The Sunnyvale 4B Development Corporation spent most of its meeting discussing whether the planned Jobson Park should be finished with synthetic turf or irrigated natural grass and how to fit the project within current bond and maintenance budgets.

Parks Director Thomas Anich told the board the project has progressed from a May design kickoff through 30% construction documents and is moving toward 60% design, with a staff target to reach 100% design in April and begin bidding in May. "The opinion of probable cost is, potentially what it was when you had the 30% set, which is around $13,400,000," Anich said, and noted a switch to natural grass could reduce the opinion of probable cost to about $9,900,000.

Why it matters: the cost difference matters for Sunnyvale because bond proceeds and general-fund maintenance both factor into whether the town can deliver all amenities without seeking additional debt or cuts. Staff said roughly $7.0 million was set aside for construction (with $2.2 million for design) and that some bond funds had been allocated to Jobson and Vineyard parks; maintenance, the staff said, would be paid from M&O (maintenance and operations) rather than bond proceeds.

Board members and the design team focused on three trade-offs: long-term maintenance and replacement costs for synthetic turf, the technical differences between a turf design and an irrigation-based natural-grass design, and scope choices (lights, number of turf acres, landscape berms) that drive cost. James Kindred of Half and Associates, the design consultant, told the board the subsurface, drainage and irrigation are materially different for synthetic and natural surfaces and warned that moving from one option to the other after reaching 60% design could require additional design work. "We're trying to not spend any more of y'all's money and have to not come back and ask for more," Kindred said of the consultant team's approach to limiting extra redesign fees.

Board members raised several specific budget points: a board member said $8.2 million had been set aside and questioned where additional funds would come from if the full-build cost reached $13 million; another called the project "an unfunded project" if the board recommended the higher-cost option. Staff replied that additional debt instruments (for example, a tax note) could be issued quickly if council approved and that bond funds generally must be expended within three years.

Members pushed on usability and features as levers to reduce cost. Some suggested omitting permanent lights to save roughly $1 million, while others said losing lights would make the park unusable for evening youth practices. Discussion also covered the difficulty of mixing turf and natural grass on this relatively constrained site; consultants said transitions would require concrete curbs or headers and could reduce remaining open grass area and add cost.

The board did not take a formal action on Jobson Park. Members briefly moved into an executive session pursuant to a cited attorney-consultation provision (referred to in the meeting as "5 1.071" and "section 171 of the Local Government Code"); on reconvening the chair said there was no action from the executive session. Staff said they would report the discussion and the board's questions back to town council and proceed with design work per council direction unless council directed otherwise.

What’s next: staff will provide the board and council with clarified cost tables and the project’s opinion of probable cost as design advances toward 60% and then 100%; the board signaled preference for finding ways to fit the design within established budget constraints but did not reach a final recommendation on turf versus grass.

Sources and attribution
Statements and direct quotes in this article come from the Sunnyvale 4B Development Corporation meeting transcript and from the following speakers: Thomas Anich (Parks Director), James Kindred (Half and Associates), an Interim Director of Planning and Development (staff), the chair of the 4B board, and multiple board members whose comments appear in the meeting record.