Volunteers build a play structure at West Sacramento’s Bryte Park in 2015.
Renée C. Byer
Sacramento Bee file
A $63 million upgrade for West Sacramento’s Bryte Park cleared its last hurdle this week, marking the largest investment in a public facility in the city’s history for a neighborhood that residents in the area said has been long overlooked.
West Sacramento’s largest park will now feature soccer and softball fields, a swimming pool, splash pad, aquatics center, a new playground, a dog park and tennis courts, according to the contract. The fields will have both synthetic turf and natural grass.
“A dream is fulfilled,” said Washington Unified School Board Trustee Vannessa Castro, a lifelong resident of the Bryte and Broderick neighborhoods.
“For too long, neighborhoods like Bryte-Broderick have gone without the level of resources and amenities they deserve,” she later added.
The West Sacramento City Council approved Wednesday a $48 million contract with a construction company and a $15 million federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui. The Washington Unified School District Board, which owns the land, approved Thursday sharing the amenities with its students while preserving the property for the public under a new agreement.
A rendering shows how West Sacramento’s largest park will receive a $63 million upgrade. The renovations for Bryte Park are decades in the making. The city of West Sacramento
The Sacramento River, residential homes and two schools border Bryte Park. Currently, faint white lines outline soccer fields, dirt lots serve as baseball diamonds and a playground sits under a green awning.
Rhonda Pope Flores, of the Broderick and Bryte Neighborhood Association, said residents for decades pushed the City Council to invest in West Sacramento’s north area and breathe new life into the park. Some advocates died before their advocacy materialized, she said.
But Pope Flores said she became a permanent fixture at City Council meetings — wielding a petition signed by hundreds — to sway city officials. Years went by with her pleas falling short before West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero and Councilmember Norma Alcala helped shore up support to revamp the park, Pope Flores said.
“It still doesn’t feel real to me, yet,” she said. “It will feel real when we see the construction happening.”
The work is scheduled to begin in June and must be completed within 18 months, according to the city and the contract awarded to Santa Clara-based company Robert A. Bothman Construction.
Guerrero said the park offers climate-resilient infrastructure and new jobs for the local economy.
“Today we are delivering on that vision with one of the most transformative park investments in West Sacramento,” she said.
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Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.