Politics & Government

Marin Bocce Federation to Add Improvements at Albert Park Courts

Marin Bocce Federation gets 15 more years added to their agreement.

The Marin Bocce Federation plans to renovate the bocce courts at without costing the city a dime, thanks to a loan from a local bank.

The renovations will include installing new solar panels at the bocce complex and regular repairs of the courts. The plan, , will also add 15 more years to their agreement, after it expires in 2015.

Approximately 50,000 people play bocce in Albert Park every year, Community Services Director Carlene McCart said.

Leagues play from March through October, and the complex is also used for several fundraising and corporate events throughout the year.

Bocce ball first came to Albert Park in 1994, when the city made an agreement with the Federation to use the southwest portion of the park to operate the complex.

The agreement came in a wave of new improvements, including a new playground and garden, meant to revitalize the area.

In the 1980s, “[Albert Park] was not a place where people felt secure to play or rest,” McCart said.

The Federation put over $1.1 million worth of improvements into the bocce complex for the past 18 years, according to the staff report. The Federation also saves the city hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by operating the complex at the level it does, McCart said.

“The park has really expanded in the past 18 years, and so much of that has to do with the positive activity the bocce complex has brought into the area,” she said.

Although no neighbors attended public meetings about extending the agreement, some wrote city staff expressing their support.

Debbie Lawson, who lives two blocks from the bocce complex, wrote:

“[The bocce games] draw mature, engaged, healthy groups of people who can celebrate living in the community and playing a sport that is good for all ages. There is not a better use for such an area than that in my opinion.”

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