Council Endorses Plan for ‘Mini-Parks’

The City Council endorsed a proposal Tuesday for the city to buy several lots in high-density neighborhoods for development of “mini-parks” designed to provide green space for residents in congested areas.

A report commissioned by Councilman Jerold Milner recommends that the city finance development of four to six such parks in the area south of the Ventura Freeway. Averaging 22,500 square feet, the lots would cost $650,000 to $750,000 each to buy, landscape and maintain.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Councilman Carl W. Raggio said at the meeting. “In order for our city to grow and still be livable, we have to have some quiet zones.”

The parks would be simple green spaces for use by residents of nearby apartments and condominiums with no open space of their own, rather than active recreation facilities that would draw outsiders, Parks and Recreation Director Robert McFall said.

“As these areas develop, and they are developing very rapidly right now, there is less and less space for people to get out of doors and have some relief from being in their homes,” Milner said. “People need to be able to go out and have a picnic or something without having to drive somewhere.”

Without taking a vote, the council referred the idea to the Parks and Recreation Commission for site selection and public hearings.

Council members agreed to instruct the staff to heed vandalism and noise concerns when developing the parks.

McFall, who prepared the preliminary report for the council, said four of the proposed sites are privately owned and two are owned by the school district.

Glendale’s holdings of open space are vast for a community of its size, but few of those parks service residents of high-density areas, Milner said. About 25% of the city is devoted to open space, with 29 parks on 209 acres, McFall said. Virtually none of that green space is within walking distance of areas slated for continued high-density development.