Westlake Park Stayed Public. So What Happens to the Field Now?

"The all-day Saturday is kind of like a sticking point for me," Councilmember Pamela DiGiovanni said at a June council meeting. She was talking about the Olympic Club's offer to rebuild the field at Westlake Park, as SFGATE reported. Three months later that offer is gone. The Saturday question is settled for now. The question underneath it, how the field gets fixed and who pays, is still open.

On September 4, 2026, the Olympic Club told Daly City it was "respectfully withdrawing from the MOU authorized in June of this year between Daly City and the Olympic Club regarding the Westlake Park fields," according to a letter quoted by the resident group Save Westlake Park. The group's site now says "Nothing is signed." For families who use the field on weekends, that means the park keeps working the way it does now. The field also stays in the condition that started the conversation in the first place.

What the club offered, and what it wanted back

The proposal was big. The Olympic Club offered about $10 million to replace the natural grass with artificial turf. It also planned spectator stands, lighting, scoreboards, a club building, fencing, updated tennis courts and new pickleball courts. The club proposed paying $50,000 a year in rent and covering water costs. The deal would have run 20 years, with three five-year extensions.

In return, the club asked for priority on about 30% of the field's bookable hours. That included all day Saturday, and the club also suggested using the park on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Public recreational access would have been guaranteed at no less than 25 hours a week.

Saturdays were where the plan ran into trouble. At the June 22 meeting, Councilmember Juslyn Manalo said she "grew up in Daly City and that field definitely needs some love." She also said she wanted groups like the Daly City Jr. Giants to keep running their programs there. DiGiovanni called the park "all we have left," and said youth "really need a place to be involved, to be outside for activities and especially sports."

How fast it unwound

The talks took more than a year. Once the plan went public, it came apart in a single summer:

1. 2025: City officials begin talks with the Olympic Club.
2. June 2026: The club presents its plan to the city council on June 22. Over the summer, the city signs an agreement to explore the deal.
3. August 12: The club pauses its "existing plan" and cancels a community meeting set for the next evening.
4. August 13: About 50 people rally at the park, 145 Lake Merced Blvd., carrying signs that read "Westlake Park is not for sale or lease."
5. September 4: The club formally withdraws from the MOU.

In its August 12 statement, the club said that "pausing to listen and to refine our proposal will result in a stronger, more constructive presentation when we return to the city and the community." Olympic Club Athletic Director Nick Lusson told SFGATE the club had been looking for field space for over 100 years. He also said the club had already used the Westlake field more than 40 times in the previous year and a half for soccer, lacrosse and other sports. The September letter ended the MOU. It did not end the club's need for field space.

The field still needs money, and the city is short of it

The proposal got a hearing for a reason. SFGATE, citing the San Francisco Chronicle, reported that Daly City has struggled with its finances, partly because of cuts in state funding and partly because it has few major employers bringing in property taxes. Some officials and the club described the partnership as a way to revitalize the park without the city spending its own money on repairs. Before the club pulled back, city spokesperson Leilani Ramos said in a statement that "the city has an obligation to listen when a longstanding community partner presents an opportunity to make a significant investment in Daly City's public assets."

Today Westlake Park has outdoor tennis courts, a community center, a large grass field and a small playground. The most recent improvement SFGATE cited was the fitness court renovation in 2023. The city's 2026-27 budget lists a Westlake Park master plan as a priority, and $70,000 was budgeted in 2025 to develop it. Set that against the club's offer and the gap is clear. The city has set aside money to plan the park. The withdrawn offer was 140 times that amount, and it was money to build.

Residents at the August rally suggested a different way to close that gap: asking voters to approve a tax measure for park upgrades. That idea, the master plan and any future partnership offer are the three ways the field's next chapter could be paid for. All three are still on the table.

Marchbank Park shows the kind of deal Daly City has already made

Daly City has already agreed to a private partnership for a field once. In January 2026, Sacred Heart Cathedral and the city broke ground on a Marchbank Park Field renovation, with the ceremony held Tuesday, January 27. Placing the two deals side by side shows where Westlake's terms went further.

The two deals buy similar things: turf, seating and a scoreboard. Saturdays are where they differ most. Under the city's Marchbank FAQ, Sacred Heart Cathedral gets "some Saturdays" and its weekday time is limited to the after-school window. The Westlake plan asked for every Saturday, all day. That was the term DiGiovanni singled out in June, and it was the part of the plan residents objected to most.

Marchbank won't open right away. The city's March 2026 request for proposals for a construction inspector describes a full rebuild. The listed work includes dugouts with storage, a combination bullpen and batting cage, perimeter netting, and new drainage and irrigation. That RFP also mentions sports field lighting. The city's FAQ, however, says lighting is not in the current scope and that the project will put in the electrical infrastructure for lights that could be added later. In the meantime, Marchbank is a live example of the shared-use terms Daly City has accepted, and anyone can go look at it.

What Westlake regulars can expect this season

The field and community center are still public and still on the city's recreation calendar. The Daly City Colma Chamber of Commerce calendar listed Daly City Recreation's Trunk or Treat at Westlake Park, 111 Lake Merced Blvd., on Saturday, October 24, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. That's an evening event on a Saturday at the park, the same day of the week the Olympic Club proposal would have reserved.

Further out on the same calendar:

• November 7, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.: The Daly City Arts & Culture Commission's 33rd Día de los Muertos Celebration at City Hall, 333 90th St.
• December 5, 4 to 7 p.m.: Daly City Recreation's Frosty Snow Fest, with the venue listed as TBD.

Daly City's Recreation Services Fall 2026 Activity Guide lists the city's regular programs.

The next public step on Westlake is the master plan the budget calls for. Whoever brings the next proposal, whether it's the city, a community group or a returning partner, will be working with a known starting point. Westlake has a grass field that council members agree needs work, a $70,000 planning budget, and a Saturday schedule residents have shown they will turn out to protect. Save Westlake Park keeps a sign-up list and contact address on its site for anyone who wants updates.

If you own a home near Westlake Park and want to know how nearby park and field projects factor into what your property is worth, Nick Villanueva can walk you through it using current Daly City numbers. Get your instant home valuation to start, and reach out when you want a local read on what the numbers mean for your block.