Mill Valley Parks & Recreation and the Mill Valley Community Center is among the busiest venues in the Bay Area, used for events, meetings, classes, workshops and more.
Parks and Rec don’t rest on their laurels – it’s full steam ahead. As you may have heard, in September 2024, the City Council unanimously backed an array of exciting new measures, from a Boyle Park redesign, clarified rules for Depot Plaza, made the case for vibrancy and much more.
That included Council support for a pair of Sand Volleyball Courts adjacent to Bayfront Field, a massive step forward for a project that has been in the works for several years. Community and City support has remained consistent, though COVID-19 delayed the original project timeline. The City is motivated to complete this project to provide another recreation opportunity for the community. DONATE HERE OR USE THE QR CODE AT RIGHT.
Sand Volleyball supporters, the City of Mill Valley and the Friends of Parks & Recreation are partnering to build two Sand Volleyball courts at Bayfront Park. The courts will be located north of Bayfront Field, near the bike path roundabout.
Work is scheduled to start soon!
Per the Marin IJ, Parks & Rec and private donors will soon build two beach volleyball courts at the northern end of Bayfront Park next to other sports fields. The City Council approved the project’s plans and authorized the city manager to seek construction bids on March 24.
“This has been a community priority. It’s a project which we’ve been working on for quite some time,” Mayor Urban Carmel said. “We’re super happy that the funding is in place now, the approvals are in place and we can implement this vital community asset.”
The courts are being funded by $178,000 in state and city recreation grants and an additional $117,000 in donations from the volleyball community and Mill Valley Friends of Parks and Recreation. The city donated staff time for its design and permitting. City officials cleared the project with several county and state regulatory agencies. The City will build the courts and has budgeted $350K for the project, seeking to build two sand courts for both public and program (kids’ programs, school leagues, adult leagues, private coaching etc.) use.
The City, through a state grant, is funding $175K. Mill Valley Friends of Parks & Recreation will contribute $25K. Organizers seek to get $50k from the volleyball community and plan to raise about $100,000 from a dozen community minded Mill Valley families,” organizers say. “We appreciate you being one of the community minded individuals that make Mill Valley such a wonderful place to live in!” The fencing to support the creation for this new exciting addition to the town will require significant funding.
“This has been an idea that’s been going on for many many years and there’s been stops and starts to it. And some of that is because this is a pretty major construction project,” said Vanessa Justice, whose term on the Mill Valley Parks and Recreation Commission recently ended. In Mill Valley, hundreds of youths play the sport in clubs and programs. For years, enthusiasts have set up makeshift nets and courts on the city’s hockey fields on Sunday, when those fields are closed to organized sports, Justice said.
Beach volleyball has more than 5.5 million players in the United States, up from 3.2 million in 2006, according to Mark Neumann, a city official. In Mill Valley, hundreds of youths play the sport in clubs and programs. “We have had no negative feedback and an overwhelmingly positive response from the community,” says Parks & Recreation Commissioner Tara Huffman.
The county has four courts at the College of Marin, two at Piper Park in Larkspur, one at Dunphy Park in Sausalito and one at San Clemente Park in Corte Madera. A new volleyball court was the first recommendation made in the 2004 Bayfront Park master plan. The plan noted that the location and specifics needed to be researched by staff. The proposed project has been in the queue for a while. In 2022, the city’s recreation office was awarded a state Department of Parks and Recreation grant of $177,952 to plan and construct the courts. Staff said the local volleyball community pledged to raise the remaining $162,500 to install the courts.
City staff estimate the annual revenue for the new courts could be between $5,000 and $10,000. Revenue from sand courts fluctuates. Larkspur at one point received $24,000 in volleyball court revenue and received $8,000 last year, according to a city staff report. Corte Madera’s sand courts generated no revenue last year. Staff recommended hourly fees of $20 per court for nonprofits, $28 for Mill Valley residents, $37 for nonresidents and $42 for commercial users.