'Data Should Drive Projects'
Oct 14, 2025 01:36PM ● By Seth Henderson
West Sacramento is working with Matrix Consulting Group, a firm assisting local governments with detailed analysis and strategic planning, to create a city facilities master plan, according to the city’s capital improvement manager Peter Ibrahim. Hosting the feedback session with Matrix manager Amy Mabey, Ibrahim said that the public comments would influence the plan over the course of 30 years.
To collect as much feedback as possible, Mabey said, she gathered comments from individuals at the senior center, after-school programs and community events, promoting a survey that helps acquire data about how facilities are used and what community members say is missing. As of Oct. 9, more than 350 individuals had responded to the survey.
“Those that have participated in the survey, about 80% use the city facilities regularly and so they rely on having access to them,” Mabey said. “Most people, about 90%, know where the facilities are located and overall, the facilities are in indecent condition.”
Less than 10 community members attended the second feedback session, passionately sharing their opinions of the highs and lows of city facilities in the West Sacramento Community Center. The center is located at 1075 W. Capitol Ave.
Arooj Ahmad, a West Sacramento Parks, Recreation and Intergenerational Services commissioner, raised concerns about the lack of event space, amenities being spread across town and the lack of sports fields, particularly for soccer. She also shared concerns about inadequate park bathrooms, saying that bathrooms can’t be used when they are a public health risk.
“We've had issues where people will take their kids and there's fecal matter and other things at parks because we don't have a bathroom,” Ahmad said. “Take Westfield as an example. Huge green space, no bathrooms. Lots of kids at the park.”
Ibrahim said that the city’s parks and recreation master plan from 2019 would be reevaluated in the analytical survey and study conducted by Matrix. The needs analysis portion of the 2019 assessment will be compared to the current needs analysis, showing where some needs have been met and others have not, according to Ibrahim.
“When we turn to the master plan, there’s still some pushback from the people that are the most vocal,” Ahmad said of her previous experience on the park’s commission.
While it has been a struggle to reach an alignment between the surveys and the culture of West Sacramento, Ahmad said, she is excited that the plan was projected 30 years ahead.
“I want it to actually live up to that promise and not just be on paper that sounds good,” Ahmad said.
According to the capital improvement plan summary in the 2019 master plan, an estimated $179 million was the projected recommendation to be spent over the course of 10 years through sustainable, expanded service and visionary projects.
Sustainable projects were outlined to maintain the city’s current facilities, totaled at an estimated recommendation of $22.2 million for lifecycle replacements and maintenance of park restrooms, benches, playgrounds, irrigation and more, issues that all came up as causes for concern during the feedback session on Oct. 9. Other improvements included new fitness equipment, debt service, habitat evaluation and future master plans.
Expanded service project recommendations were to improve upon current facilities, totaled at an estimation of $16.8 million and focused on creating shaded areas at parks and the recreation center, trail enhancements and improving public access to recreation areas, including educational opportunities.
Visionary project recommendations totaled an estimated $140 million with the majority of funds projected to be for new park developments. Other project highlights included the completion of Bryte and Heritage Oaks parks, expanded fitness opportunities at the Recreation Center and new trail developments.
Mabey said that Matrix will consult with city staff, gauging the likelihood and reality of implementing the recommendations suggested as a result of the survey analysis. She said that Matrix’s master plan is designed to be a checklist that “meets you where you’re at, currently.” Even information not related to the master plan will get relayed to the city, especially if it’s a safety concern.
Hossein Edalati, a coach and technical advisor with the West Sacramento Soccer Club, said that he has asked for the raw survey data from the 2019 master plan but was unable to acquire that information from the city. The information was not available in the master plan’s appendix.
“In this day and age, when there's so much data that's relatively available,” Edalati said, “why don't we use data from the school district, from population, demographics to figure out what's the population growth of the city, what are the demographics age-wise, what are demographics ethnically? Where are the hotspots to make informed decisions?”
Edalati said that planning has been based more on which interest groups are the most vocal about certain issues but should focus more on what data was gathered to foster the desired and projected growth to the area.
One participant raised concerns over the lack of river access, especially for handicapped individuals. She said that general handicap access in West Sacramento was “pathetic,” stating that electric bicycles are not being enforced properly on the trails and that it’s only a matter of time “before you have a deadly accident.” The participant said she walks the trails almost daily.
Mabey said that underutilized city facilities could be considered as part of expansion projects to make them more usable for the city’s growing population. Edalati piggybacked on that, saying that Westmore Oaks Park has been out of commission for quite some time, with the potential for it to become a sports complex “but the money’s maybe just not there.”
Ibrahim said that the sports complex would be a recommendation to the city if it is not already considered in the master plan.
“There's a lot of different components that are drawn into this” Mabey said, “but the data sets alone can't paint the entire picture of the community but absolutely should be used and will be used as part of this.”
Another participant raised concerns over the community pool’s operating hours and the lack of parking at local parks. Using Bridgeway Lakes Community Park as an example, he said that cars are parked illegally on Southport Parkway because of the multiple soccer games held there.
The participant said that the park was designed without parking taken into consideration and that “now we have to live with that.” He said that new development ideas seem to be grand ideas that get chipped away to build more housing but the overcrowded parks and schools won’t be able to sustain that growth.
“I think the programs are really important to inform, frankly, the needs of the facilities,” Mabey said. “And so if there's specific desired program needs or maybe it's the time that they're offered or the accessibility of different resources, I think that's absolutely critical to this because otherwise, we may be building out facilities as needed but we're not matching with the actual needed programs of the community.”
Mabey said that part of the discussion is to not necessarily recommend specific programs such as sports or community events but rather inform the City of West Sacramento how it should move forward, based on their responses and analytics.
Edalati spoke to the aforementioned divide of amenities across town, citing an anecdotal sentiment of division within the city, which some session participants acknowledged. He said he was happy to see businesses such as The BLVD because it attracts patrons and business to the area.
West Sacramento Soccer Club program director and life-long West Sacramento resident Rico Novoa added to Edalati’s sentiment, saying that the northern and southern parts of town are very distinct with nothing in the middle, except for a connection to travel across.
Novoa also added to the concerns about parking and handicap accessibility while playing competitive soccer at Summerfield Park. He said that the park also lacks a crosswalk, increasing the risk of an accident during high-traffic hours.
With the growth of recreation sports programs, Novoa said there are sometimes approximately 600 people at a park with a one-stall restroom, calling bathroom issues a “consistent fail” for the city.
Lighted space was also lacking in the city, Novoa said, as there are only two sporting facilities lit up at night, being Bryte Park and River City High School. Novoa said most sports programs are limited to the summertime because the battle to reserve lighted spaces throughout the year is ongoing.
“I hope it's overwhelming in the sense that we just need more community spaces and accessible as far as outdoor spaces and then building on to indoor spaces,” Novoa said.
Mabey said that information from the survey will be published in early November and Ibrahim said that the master plan is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Ibrahim said the plan will be revisited every five years to assure the needs analysis is met and make necessary adjustments.
Matrix Consulting Group’s survey concluded on Oct. 15 and information about it can be found online at https://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/government/departments/community-development/west-sac-facilitie....
To learn more about the City of West Sacramento’s City Facilities Feedback Sessions, visit online https://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/9363/887?curm=10&cury=2025.
To learn more about the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan from 2019, the entire 222 page document can be viewed online at https://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/home/showpublisheddocument/10072/637121797939770000.
For upcoming meetings and events in West Sacramento, visit https://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/government/city-calendar.
