The vision for Van Buskirk Renovation Project is becoming a reality after the Stockton City Council approved a $1.3 million contract for the final design.
Design Workshop, Inc, an international design company, was awarded a contract to produce the final designs and environmental documents for the multiphase project to reuse the 192-acre golf course in south Stockton on Dec 3.
Vice Mayor Kimberly Warmsley, a south Stockton resident representing the community as the District 6 council member, says the project to reopen the golf course has been long overdue.
“South Stockton has waited so long for this greenspace to be redesigned and given back to its rightful trust holders, which is the community,” Warmsley said. “The Van Buskirk family donated that greenspace and golf course to the community.”
Final designs for the park are expected to be finished by winter 2025, with construction beginning around spring 2026. Renovating the former municipal golf course is expected to cost millions of dollars, which city officials say they plan to pay for it piecemeal with the help of government grants.
This latest allocation of funds was paid for by the California Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization (SPP) program, which the city council accepted back in April 2024. According to the legislation text, funding the final designs for the project won’t cost the city a dime as there are sufficient funds to cover the cost.
The Van Buskirk reuse project is split into two phases, with the first phase being the creation of two additional basketball courts, BMX tracks, and bike trails, among other items concentrated around the existing community center.
Phase two of the project will focus on green spaces such as a community garden, multi-purpose fields, picnic area, water play area and trails connecting the two halves of the park together. Some of the existing fairways located on the corner of Fresno and Houston avenues will be saved in the renovation process.
Stockton City Council moved forward with the two-phase master plan in Jan 2023, approximately three years after the golf course’s closure.
Golfing on the fairway ceased in Aug 2019 after the city council deemed it no longer profitable to operate two municipal golf courses after removing a golfing subsidy.
Stockton established a subsidy for both Swenson and Van Buskirk golf courses to help it break even following a decline in golfing in 2010. Stockton initially paid $160,000 a year to cover the shortfall but the decline grew and by 2019 the subsidy ballooned to $700,000 per year.
Following contract negotiations between the city and KSM Swenson, LLC. It was decided that Van Buskirk was closed to “avoid competition with the new lease at Swenson” alongside a $350,000 payment for repairs and improvements at Swenson.
A long-term plan to reuse the park was promised by the council, however the decision to close the park did not bode well with the south Stockton community. Warmsley said it was an emotional and painful experience for residents at the time, who, she says, had historically been underserved.
“There is a lot of unresolved trauma in south Stockton and there is alot of community members who feel like there is this historic disinvestment in the community and rightfully so,” Warmsley said. “…When Van Buskirk was closed it caused so much significant pain and retraumatization to people.”
Two current council members, District 2 Dan Wright and District 4 Susan Lenz, voted to close Van Buskirk in 2019. Five years later, both council members voted to support the reuse of Van Buskirk with the funding of the final designs.
Wright and Lenz did not respond to requests for comment.
According to Warmsley, the city hasn’t received full funding for the entire park, noting there isn’t an exact timeline for the completion of the project. Warmsley remains hopeful that the city’s continued effort to reinvest in the South Stockton community will pay off.
“I don’t think that there is a timeline for full completion of the golf course but we are definitely walking in the direction of restoring,” Warmsley said. “But it’s going to take a lot more money for it to be fully restored but I’m confident that our council and leaders of the community will ensure that Van Buskirk is not forgotten.”