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Renderings show what the new nature space behind the Atherton Library might look like when completed. Courtesy town of Atherton. 
Renderings show what the new nature space behind the Atherton Library might look like when completed. Courtesy town of Atherton. 
Renderings show what the new nature space behind the Atherton Library might look like when completed. Courtesy town of Atherton.
A project to build a children’s nature space near the Atherton Library has been delayed after the town rejected all bids it received because they exceeded the project’s budget.
The Atherton City Council enthusiastically approved plans in February for a nature-based play area and children’s garden behind the library. The design featured several natural play structures, including a small willow hut, a “treehouse,” a tunnel of branches, boulders, stumps, benches and pathways.
“It’s a nature space; it’s filled with natural components, and not a playground,” Public Works Director Robert Ovadia said at the time. “It doesn’t have swings, doesn’t have monkey bars, doesn’t have things like that in it.”
Miller Company Landscape Architects, which designed the project, estimated construction would cost $438,000. However, none of the four companies that bid on the project came close to that figure. Modernscapes Innovations initially submitted the lowest estimate at $447,840 but later reported a “significant clerical error” that caused it to undercount site furnishings and garden features by $100,000.
Modernscapes’ corrected estimate of $547,840 would have remained the lowest, but the company was forced to withdraw its bid because the time to submit bids had closed. The next lowest bid, from Suarez & Munoz Construction, came in at $730,000.
Town staff recommended the council reject all bids and rebid the project. A new request for bids was published on Oct. 1 and closes on Oct. 28. The town hopes to award a construction contract at its Nov. 19 council meeting.
Atherton’s library is operated by the San Mateo County Library Joint Powers Authority, which manages libraries across the county. While SMCL is funded by property taxes, if it receives more property taxes from a city than it needs to run that city’s library, half of the surplus goes into a special fund that must be used to provide library services in the city.
Because Atherton’s property tax revenues are so high, its library fund has built up a large balance that the town has struggled to spend. The children’s area was intended as one way to use those restricted funds. As of June 2025, the fund held $2.5 million after it grew by $1.6 million in fiscal year 2024-25.
Before bids were submitted, SMCL planned to use $600,000 from the fund for the children’s area and the town’s administrative costs related to the project. In total, SMCL expected to draw about $1.37 million from the fund for various purposes, including $375,000 for aesthetic upgrades and design work on solar carports and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.
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Possibly the worst renderings I have seen in years. Have they not heard of AI. Lol.