Seacliff Village Park Ribbon Cutting & Grand Opening

Twenty-Year Community Effort Finally Reaches Goal

Supervisor Zach Friend, Parks Director Jeff Gaffney, Parks Commissioner Kate Minott, Community Activist Pepper Golesh, members of the Seacliff Improvement Association and many local residents were there to help celebrate the long-awaited Seacliff Village Park.

Culminating almost 20 years of work by community leaders including Pepper Golesh and Kate Minott, Santa Cruz County Parks staff, Supervisors Ellen Pirie and Zach Friend, Seacliff Village Park was officially opened to the public at 1:40 p.m. on Thursday December 10. Located along McGregor Dr. between Searidge Rd and Canterbury Dr., the new Seacliff Village Park is a 1.4-acre facility featuring in this first phase a play area with play structures including swings, a climbing net with a lighthouse theme. Earth Works Contractors, Inc completed site work for the first phase in less than six months.

Future additions are planned to include a small plaza area, multiple walkways, a picnic area with ADA picnic tables, drinking fountain, bike rack, benches, a sidewalk along McGregor and drought tolerant landscaping throughout the park.

Pepper Golesh and her husband drove two and one-half hours from their current home to attend the ceremonies. “I can’t be more thrilled today,” said Pepper, who led the group Seacliff Needs a Park. “It took concerned neighbors and friends to get together for this park to become a realization.”

Karen and John Hibble of the Aptos Chamber were there with the official ribbon and scissors for the ceremony. The Seacliff Improvement Association President Will Roblin spoke to the assembled crowd during the grand opening along with Parks Director Jeff Gaffney, Parks Commissioner Kate Minott, Pepper Golesh and Supervisor Zach Friend accompanied by his son Elliott.

In June of 2015 the Board of Supervisors provided the final funding to make construction a reality after so many years of community effort. The genesis for a community park for Seacliff was when Pepper Golesh and others realized in 1997 that the area along McGregor Dr. was being planned for development. Not wanting Seacliff to become just another site for a strip mall, the Seacliff Village Plan Committee was formed as part of the Seacliff Village Improvement Association to work with the county in developing the Seacliff Village Plan.

Their effort to formalize a community plan for Seacliff, which included a 3-acre public park, seemed to go down to defeat in 2005 when a special election for Measure V to fund the park and other improvements was defeated by less than 25 votes.

Ten years later on December 10, 2015 those who had not given up the effort for a Seacliff Village Park gathered together for the formal ribbon cutting that showed their victory in the quest to have a neighborhood 1-1/4 acre community park for its residents.

During those ten years County Supervisor Ellen Pirie, parks advocate Kate Minott, local resident Pepper Golesh along with the Seacliff Improvement Association kept the dream alive for the future the 1-1/4 acre park. In 2008, the County released a “Proposed Draft Master Plan” just in time for the economic recession and then the loss of redevelopment funding forced shelving plans for construction of the park. However, the community and the county kept the plan alive for the day when it could become a reality

Immediately after his election as Supervisor in 2012, Zach Friend was made aware of the community’s determination to see a park built on the site. The effort to make the dream a reality finally gained traction when in January of 2014, the county released a detailed Site Plan showing the features and amenities of the future park. Money from the state was found, grants were approved, and the board of supervisors made the park’s construction a part of the county’s budget.

Now as you go by Seacliff Village Park you will see happy children, parent and residents all taking advantage of this amazing new community resource. Chances are that three of those enjoying the day there will be Zach and Tina Friend with their son Elliott.