Santa Rosa Takes a Second Run at Redesigning Downtown's Fremont Park

Santa Rosa is again asking residents how to remake Fremont Park, the 1.7-acre green space between Fourth and Fifth streets downtown, four years after an earlier redesign stalled over concerns that it would erase too much of the park's history.

A community survey is open through Oct. 30 on the city's Fremont Neighborhood Park page, The Press Democrat and KSRO reported. The current construction budget is $3.5 million, not counting design, permitting and administrative costs, and construction is targeted for fall 2028 after more public discussion, a bid process and a City Council vote.

Two designs to react to

About 50 people attended a Sept. 30 community meeting, where consultants from the Berkeley firm MIG presented two concepts. One would remove the long-dry fountain near Fifth Street in favor of terraced seating, add two play areas on the west side and replace the park's rows of yew trees with shade trees. The other would keep a reduced number of yews, put play areas along Fourth Street and turn the fountain's footprint into a raised stage with mounded seating.

MIG landscape architect Cathy Garrett said the schemes can be mixed and matched. City parks planner Scott Wilkinson said the goal is to make the park a place people want to spend time while staying sensitive to its historic fabric. The park is not a designated historic site.

The yews, the lawn and the name

The yews drew the sharpest debate. Supporters say they were central to designer Howard Gilkey's original 1930 plan; critics say they block sightlines across the park. Most attendees agreed on one thing: they don't like artificial turf, which appeared in both proposals.

No plan kept the metal statues of the Cancer Survivors Plaza, installed in 2000. Residents also raised the park's name, citing explorer John C. Frémont's attacks on Native tribes, and Wilkinson called it "a valid question." The Press Democrat noted the state has separately proposed renaming a Frémont-named state park.

With school campuses nearby now fenced, Fremont Park is the only accessible green space in the immediate area, according to The Press Democrat.