Council, community members unite in lengthy discussion leading to unanimous vote to approve master plan
After more nearly two decades of anticipation, revisions and at times sharply divided public debate, the Folsom City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with the long-awaited Benevento Family Park in Empire Ranch, marking a major milestone for what will be the neighborhood’s most unique park yet.
The 5-0 vote approves the park’s master development plan and directs staff to proceed into final design, environmental review and construction bidding. The council also agreed to include several additional features as bid alternates, preserving the option to incorporate them if project costs allow.
For residents who have watched the project evolve for years — and for some who filled the council chambers Tuesday — the decision represented long-awaited progress.
“This park has to be one and done,” Councilmember Sarah Aquino said just before making the motion to approve the resolution. “We know from past experience that subsequent phases either don’t happen or they take decades. We’ve already let one generation of kids and families miss out on this park. We can’t delay any longer.”
The Benevento Family Park site, located near Broadstone Parkway, Carpenter Hill Road and Vista del Lago High School, spans 19 acres, though approximately eight acres are expected to be developed in the initial buildout. The property’s defining features include three distinct terraces, a central pond and significant elevation changes that have complicated both design and construction planning.
City policy requires five acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, and Benevento represents the third of six planned parks in the Empire Ranch area, underscoring its importance as a key piece of Folsom’s long-term recreation system.
At its core, what the council approved is a master development plan — a concept-level roadmap that establishes the park’s layout, circulation and major amenities while aligning with budget constraints and city policies. It is not a final set of construction drawings, meaning design refinements, engineering details and environmental review still lie ahead as the project progresses.
That long road to approval has been shaped as much by community feedback as by design. Earlier versions of the plan presented in September and October 2025 were not supported by residents, prompting city staff to regroup, revise and expand outreach efforts. It wasn’t until a December 2025 “Big Design Reveal” that a revised concept began to gain broader support.
The outreach effort that followed was extensive. More than 1,600 mailers were distributed to nearby households, yard signs were placed throughout the neighborhood, and the city used digital platforms to encourage participation. The process revealed a clear divide within the community, centered on how the park’s upper terraces should be used.
Nearby residents raised concerns about traffic, noise, safety and compatibility if more intensive recreational uses were placed along Carpenter Hill Road, while others advocated for a more active park that would better serve families, students and the broader community. Competing petitions reflected that split, including an earlier effort opposing a parking lot on Carpenter Hill and a later push supporting a more active, community-prepared concept.
To navigate those competing viewpoints, city staff developed multiple concepts, with the key distinction coming down to what officials described as the “character and intensity of use” on the upper terraces.
Concept A — which ultimately formed the foundation of the approved plan — emphasized a balanced design that could be delivered within budget while still providing a complete and functional park. Concept B proposed a more active upper terrace layout with additional amenities and parking access, but came with a significantly higher cost. While the fully built-out version of that concept carried an estimated $8.1 million construction price tag, the city’s available funding required a plan closer to $6 million, forcing trade-offs and reinforcing a consistent reality voiced throughout the process: not every desired feature could be accommodated.
That reality shaped the final outcome. A March survey that drew 545 responses, including roughly 250 from residents within a half-mile of the site, showed about 80 percent support for a design emphasizing active recreation. Residents were asked to weigh in on specific priorities, including whether upper terraces should be active or passive, how to rank sports amenities such as pickleball, basketball, volleyball and multi-use fields, and whether to include features like lighting, shaded areas and a fishing dock.
Park Planning Manager Brad Nelson said the final plan reflects that extensive input.
“We’ve had a huge level of interest and passion from the community throughout this process,” Nelson said. “Our goal is to take that input and translate it into a plan that is both responsive to community priorities and feasible to construct within the available budget.”
The approved design blends active and passive elements across the site. It includes four lighted pickleball courts, a basketball court, a multi-use turf field for soccer and lacrosse, playgrounds for different age groups, picnic areas, looping pathways and scenic overlook points. The central pond will remain a defining feature, surrounded by natural landscaping, trails and open space consistent with the park’s “nature and wellness” theme.
The terrain itself remains one of the project’s defining challenges. Elevation changes of roughly 15 to 20 feet from surrounding roadways into the park require careful grading, circulation planning and ADA-accessible connections between terraces.
The project carries a total budget of approximately $7.9 million, funded entirely through park development impact fees and Quimby funds rather than the city’s general fund. Construction is estimated at about $6 million, including a required 10 percent contingency, with the remainder allocated to design, permitting, administration and a separate $760,000 project contingency.
Nelson outlined several site-related risks that could affect costs, including undocumented fill requiring over-excavation, shallow volcanic bedrock and large subsurface boulders. Earthwork alone is expected to cost around $1 million.
Mayor Justin Raithel cautioned against committing too much of the project’s contingency funds before construction bids are received.
“I just want to make it perfectly clear,” Raithel said, “we’re not going to build this project without reserving some project contingency. I don’t want to get into the project and have no money left over.”
City officials also pointed to a strong track record in cost estimating, noting recent park projects have come in within about 10 percent of initial projections — a factor intended to provide confidence as the project moves forward.
In addition to the base plan, the council directed staff to include several features as additive bid alternates, including lighting for the basketball court, two lighted sand volleyball courts and an accessible fishing dock. Designing those alternates will add roughly $74,000 to the project’s design costs, an expense that would not be recovered if the features are not ultimately constructed.
City Manager Bryan Whitemyer said the final scope will ultimately depend on construction bids.
“We won’t know until we have the bids,” he said. “Once we have the bids, we know what the number available is. It becomes very, very clear.”
Reflecting on the broader process, Whitemyer acknowledged the challenges — and the role the community played in shaping the outcome.
“Sometimes I say to my family, this job would be a lot easier if it weren’t for the people,” he added. “And it’s because of the people that through this journey, we may not have got some of the things that we thought we wanted, but I think we got a lot of things that resonated with the community members who have been involved intimately with this process. I think we’re going to have a park that may not be a revenue generator, but it will be a jewel for that area for a long time.”
Before the vote, Aquino returned to what the moment represents for Empire Ranch residents who have waited years for the park promised when their neighborhood was built.
“We can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good,” she said. “This is a very, very nice park that hopefully we will all be able to enjoy.” As she concluded her comment, those in attendance broke into applause and Mayor Raithel even commented on her “get it done” style pitch to move the item with then passed with all in favor.
With Tuesday’s unanimous vote, the city now moves into environmental review, final design and bidding. If proposals align with current estimates, construction could finally begin on what residents and city leaders alike hope will become the long-awaited centerpiece of the Empire Ranch community — a park decades in the making that is now, at last, moving toward reality.
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