Dog Park and Skate Park Still in Play in Los Altos

A dog park, a skate park—or perhaps, skateable art—and a park and restrooms downtown are still hot topics for the Los Altos City council, as seen by a discussion on the city’s Parks Plan during the study session Tuesday.

The council gave direction on the plan, a master document that assesses the city’s parks and gives direction for the development of future park space.

Council members asked that those elements be kept in the plan.

Although an earlier survey of residents did not indicate strong support for a skate park, the council members noted that middle school students were not polled, and they said they would want to see a poll take place before making further decisions.

Adding skateable art to existing parks, or even school grounds, was proposed as a possible alternative to a skate park. Carpenter asked that the City/Schools Issues Committee discuss the possibility.

Councilmember Ron Packard renewed his ongoing interest in seeing a park and restrooms downtown, suggesting the city could carve out space by shutting down a side street.

Carpenter said she wants restrooms somewhere downtown, possibly in the Community Plaza at the nexus of State and Main streets, saying it was unfair to merchants to have visitors to downtown using store bathrooms.

Carpenter also said she wants to see permanent bathrooms at Redwood Grove, which currently has only portable toilets.