Holbrook-Palmer Park's New Playground Looks a Lot Like What Neighbors Asked For

How much does a playground change when the town asks the people who use it before ordering the equipment? In Atherton, the answer is the renovated children's playground at Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave. Its design has two separate play zones, a willow hut, a sandbox, swings, and shaded seating. That list follows the requests park users made in a community survey almost three years ago.

The Town scheduled the grand reopening for Saturday, Nov. 14, at noon. Mayor Holland and Vice Mayor DeGolia were set to speak about the project, with a reception afterward in Jennings Pavilion. The project goes back to 2023, when the Town repaired the old structure before it decided to replace it.

A structure that was repaired before it was replaced

During a routine inspection in February 2023, Town staff found "significant deterioration" in the supports of the older-children's play structure, the one built for ages 5 to 12. The structure was taped off and closed for safety.

That April, according to The Almanac, the City Council approved $65,045 for structural repairs, which included a $5,000 contingency. The work was more than patching. Crews had to take the structure apart and put it back together.

The repaired structure reopened in August 2023. Director of Public Works Robert Ovadia told The Almanac that the project was partly paid for with money from Santa Clara County and the California Parks Department. Some of that money was Stanford Mitigation funds, which Santa Clara County administers under an agreement with San Mateo County that also paid for other projects.

Ovadia had also given the Council an estimate for building a new structure: roughly $150,000 to $200,000, about twice the cost of the repairs, because installation costs so much. The repair kept the old structure in use. The Council also started a survey about what a full rebuild should look like.

The survey that set the brief

The survey was still open in January 2024 when The Almanac reported its early results, so the numbers below are interim figures. They still say a lot about how much the playground was used.

• More than 80% of respondents visited the park at least once a month.
• More than 42% visited weekly.
• Most respondents wanted swings in any new structure, along with upgraded restrooms.
• "Nature inspired" was the most popular theme, ahead of traditional and fitness-focused designs.
• Many respondents ranked shade as a high priority.
• 66% chose a green, tan, and brown color scheme.

A weekly visitor is a regular, and four in ten respondents fit that description. Most of the requests came from people who knew the old playground well enough to know where the afternoon sun hit and which equipment their children skipped. When a survey shows that kind of use, a structure with $65,045 worth of repairs looks more like a stopgap than a long-term answer.

What was asked for, and what was built

Town Manager George Rodericks' Monthly Matters newsletter of Nov. 30, 2025 described the approved design. It was shaped by community outreach, then by the Parks and Recreation Committee, then by the City Council. Here is how the survey requests match the design:

Swings show the pattern most clearly. They were the top equipment request, and the design puts them in both zones. A toddler and an older sibling can each swing in their own area.

Two zones, with the parents in between

The layout matters as much as the equipment list. The newsletter describes two separate play areas:

• Younger children: swings, spinners, interactive play features, climbing elements, slides, a willow hut, and shaded seating.
• Between the zones: bench and table seating, and a sandbox.
• Older children: climbing structures, slides, swings, spinners, interactive equipment, a balance beam, and shaded areas.

Putting the benches, tables, and sandbox in the middle answers a practical question for any family with children of two ages: where does the adult sit? With seating between the zones, the adult has a sightline to both the willow hut and the balance beam. The sandbox works for nearly every age, so it is a place where younger and older children can end up together.

The old setup had a dedicated structure for ages 5 to 12, and its failure in 2023 is what started all of this. The new design keeps a full area for that age group and gives younger children their own space too. In its Nov. 7 community brief, The Almanac also listed new surfacing among the upgrades, along with the slides, climbing equipment, and shaded seating.

Six months behind the fence

The playground was closed through the summer and fall. Here is the full sequence from the first inspection to the ribbon cutting:

1. Feb. 15, 2023: A routine inspection finds deterioration in the older-children's structure, and it is taped off.
2. April 19, 2023: The Council approves $65,045 in repairs.
3. August 2023: The repaired structure reopens.
4. January 2024: The community survey runs through the end of the month, with the Council set to discuss a new playground afterward.
5. November 2025: The Council approves the service contract for the renovation, with construction expected in early spring 2026.
6. May 4, 2026: The playground closes for renovation and upgrades.
7. Nov. 14, 2026: The grand reopening and ribbon cutting are scheduled for noon.

From the first taped-off structure to the ribbon cutting took a little under four years. Most of that time went to the repair, the survey, and the design work. The playground itself was closed for about six months, from May 4 to the reopening scheduled for Nov. 14. For that whole stretch, including the full summer, the town's only public park had no playground.

A playground shared well past the town line

One more survey number explains why the reopening matters beyond Atherton. Among the early respondents, 53% lived in Atherton, 31% in Menlo Park, and 13% in Redwood City. Close to half the people who answered came from neighboring cities. Atherton has a single public park, so its playground serves families from a much wider area than the town itself.

That helps explain the long process. The playground at Holbrook-Palmer Park has no nearby equivalent within the town's borders. Getting it wrong would have meant another structure that families from three cities used while waiting for the next fix. This one was designed around a list that a mix of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Redwood City families helped write: swings in both zones, shade over the benches, and a willow hut in the younger children's area.

The playground is at 150 Watkins Ave., with Jennings Pavilion nearby.

Holbrook-Palmer Park is one of the places that shapes everyday life in Atherton. Scott has followed changes like this one, and what they mean for the families who live nearby, since 1984. If you would like to talk about Atherton, or the parks and routines that come with a home here, Scott Dancer would be glad to connect.