Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz could be upgraded. (Stephen Baxter — Santa Cruz Local)

As city parks staff and San Francisco-based CMG Landscape Architecture near completion of a design and program assessment of the park, they want public input on short- and long-term improvements to park facilities and usability.  

A presentation is expected, followed by an open house format with interactive activities. It will outline:

• Park design and landscaping plans.
• Potential upgrades to sports fields, restrooms, playgrounds, picnic areas and the pool.
• Cost estimates and possible funding sources.

The meeting will have Spanish interpretation available and activities will be available in Spanish. 

Organized youth baseball, football, soccer, mountain biking and other sports now take place in the park, as well as swimming and events at a clubhouse. RV parking and problems related to homelessness have been issues in recent years, parents have said.

“It’s an amazing park already,” said Matt De Young, executive director of Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship, though he added that it was “underutilized.”

Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship is one group that is interested in upgrades. It funded and built a pump track for mountain bikes at the park around 2017, De Young said. “It’s been well used, well loved. Now we’d like to expand that a little bit,” he said.

De Young said right now “it’s got a limited appeal” due to a lack of progression between beginner, intermediate and advanced jump lines on the pump track. “We’d like to fill that in and also create some more advanced stuff,” he said.

Upgrades to Harvey West Park could include work in wooded areas. (City of Santa Cruz)

De Young also said the park lacks a multi-use trail connection to Pogonip. “They’re very close together. You can hike from Harvey West to Pogonip, but you can’t actually bike there.”

He said that to get to the Emma McCrary trail in Pogonip from Harvey West, cyclists must ride out to Highway 9 and then cut over on Golf Course Drive. De Young also said he’d like a bike connection to the Spring Street portion of Pogonip.

Santa Cruz Park Planner Noah Downing is collecting feedback at [email protected].

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