Solana Beach hosts workshop on park upgrades

The city of Solana Beach held an online community workshop on Sept. 1 to share the results of a survey that will help guide the upcoming playground renovations at La Colonia and Fletcher Cove parks.

“This follows an extensive online outreach effort and also if you happened to be by either of the parks recently over the last several weeks, we had a QR code that you could scan and be taken right to the questionnaire,” Solana Beach City Manager Greg Wade said.

He added that “both projects are high priority for our City Council,” and that construction could begin in about one year.

For La Colonia Park, the survey findings included that more than 70% of respondents wanted the revamped playground to include youth swings, slides, climbers and toddler swings. More than 50% reported that they want to see wheelchair accessible swings, ziplines and play sculptures.

About 50% say they visit either every day, multiple times a week or almost every week, according to the survey. Most respondents also said they want to see more activity geared toward elementary and preschool students.

At Fletcher Cove Park, about two-thirds of survey respondents said they want to see more activity geared toward preschoolers and middle school students.

The workshop also posed a few more questions to residents who were tuned into the livestream. About 75% said a larger playground is important to them at La Colonia Park, and 60% said they want a down-to-earth, homey vibe at Fletcher Cove.

No final decisions have been made yet about the new layouts at each park.

“We will be working to ensure that everyone in the community has a playground that meets their physical, social and developmental needs,” said Kaitlyn Porter, an assistant project manager with Solana Beach-based VDLA Landscape Architects.

Another community workshop will be held in October.