SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco’s Crocker Amazon Park could be getting a massive makeover, and it’s causing some concern among the community, particularly over replacing natural grass baseball fields with artificial turf.
“I think it’s a really big park and as long as they don’t touch all of it, like some of the fields could stay grass for the dogs,” said Tenaya Martinez, who lives nearby.
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The city is splitting the $45 million project 50-50 with the Giants Community Fund.
“This transforms it into one of the premier baseball and softball complexes in the Bay Area,” said Tamara Barak Aparton, spokesperson for San Francisco Recreation and Parks.
The renovations would bump the number of baseball and softball fields from five to six, as well as add batting cages.
“In recent seasons, the grass fields were closed for weeks at a time due to rain, nearly half the spring season last year. That was a time when nobody could go on them. Not the community. Not baseball players. It meant canceled games. It meant it lost practices, and it meant families scrambling,” said Aparton.
The city is also addressing community concerns over the environmental and health impacts of the turf. “This is not the old turf that’s made with crumb rubber infill. These are state-of-the-art. We use natural cork and sand infill. We test for PFAS and other chemicals. We work closely with environmental agencies on every installation,” said Aparton.
Renderings of the project also show a new public gathering space, an additional picnic area, new pathways, and lighting, and two new dog parks.
To make this all possible, some trees will be removed, and protest signs around the park from an opposition group show that’s a problem for some.
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“Thirty-one trees will be removed due to the construction, and then 61 trees will be removed based on an arborist recommendation because they are either in failing health or they are hazardous,” said Aparton, noting that for every tree removed, the city says it will be planting two more.
“I personally would love to see them preserve as many trees as they could here, but I understand from a city planning perspective, there might be other alternative uses,” Irene Lee, who also lives nearby.
The project still needs to go through a few steps before getting approved, including the board of supervisors signing off on it; if it gets the go-ahead, the plan is to have it completed in 2028.
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