Flood Park has a long tradition of families, churches, and organizations using the picnic areas. Family traditions span generations. Most of the current picnic areas have been in place for over 70 years and enjoy the majestic large trees that provide shade and cooling.
Proposed under the Reimagine Plan, many picnic areas are moved, including most in the heart of the woodland. The following recently updated table shows current picnic areas/sites and the change impact of the Reimagine Plan.
| Picnic Area | Tables | BBQ | Capacity | Res | Comments / Changes per EIR 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fir Picnic Area | 5 | 2 | 50 | R | moved |
| Oak Group Picnic Area | 24 | 8 | 200 | R | |
| Bay Group Picnic | 8 | 4 | 75 | R | moved to near Iris Lane entrance |
| Redwood Picnic Area | 8 | 4 | 50 | R | Similar location |
| Maple Group Picnic | 12 | 4 | 100 | R | moved to be closer to tennis |
| Madrone Picnic | 12 | 4 | 100 | R | Similar location |
| Manzanita | 4 | 1 | 40 | R | |
| Pine Picnic | 20 | 6 | 150 | R | moved |
| 13 small drop in sites | 2 ea | 1ea | 12/each 156 total | most to be moved | |
| 7 Medium drop in sites | 3 ea | 1ea | 18/ea 126 total | — | most to be moved |
| Totals | 1,047 |
Proposed plan – Update: Parks director Nicholas Calderon clarified some of the confusion in the EIR by stating that both the number of picnic sites and the capacity will match the current, Dec 22, 2021 capacity.*
UPDATE Jan 2022: The Parks website FAQ now states that picnic areas may be limited during high volume sports events. This is counter to Nicholas Calderon’s statement. Seeking clarification from Parks department.
Usage Statistics
There does not appear to be usage statistics in County’s most recent project documents*. In past planning for Flood Park, usage statistics were documented and are shown here. The importance of the picnic areas and the use of the woodland for walking and nature site seeing are easily the main use with over 63% of visitors. Add in usage of the Playgrounds and the usage percentage is 76% of the park. Sports is almost a quarter of the usage — and that was when the baseball field was in full operation and other sport fields were also maintained.
County did not provide park usage counts in the latest project planning. County provided usage counts in a prior plan.
Proposed Plan (Reimagine)
This section of the website is being worked on and will summarize the changes to picnic areas at the park. Picnicking is the most popular activity in the park and has been for 8 decades. While the EIR and ERRATA of the Re-imagine plan has some confusing language regarding capacity, Parks department in Dec 2021 assured us that the new plan will retain the same capacity of picnickers, currently 1,047 using the same number of reservable picnic areas (8) and all 20 drop in sites at the same capacities. HOWEVER, in Jan 2022, Parks department posted in their FAQ (Parking) that Parks plans on “limiting the number of group picnic reservations when multiple sporting events are planned“.
Reference – FAQ
The following FAQ section pertains to concerns, issues, and other comments related to picnic facilities at Flood Park.
Looking through the Reimagine EIR planning documents, it is not clear that picnic capacity of the park will remain the same as current. Park’s director Nicholas Caledron clarified this question stating that “The Department is not reducing capacity of the sites.”; However, when asked for him to confirm that not only would the same number of areas be retained that also the same number of people capacity would also be kept the same, he replied that the answer was complicated. He has promised to get back to us on that (as of Jan 2022).
The most used feature of the park are the Picnic areas. So this is an important element in understanding the impact of moving current picnic sites. Currently, most tables are shaded by the woodland trees. With many of the woodland picnic areas being removed from the heart of the woodland, it is unclear currently how shade will be provided to the new picnic locations and if the treasured family experience of picnicking under trees will be able to be replicated in the new locations.
Ways to Take Action and Help
If you use the picnic areas, please use the comments below. Tell us how often. For some visitors, picnics at the park are a long tradition. If that is the case for you, please let us know in your comment below. Do you have ideas for improving the picnic areas? Do you have questions? Please put that in your comment too.
Other ways to help:
- Let others know of this website so they can come up to speed on what is happening
- Stay in touch – be notified when public meetings on the Reimagine plan are occurring
- Provide your feedback, ideas, questions, and concerns using the comment form below
- We plan on doing online surveys here — please participate in those as they appear