Emeryville receives grant to Complete Greenway Section

Last Saturday April 21st, City officials celebrated the opening of the Doyle to Ninth Section of the Bike/Pedestrian Greenway linking Emeryville to Berkeley. On the other end of the greenway at Hollis & Powell, near the thriving Honor Bar, is a muddy path that has sat neglected for the nearly 9 years that I’ve lived in Emeryville. The elimination of redevelopment funds made it look like it would stay this way indefinitely.

Proposition 84, or “The Safe Drinking Water Bond Act” was passed in 2006 to provide $5.4 billion in bonds for a wide variety of projects related to water safety, rivers, beaches,
levees, watersheds, and parks and forests. City officials have procured a portion of this Bond to complete the Greenway segment that will link the heart of Emeryville to the Horton Bicycle Boulevard that connects E’ville to Oakland. The status of the Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge to Bay Street at the remediated Sherwin Williams plant remains in Limbo.

Per Amber Evans, Emeryville Community Development Coordinator:
Remediation is expected to start and be rapidly completed this fall with construction drawings completed concurrently. The State grant is expected to cover construction drawings and all capital improvements of the park. Volunteer plantings and work days are anticipated as well. Groundbreaking is expected to begin in Spring 2013 and be complete within 6 months barring any unexpected delays. There are no other funding expected, should intersections need improvements to access greenway segment funding would need to be sought or prioritized by the Council. Should the project have a funding short fall the improvements on Stanford might be modified/reduced.

Per the City’s Bi-Weekly E-Newsletter:
On March 26, 2012 the City of Emeryville was awarded $828,792 from the California State Parks Department under Proposition 84 to create Peladeau Park and Greenway as the southern most extension of the existing Emeryville Greenway. The Prop 84 funding will build the segment from Powell to Hollis and extend the Greenway on Stanford to the edge of the planned Horton Landing Park and the eventual South Bayfront Bridge and Sherwin Williams development site. The former UPRR rail right of way used for the park site and adjacent greenway was acquired in 2003 by the former Emeryville Redevelopment Agency and an additional 0.5 acre site was acquired by the Agency and transferred to the Community Development Commission of Emeryville for site remediation and transfer to the City, expected in fall 2012. Upon transfer of the additional property, the park grant can be drawn against. The additional property was acquired to widen the available park space and create active recreation, rather than a simple pathway.

Grant funds will design and construct:
• Community gathering/picnic area
• Plazas at Powell and Hollis and Stanford and Horton
• Pathways with permeable pavers
• Synthetic lawn and play area, including possibly dog agility features
• Windmills
• Public art
• Lighting and
• Landscaping including existing bus stop on Stanford