Evicted from Hall Middle School, the Rec Department eyes a new home at Piper Park — for up to $3.5 million
The Larkspur–Corte Madera School District wants its shared office space back, which leaves the city's Recreation Department looking for a new address. On Wednesday night, staff laid out four ways to solve that at Piper Park, near the west parking lot: rent a mobile trailer (about $25,000 to set up and $25,000 a year), rent or buy a 1,400-square-foot mobile classroom (roughly $65,000 setup plus $50,000 a year, or $400,000 to purchase), build a basic 2,400-square-foot permanent modular building at about $3.0 million, or go with a high-end steel modular structure at about $3.5 million. Both permanent options bundle in electrical infrastructure upgrades, an EV charger and new public restrooms built into the building.
Public Works Director Julian Skinner told the council the raw figure works out to just over $1,100 a square foot for modular construction, and that the totals are all-inclusive — design, consultants and staff time. Recreation Director Nick Stone set the table with cell-phone location data from PlacerAI showing Piper Park drew 105,000 visits in 2024, making it the most-visited municipal park in town. City Manager Dan Schwarz took a moment to reassure residents that the city is not tracking any individual person and that such data systems are widespread.
The council split on how much building to buy. Council Member Paulson argued that going cheap now means redoing the work later, close to throwing money away. Council Member Guaraglia called $3.5 million overpriced and said he'd rather put up something that meets the minimum viable need. Council Member Margolis said she'd be comfortable approving a $2 million project but wasn't convinced the restrooms were the best use of the money. Mayor Way defended the spending, calling Piper the main public use area the city has.
Public comment cut both ways. Park & Recreation Commissioner Gene Fidel backed the $3.5 million version, and floated ice skating in the park someday. Resident James Holmes called it ironic to evict one city department only to replace it a few years later with another city structure, and urged the council to look harder at putting Recreation in the library building instead. In the end, no vote: the council directed staff to come back with two permanent modular options, roughly 1,960 and 2,400 square feet, plus details on rebates, partnerships and measure funds that might pay for it — expected around the Oct. 15 meeting.