Vacant land along Oakland’s waterfront is slated for a transformation, with what is now a small day-use area becoming a sprawling new park.
The $16.9 million project is to add 7 acres of what is now an industrial lot to the Tidewater Day Use Area, a picnic and boating site along Oakland’s Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline. The property faces the Oakland Estuary south of East Oakland’s High Street Bridge.
Construction will start over the summer and is expected to finish up in about a year, according to Toby Perry, project manager for the East Bay Regional Park District.
“We want to make sure that this is a destination park – not just for the local East Oakland residents, who are certainly in need of green space and access to the shoreline, but also the greater Oakland community at large,” Perry told SFGATE over the phone.
The new park will include a multiuse turf, picnic areas, new pathways, a nature-based play area for kids and parking for up to 130 vehicles, Perry said. The plan is for it to also serve as a boat launch for kayakers and other small-craft recreational boaters and connect parts of the San Francisco Bay Trail. A $1 million federal grant contributing to the project was announced at an event March 13, and it also draws on funding from local measures and conservation agencies.
Plans for a recreational destination at the site have been in the works for nearly a decade. The parcel where the park is to be developed was formerly used by a trucking company as a storage lot, but the company’s lease was terminated in 2017 in preparation for the lot’s new purpose.
At present, the neighborhoods surrounding the planned development are generally void of large recreational areas, especially compared with Oakland’s wealthier neighborhoods. East Bay park officials are hoping these additions to Tidewater will help close that gap.
“While Regional Parks are meant for everyone, not every community in the East Bay has had equitable access to open space close to home,” East Bay Regional Park District Board Member Luana España said in a news release Monday. España represents Oakland’s 4th Ward, which includes Tidewater.
“Projects like the Tidewater Day Use Area improvements help correct that imbalance by bringing new shoreline access and environmental restoration to Oakland’s flatlands. This investment will create a welcoming place where people can gather, connect with nature, and benefit from a healthier shoreline,” España said.
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This article originally published at Sprawling new $16.9M park project to begin in the Bay Area.