Atherton has exactly one public park. Not the flagship, not the main one among several. One. Holbrook-Palmer Park's 22 acres hold the town's only public tennis courts, only public playground, only public picnic ground, and the only lawn where a permit turns a backyard-sized gathering into a legal one. If the trails are what you walk after work, or you're the one wrangling a folding table for a birthday party, there is no second option a mile down the road. It's this park, or your own property line.
That single-site structure is why the last few months at Holbrook-Palmer have felt bigger than they should. Three separate things changed there this year. Because there's no alternate green space to absorb the difference, residents felt every one of them.
The Court Fight Finally Got a Verdict
For years, the park's six tennis courts sat mostly empty while a temporary pickleball setup on Court No. 1 got busier than anyone planned for. In July, the Town Council settled it. The clay court, which had become a maintenance headache, will convert back into a standard hard court, and Court No. 1 will stop being "temporary" and become a permanent pickleball court.
Vice Mayor Rick DeGolia framed the trade plainly at the meeting that decided it.
"I think the right solution for us is to convert the clay court back to a hard court and to make Court No. 1, which is the shared pickleball court, a permanent pickleball court."
The demand behind the decision was real. Catherine Westover, a frequent user of the pickleball court, told the council that players routinely stay up until midnight a week in advance just to grab a weekend reservation slot. M.J. Davey, another resident who plays regularly, pushed for more afternoon availability because her work schedule didn't line up with the existing hours. One voice at the meeting, identified in coverage only as Roeser, summed up the fix in one sentence: convert the clay court to hard court, and both sides get more time.
The town is paying for the conversion out of its Tennis Fund, which holds roughly $200,000, with additional donations from residents expected to help cover the rest. If you've held a tennis key for years and never thought twice about the second court from the left, this is the year it changed use.
A Playground That's Been Fenced Off Since May
The park's playground has a longer backstory than most people realize. In 2023, a routine inspection found significant deterioration in the support posts of the play structure built for children ages 5 to 12. The town spent close to $70,000 on emergency repairs and reopened the structure that August, then turned to residents with a survey asking what a full rebuild should look like. The answers were specific: swings, shade, upgraded restrooms, and a nature-inspired design over anything more traditional or fitness-focused.
That process is why the playground has been fenced off since Monday, May 4, 2026. The renovation now underway is the outcome of the conversation the town started after the 2023 structural problems, not a new surprise. If you've been rerouting a stroller around orange fencing all summer, that's the project residents asked for two years ago finally arriving.
Here's how the three changes line up against each other:
| What changed | Since when | What it means if you use the park |
|---|---|---|
| Clay court converts to hard court; Court No. 1 becomes permanent pickleball | Approved July 2026 | Reservation patterns and available hours will shift once construction finishes |
| Playground rebuild | Closed since May 4, 2026 | The fenced area near the entrance stays off-limits until the rebuild is done |
| Coyote advisory | Issued September 2, 2026 | Leash your dog and time walks around dawn and dusk with more care |
The Notice That Showed Up Last Week
On September 2, just five days ago, Atherton Police Chief Steven D. McCulley sent residents a formal coyote awareness bulletin. The department is seeing more sightings across town, specifically near open-space corridors, parks, and residential neighborhoods, which puts Holbrook-Palmer squarely in the pattern.
The guidance is direct:
- Supervise small children outdoors, especially near dawn or dusk
- Keep dogs on a leash and never leave pets unattended in yards
- Secure garbage, compost, and any outdoor food sources
The advisory also spells out what the town legally can and cannot do, which matters if you're expecting a quick fix. Under California Department of Fish and Wildlife guidelines, a sighting alone does not count as a threat. Relocation is prohibited, since relocated coyotes rarely survive and can spread conflict to new areas. Lethal removal is only authorized after a coyote has shown aggressive or predatory behavior toward people. Those limits apply statewide, not just in Atherton.
For a park that already requires leashes everywhere and has no designated off-leash area, the practical change isn't the rule itself. It's the timing. A dawn loop before work now carries a different risk calculus than it did over the summer.
What One Park Teaches You About This Town
The town's own visitor survey found that a majority of respondents visit Holbrook-Palmer Park at least once a month, and 42 percent visit weekly. Just over half of those visitors live in Atherton itself. The rest come from Menlo Park and Redwood City, drawn to the one park in the area that reads more like a private arboretum than a municipal lot.
That's the part worth sitting with. A scheduling fight over six tennis courts, a playground rebuild, and a wildlife bulletin would be minor footnotes in a town with three or four parks spreading the load. In Atherton, they land on the same 22 acres, in the same season, for the same people who have nowhere else to take a walk or book a court. When you have exactly one park, every rule change is a town-wide event whether it means to be or not.
If you're weighing a move to Atherton, or you already call it home and want a clearer read on how a town this size makes decisions that affect daily routines, the Buljan Group has spent decades tracking the details that don't show up in a listing description. Reach out to schedule a confidential consultation.