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A small park adjacent to Mountain View Whisman’s Monta Loma Elementary is set to get a $650,000 facelift in the coming years, and the city of Mountain View is going to be paying for it.
The board voted unanimously June 11 to move the project along to the next phase, which is detailed design development. The plan is expected to be finalized in fall 2027, and park construction is expected to start in spring 2028.
The existing park, located to the south of the school in the Monta Loma Recreation Area near Laura Lane and Thompson Avenue, hosts exercise equipment, picnic tables, a children’s play area, bathrooms and open space.
Faryal Saiidnia, a Mountain View public works senior project manager, said that much of the park’s infrastructure, including the playground and concessions building, are more than 20 years old and reaching the “end of useful life.”
Other features like the picnic tables need accessibility improvements because they don’t meet current accessibility standards, Dave Rubin of city contractor Callander Associates told the board.
The updated park design includes new, movable picnic tables, pollinator-friendly landscapes, 600 square-feet of sand play spaces within the children’s play area, retrofitted youth play equipment and an improved picnic area with concrete tables toward the park’s west end.
Monta Loma Park and the surrounding recreation area is owned by the school district. It serves the school and residents in the surrounding neighborhood as part of a longstanding partnership between the district and city, where the city pays for improvements and maintenance of the fields and the district’s open spaces are open to the public after school hours.
Issues with the alliance emerged in 2023 when the district moved to install fencing at Monta Loma’s Little League Field, citing the need for a safer perimeter. Paired with stalled communication between district and city staff, the partnership – established in 1959 – almost crumbled.
Community input guided the additions and improvements city staff added to the design, Rubin told the board. The project process began with a public meeting Dec. 15, 2025, where more than 30 residents described what they would like at the park.
Residents supported a number of enhancements, including pollinator-friendly plants, new drinking fountains, improved picnic and fitness areas, better asphalt and pathways, and added shaded structures to protect kids from the heat.
Conversations from December informed the two conceptual designs that were presented to the community at a meeting on April 30. While the first design’s added shade and retrofitted play areas intrigued those at the meeting, the second design, which included an additional sand play area, new picnic tables and updated fitness equipment, garnered more support. Of the 24 polled residents who attended the April meeting, 19 of them preferred it over the first design.
After the meeting, Rubin said staff received an additional email from 30 residents supporting the design with the added sand area, requesting it be made larger. The design presented to the school board included the addition of an extra sand area.
The trustees were overwhelmingly supportive of the changes.
“I have a 3-year-old,” Trustee Devon Conley told city staff. “Sand is life.”
Because the project will include playground enhancements on school property, the city will have to provide a preview of the work to the California Division of the State Architect, which will assess the safety and accessibility of the design.
“We’re going to continue coordinating closely with the district staff throughout design and construction at the school to minimize impacts to the school’s operations,” Saiidnia said.
Any changes suggested by the DSA will most likely be communicated to the board, Saiidnia told trustees, but she emphasized that many members of the community are pushing for the project’s completion as soon as possible.
