and Bertha Van Buskirk.
When handing over the land to the city, the Van Buskirk family had one stipulation: it must be used for a "public recreation or public park purpose."
Years later and after several fires tore through the dry brush that once was a golf course, city council members are hoping to fulfill that purpose again.
"Most of the people, I have to say, at a couple of meetings in the beginning, they were very happy that it was going to be this multi-use park with different things for children, different things for adults," said councilmember Susan Lenz."I don't think these ideas, any of these ideas, came from this council. They came from the public."
The master plan approved Tuesday will include an event lawn, an "adventure playground," an outdoor education center, a community garden, an event stage area, a BMX track, multi-purpose lawns, splash pads, a community building with restrooms, exercise and disc golf courses, pickleball and basketball courts, skate and dog parks, biking and walking trails, a golf academy and training center, and an area where the public can access the French Camp Slough.
When the park will be completed and exactly how much it will cost is still unclear, but City Manager Harry Black estimates it could be in the range of $70-90 million.
"We're not talking about lunch money here," said Black. "We'll put our thinking caps on and figure out what's a good strategy to get this kind of money in a relatively reasonable amount of time, and what I mean by a reasonable amount of time is maybe three to five years in total."
With city officials now looking to find millions of dollars for the development of the park, some are looking toward a flood control aspect of the project that might encourage the federal or state governments to chip in.
"This project has the potential to be a multi-benefit climate initiative that will improve the well-being of Stockton's large environmental justice community," said Artie Valencia, Flood and Land Restoration Manager for the nonprofit Restore the Delta. "With flood risk reduction, increased public access and healthier land and air quality if it's done correctly."
Similar to how some of Sacramento's Discovery Park is allowed to flood to take pressure off the nearby American River, a portion of the plans for Van Buskirk calls for a "potential flood control and wetland mitigation area" that could elevate flooding along the vital San Joaquin River.
A report released by the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency in March estimated flooding along the San Joaquin River could cause billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of deaths within the next 50 years if changes aren't made.
Now, scrambling to find more than $70 million to turn their newly passed plan into reality, councilmembers are hoping part of that change could happen in south Stockton.
"The United States Army Corps of Engineers is investing in levee protection and flood control so I think that definitely opens a door for the federal government to be more attentive to this particular project," said Councilmember Kimberly Warmsley, whose council district borders the park. "I think this is also going to require a level of sophisticated lobbying from council. I think it is our responsibility to speak with other agencies on state and federal levels as well as the two major school districts surrounding that corridor that will benefit from this park."
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