Dead grass and in some cases flooding in Ceres’ newest park became the focus on social media with a councilwoman doing her part to assure citizens the city is on top of things.
Navi Khaira pointed out on the Ceres Community/Incident Feed page of Facebook that after spending $2 million to finish Guillermo Ochoa Park the “sod and sprinkler irrigation has already started to deteriorate. There is no working irrigation, weeds are growing in the beds, and the grass is dying in most of the park. At this rate, the park will soon become a weed field if the city does not take action to maintain it.”
Councilwoman Cerina Otero, whose district encompasses the Eastgate part of Ceres where the park is, responded by posting that “many of us have had this same concern.”
“I have been in contact with city staff,” wrote Otero. “The drainage issue of the water near the covered area will be repaired very soon. As for the dry grass, there was a reduction of watering temporarily due to the repainting of the pickle ball court to minimize the standing water until the drainage repair, and there is another irrigation system repair that will be taking place as soon as the replacement part comes in.
Ceres resident John Warren opined that his landscaping sprinkler system installed 39 years ago needs very little maintenance and none in its first years of service. He asked: “Why is this multi-million dollar project broken/in disrepair in just a short period of time?”
Ochoa Park completed in September 2024. The city spent $1.05 million from the first round of federal ARPA funds, of which $400,000 was allocated to Ochoa Park, and reassigning the $650,000 initially designated to start Lions Park in north Ceres. The council also approved the use of $1,088,100 from the second ARPA allocation of $5.8 million. Another funding source used was $172,000 in neighborhood park development fees.
The city took input from the community at two public workshops, to install picnic tables, benches, a couple of basketball half courts, Pickle ball courts, a 16-foot by 16-foot shade structure with barbecue grills, drinking fountain, doggie-pot waste station and trash receptacles. Grass, shrubs and trees were also added with a full irrigation system.
The complaints about the park’s condition also spun off into concerns about vehicle speeds around the park. Laura Eddie Villa asked the city for speed bumps or some other speed controls installed beyond the crosswalk “for people who come flying around that corner, almost running over individuals.” Otero answered by saying she’s discussed possible solutions with Interim Police Chief Trenton Johnson and City Engineer Michael Beltran.
Criticisms continued, with Colleen Martinez suggesting that the city had a poor concept for the park with only street parking along Kiwi Drive and Fiddle Leaf Lane. Parking, however, was not a consideration because the park was meant to serve the neighborhood.
Public Works Director Sam Royal explained that an automatic valve for the irrigation system failed and there is a six-week backlog for the delivery of a replacement part. In the meantime he said the parks crew is manually turning on the irrigation system “every day.”
The flooding near the one of the shade structures caused the city to adjust the amount of watering there “until we get the issue with the drainage.”
As far as the weeds growing in the flowerbed, Royal said “we do our best to go out to handle this issue” but said “the weeds grow really fast.”
With five parks employees to handle the 14 parks, Royal said “we’re really struggling.”
He said he would gladly welcome volunteers to help out as far as weed pulling and trash pickups.
Otero said some individuals have been seen helping to pick up trash and keep it clean and she applauded them.
