Published on April 09, 2025
Ground has officially been broken on the Closter Park Revitalization Project! The Project will include improvements identified by community such as:
A community-driven transformation made possible through local, state, and federal partnerships, including Prop 68, ARPA, and City funds. Construction is anticipated to start in early April of 2025. The Project has an 18-month construction period and is expected to open the Fall of 2026.
The California Department of Parks and Recreation Office of Grants and Local Services (OGALS) selected the City of Salinas Closter Park Improvements application for funding. The grant award is for $6.8 Million Dollars and will fund a comprehensive renovation of Closter Park. There was a total of $548.3 Million in available funding for the fourth and final round of the Statewide Park Program. OGALS received 468 applications totaling $2.43 Billion dollars in project requests. This is a highly competitive program, and Salinas was one of 112 successful applicants. A key to our successful application was our extensive community engagement for the grant and having a strong Parks, Recreation and Libraries Master Plan.
The Library Community Services Department completed a Parks, Recreation and Libraries Master Planning effort in 2019, which included a full assessment of our park, recreation and library facilities. Following this assessment and extensive community engagements in developing key project recommendations, strategies and a capital investment plan, Closter Park was ranked as the highest priority based on community need, significance, funding leverage, safety/security, usage/benefits and location/demographics. Closter Park is heavily used by the community and hosts hundreds of people daily on the basketball courts, large playground, multiple ball fields, in the community center and jogging or walking around the par