New Recreation Offices Building Advances at Piper Park — Commission Says It's Been Left Out

The City Council has approved just over $3 million for a new recreation offices building at Piper Park, replacing an old public works trailer near the EV parking area. The 2,500-square-foot building would include staff offices, a public counter, a multipurpose room with both interior and exterior access, and four single-occupancy restrooms — three facing the park, one interior. The project also carries the possibility of expanded EV charging, potentially including fast Level 3 chargers if PG&E capacity allows.

“There haven't been any identified steps that require any input or decision making from parks and wreck... we can certainly chat about... a step where we need to have a check-in.”— Julian Skinner, Public Works Director

Staff is running the project through a two-step design-build process, first narrowing a field of qualified teams via RFQ, then soliciting detailed proposals before bringing a contract recommendation to Council. Public Works Director Julian Skinner told commissioners the bidding has now been opened to both prefabricated and traditional construction teams, widening competition beyond the original prefab-only approach.

That news landed well, but it didn't ease commissioners' frustration that they've had no formal role in shaping a building that sits squarely in their department's territory. Commissioner Capel noted the Commission has had no identified input into the project, and another commissioner recalled fighting hard for a permanent building rather than a shipping container, only to watch the design process unfold without their involvement.

Skinner acknowledged there hasn't been a formal checkpoint built in for the Commission but left the door open. Staff plans to keep updating commissioners on project milestones as the design-build process moves toward a Council contract award.

Free Sunscreen Dispensers Proposed for Piper Park

A nonprofit called Sunsafe Marin pitched the Commission on installing two free public sunscreen dispensers at Piper Park — one near the baseball field bathroom, one near the playground bathroom — along with educational QR-code signage. Founder Sawya Puffy modeled the idea on existing installations at San Domenico School, Belvedere Town Park, and Corte Madera parks, pegging first-year cost at $542 and roughly $224 a year after that for refills.

“Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US, but it's also the most preventable... Just 5 minutes of unprotected sun exposure can inflict lifetime damage.”— Sawya Puffy, Sunsafe Marin

Recreation Director Nick Stone backed moving forward, saying the cost would come out of the recreation budget and that staff or the rec coordinator could handle monitoring and refills without much strain. Commissioners pressed on the practical details: whether Piper Park's much heavier foot traffic compared to smaller sites like Town Park and Belvedere could push real costs higher than estimated, the sunscreen's SPF and hypoallergenic properties, how many applications each dispenser holds, and whether anyone has data showing people actually use the dispensers when they've forgotten sunscreen.

No formal vote was taken, but commissioners reached informal consensus to move ahead with the proposal.