Neighborhood group asks for snail-themed art at Columbia Park; staff says park is slated for design next year

Valerie Flores, chair of the Snail Community North neighborhood association, asked the Parks and Recreation Commission to incorporate snail-themed sculptures, play elements and artwork in the planned Columbia Park renovation, presenting photo examples and asking for community-built options.

Flores said the Snail Community North is a long-established neighborhood association with monthly newsletters, a mascot and a 30th-anniversary National Night Out that drew roughly 600 attendees. "they really, really, really would love to have some snails," Flores said while presenting examples from other cities.

Park response: Jim Stark, Sunnyvale's park superintendent, said Columbia Park is included in the smaller-parks group slated to enter design this coming year and that staff will forward Flores's materials to the public-works engineers who manage design and construction. Stark said the department typically performs "repair and replace" projects at smaller parks and does not run a formal public-outreach process for every small-park renovation, but he welcomed the neighborhood input and asked residents to send materials to public-works staff.

Stark also said playground surfacing will use resilient materials rather than sand going forward. "We don't do sand anymore," Stark said, adding that the city is moving toward resilient surfacing for safety and maintenance reasons.

Next steps: staff said they will email engineers about the request and asked Flores to submit the materials electronically so they can be routed to the design team; commissioners and staff encouraged the neighborhood to contact the city's public-works email point for follow-up.