Where does a youth soccer team practice when its home field turns into a three-year construction site? In West Sacramento this fall, the answer is a borrowed field at Bridgeway Lakes Community Park, lit by temporary towers that switch off at 8:30 p.m. Across the city, Heritage Oaks Park in Southport reopened in October after a $7.8 million rebuild. Those two events are connected. Until Bryte Park reopens, the north side's games, practices and playground afternoons depend on parks in other parts of the city, and the recent round of finished projects is carrying most of that weight.
What Closed on the North Side
On Aug. 20, the City of West Sacramento broke ground on the Bryte Park Improvements Project, a $64 million-plus rebuild of a 24.5-acre park. CBS Sacramento has called Bryte the biggest park in West Sacramento. Almost all of it is now off limits.
According to the city's Bryte Park fact sheet, the existing playground, picnic area and restroom stay closed for the length of construction. Park rentals at Bryte are listed as closed through 2029. The city awarded the construction contract to Bothman Construction and is targeting completion for summer 2029, about three years of work. A $15 million federal Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant is part of the funding. On March 18, the City Council approved a $48 million construction contract, which sits inside the larger project total.
The closure has already changed one program. The city's adult softball page says that because the Bryte Park project began this year, the city will not host an adult softball league, and it will offer play again once the project is done. Questions go to the West Sacramento Recreation Center at 2801 Jefferson Blvd., (916) 617-4770.
The Soccer Club's Borrowed Lights
Youth soccer got a workaround. With Bryte unavailable, the city looked for another site and chose Bridgeway Lakes Community Park as "the most practical available City-owned location" for several West Sacramento Soccer Club teams and age groups. That's the wording on the city's Parks & Recreation page.
Daylight was the real issue. As afternoons get shorter, evening practice needs lights, and Bridgeway Lakes didn't have field lighting for that purpose. Here is the city's posted schedule for the temporary lights:
- Started: Wednesday, Oct. 14
- Runs through: November 2026
- Hours: Monday through Friday, dusk to 8:30 p.m., during scheduled soccer practices only
- Expected back: February through about mid-March 2027, depending on daylight
- Permanent? No. The city calls it a temporary accommodation during Bryte construction
That puts the lights in the final weeks of their fall run as this post goes out. The city also says plainly that the extra evening light may affect neighboring households, and it has set up a contact for questions or concerns at [email protected]. So the cost of Bryte's closure doesn't land only on the north side. Some of it lands on the streets around a park miles from the construction fence.
Where the Rest of Bryte's Users Fit
Soccer is the one group the city has publicly relocated. For everyone else, including families who used Bryte's playground, groups who rented its picnic space and ballplayers without a league this season, the replacement is whatever else is open. Here is where things stand at the parks that matter most this fall.
| Park | Status heading into November | What it offers now |
|---|---|---|
| Heritage Oaks Park, 1300 Lake Washington Blvd. | Reopened, ribbon cutting announced Oct. 15, 2026 | Inclusive playground, amphitheater, BMX skills course, picnic pavilion, turf, boardwalk, Emile's Café |
| Bridgeway Lakes Community Park | Open, temporary soccer lights through November | Evening youth soccer practices on weekdays |
| Westacre Park, 1755 Evergreen Ave. | Reopened with July 2026 ribbon cutting | Pickleball courts; spray ground flagged closed pending repairs |
| Southport Levee Recreation Trailhead | Completed summer 2025 | Restroom and plaza, parking, equestrian staging, ADA levee ramp, shade, public art |
| Alyce Norman and Memorial parks | Listed by the city | Baseball and softball fields |
| Bryte Park | Closed through 2029 | None during construction |
A few operating details. The Westacre pickleball courts close for cleaning until 1 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. The city's posted 2026 spray-ground season, which listed Westacre and Bridgeway Lakes, ended Sunday, Sept. 27, so water play across the city is in its off-season. The city's general parks directory may still show Heritage Oaks as closed for construction. The Oct. 15 reopening announcement is the newer word.
Heritage Oaks Came Back as Bryte Went Dark
The timing works out well for the city. Construction at Heritage Oaks began in August 2025, and about 14 months later the 9-acre park reopened. That was roughly eight weeks after Bryte's groundbreaking. For the next few years, the city's newest full-featured park is in Southport, while its biggest park is behind construction fencing on the north side.
Here's what the city's reopening announcement lists:
- An inclusive playground and a river-themed spray ground
- An outdoor amphitheater
- A BMX skills course with skate features
- A picnic pavilion and a multi-use turf area
- Pollinator gardens, walking trails, outdoor fitness stations and an elevated boardwalk
- 29 new parking spaces, improved lighting, landscaping and new restrooms
The city's Heritage Oaks project page also lists a public plaza and a botanical and demonstration garden. The most distinctive part of the design came from working with Wilton Rancheria, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and Shingle Springs Rancheria. Together they added elements like the Wise Old Oak, which the city says reflect the traditional ways of life of the Indigenous communities who first cared for the land.
Emile's Café, which opened in the park in July 2025, means a morning at Heritage Oaks can start with coffee. The West Sacramento News-Ledger reports the park is open dawn to dusk.
The funding has a lasting condition. A $3 million Land and Water Conservation Fund grant, awarded through California State Parks, paid for part of the project, and Park Impact Fees covered the rest. The News-Ledger put the impact-fee share at $4,833,175. As a condition of that grant, Heritage Oaks must remain a dedicated public space.
The North Side Has Waited Longer Than Three Years
For Broderick and Bryte, a 2029 finish date extends a much longer wait. As CBS Sacramento reported, Bryte Park once had a pool. It has sat behind a locked fence, filled with sand and capped with cement, for about 20 years. Neighbors told the station the next closest community pool is in Southport, which isn't easy to reach from Bryte and Broderick.
The Broderick and Bryte Neighborhood Association started a petition to bring the pool back. Rhonda Pope Flores, a member of the association, told CBS Sacramento why:
"There's a huge need. While it's usable, it's not where it should be. We wanted the park finished. The master plan started over a decade before and there was no real movement on it."
So the current arrangement isn't new for the north side. Residents there were already traveling to Southport for a pool. During construction, soccer practice, the playground and picnic rentals join that list. The difference is that this time there's an end date and a funded plan.
According to the city's fact sheet, the rebuilt Bryte Park will include lap and wading pools with an aquatics building, a splash pad, a dog park, tennis and basketball courts, a ball wall, ball fields, an outdoor classroom, fitness stations, shaded picnic areas and an amphitheater. It also adds about nine acres of new natural-grass field space, one all-weather synthetic soccer field, 216 new trees, more than 7,900 shrubs and groundcover plants, 228 added parking spaces and 16 EV charging stalls. Those fields are what should eventually let the soccer club leave Bridgeway Lakes and bring adult softball back to the schedule.
Until summer 2029, the north side is sharing parks with the rest of the city. The temporary soccer lights at Bridgeway Lakes are due to switch off when November ends and return in February.
If you're planning around Bryte Park's closure, or wondering how a three-year park rebuild could matter when you sell or buy a home in Broderick or Bryte, we're glad to talk it through with what we know about West Sacramento. Reach out to Jennifer Kirtlan RES Inc. and we'll start with your street and your plans.
