MarinIJ: Mill Valley Adopts Boyle Park Master Plan

The Mill Valley City Council has approved a master plan for Boyle Park.

“We have a gem of a park that people really love and cherish for what it is,” Mayor Max Perrey said before the unanimous vote on Monday. “It’s less about, how do we improve it in terms of new facilities or new amenities, and more for, how do we preserve it so that the existing facilities will stand the test of time?”

“This is a roadmap and not a blueprint,” Vice Mayor Caroline Joachim said. “I support having a clear, long-range framework for Boyle Park.”

The plan was presented by Naomi Gray, chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission. It highlighted 13 priorities for the park, which has two baseball fields, an open lawn, five tennis courts, a children’s playground, a redwood grove and shaded seating areas near those amenities and along a creek.

The parks commission and landscape architects began collaborating in 2024. Their plan includes installing new paths for pedestrians and bikes, replacing restrooms, improving tennis courts and other sports facilities, installing new picnic tables and other amenities, replacing the children’s play area and improving fencing and park entrances.

The total estimated cost of all 13 priorities ranges from about $8.6 million to $10.7 million, according to a staff report.

“Improvements can be phased and scaled, effectively allowing à la carte,” the report said.

Gray highlighted several suggestions, starting with creating paths along the park’s spine and perimeter, improving the restrooms and resurfacing tennis courts.

“We have a laundry list of several million dollars’ worth of work that needs to be digested over time, and just to be clear to the public, we’re proposing to start with a relatively modest investment of about $500,000 related to the most used part of the park right now,” Councilmember Stephen Burke said.

The city’s upcoming two-year budget, starting July 1, will include $341,000 for the tennis courts, $30,000 for the tennis pro shop and $209,000 for picnic area improvements.

Members of the council praised the parks committee’s overall vision and planning effort. They also weighed in on various projects, estimated costs and details affecting the park’s character.

City consultants, for example, suggested installing paved paths throughout the park and widening a bridge over a creek, an estimated $2 million expense.

Councilmember Urban Carmel opposed paved paths and a wider bridge. Gravel would better fit the natural setting and narrower paths are safer, he said.

Council members also questioned the estimated $1.9 million cost to replace two restrooms, one by the tennis courts and another by the ball fields. Ashley Howe, the city parks and recreation director, said the estimate was in line with other Marin communities. Residents there expressed more satisfaction with replaced rather than remodeled bathrooms, she said.

Members of the council highlighted several areas where they would have to balance competing needs as projects move into the design phase. One area concerned how pedestrians and cyclists would use paths. Another concerned how dog owners would interact with picnic areas and ball fields.

Councilmember Katherine Jones, the council liaison to the parks panel, noted that the parks department’s top priority for 2026 is creating a “pump track” — or circuit of banked turns and jumps — for young cyclists. The Boyle Park master plan does not include a pump track.

“The thing I’ve heard at these meetings over and over again, and through this report, is that Boyle Park is the heart of our community and it is pretty awesome the way that it is,” she said. “So you don’t see in any of these iterations and complete overhaul.”

“We’re making sort of an overall plan and I think we will be getting into the nitty gritty in the years to come,” she said.