Why Is This Important?
Parks and open space enrich a community’s quality of life.  The availability of active (playgrounds, playfields, etc.) and passive (hiking trails, picnic areas, etc.) recreational opportunities offer public health benefits and increase values of nearby property.  Parks are also public gathering places that bring people together and build a sense of community. 

What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where parks and open space are abundant, of good quality, and readily accessible to all residents.   

How Are We Doing?
There are over 110,000 acres of parkland and protected open space in San Mateo County, the majority of which is open for public use. 

Significant landholdings in the county include watershed lands managed by the SFPUC, land owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Trust, state parks, San Mateo County parks, and land owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust.  The remaining protected lands are owned by cities, the federal government, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

Data source: Bay Area Open Space Council

City parks
City parks are generally the most accessible and most used park facilities.  They can range from small pocket parks located within individual neighborhoods consisting solely of a playground and a few picnic tables, to large community or regional parks offering multiple active and passive recreational opportunities.

  • In 2007, Brisbane had the highest number of acres of city-owned parkland per 1,000 residents in San Mateo County, with 6.6 acres per resident.
  • The average number of acres per 1,000 residents for cities in the county was 2.3 acres per 1,000 residents.
  • These numbers do not account for other recreational facilities, such as school playgrounds, county parks, or city-owned open space that could be
    available nearby to city residents.
  • In 2007, 16 cities had an in lieu fee ordinance which levies a development fee to provide funds for parks expenditures.

Data sources: Survey of City Parks and Recreation Directors and the California
Department of Finance

 

See appendix page 76, CLICK HERE. Researcher: Joe Rois