June 11, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, June 11, 2004

Jurors pick five designs for Bernal site development

The City Council is expected to approve Tuesday the selection of five finalists in Pleasanton's design competition on developing the 318 acres of vacant public lands on the Bernal property.

The designs, from Bay Area architectural and land use planning firms and a fifth from Washington state, were chosen from 25 that were submitted last month. They were reviewed this week by city staff, and the Civic Arts, Youth, Parks and Recreation, and Planning commissions. The council will consider comments from those groups along with more than 200 individual comments from residents who saw the designs in the Public Library and at the Aug. 15 Bernal Block Party. After adding its suggestions, the council will give the finalists until July 16 to rework their design entries, if they choose, incorporating any of the recommended changes or additions before a final selection is made July 17.

Wayne Rasmussen, the city's Principal Planner in charge of the competition, said the design competitors were given more than 20 specific ideas for developing the acreage, many of them from task forces that had held public meetings. These ranged from a youth center to a high school site, with public comments urging that space be made available for athletic fields, public trails and open space.

One group, Save Our Community Park, has filed a petition with 4,500 signatures - more than 1,100 above the number needed - to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would reserve up to 50 acres of the Bernal site for sports and related activities. The county Voter Registration office is now checking the signatures and has until June 23 to verify that at least 3,400 of them are registered Pleasanton voters.

Although officials have not determined how the outside designs will compete with the initiative, the five finalists all propose placing the sports field in the northeast section of the Bernal property. At least one design sets aside nearly 70 acres for sports fields in its plans, although many of them would be surrounded by trees and trails.

Each of the five finalists will receive certificates of achievement, but only one will receive the cash prize of $10,000 that the city is offering to the winner. That firm would waive the award if it is chosen to proceed with initial design work to develop Bernal.

The final winner, like the five finalists, will be chosen by a jury of five specialists. They are Galen Cranz, who teaches architecture and urban design at UC Berkeley; Michael Lee, associate professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Cal State Hayward; Donn Logan, an architect and urban designer; Richard Haag, an internationally known landscape architect; and Eldon Beck, an award-winning community planner.

A summary follows of the five final designs they selected. ¥ M. D. Fotheringham Design, San Francisco - Called "Community Vision," the plan would celebrate Pleasanton's heritage, with features drawing from the city's past to places for town gatherings. With space in the northeast corner of the site at Bernal Avenue and the Union Pacific railroad tracks reserved for "playfields," the main complex would be a civic arts center centrally located between Bernal and I-680. The center would include "a footprint" for an 1,800-seat promenade and performing arts building, with a courtyard, sculptured garden and plantings. Extensive woods and meadows would be created between the sports fields and the KB Home development to the west. On the west side of the freeway, Fotheringham has designed trails alongside 680 with a wildlife refuge and education center at Bernal and West Lagoon Road, a street that leads into new residential communities being developed by Greenbriar Homes. ¥ Interstice Architects, San Francisco - Following land use themes based on "connecting, colonizing, generating, evaluating, educating and involving," this firm shows a 2050 vision plan that includes a riparian forest, with hundreds of trees throughout the site, including woods around sports fields, again located in the northwest corner of the site. The plan calls for building a civic arts facility and amphitheater in the center of the main parcel, with the newly extended Valley Avenue circling around the complex. Also suggested for the site are a farmers market area, agricultural club, child care center and an Indian burial ground. ¥ NUVIS & Perry Cordoza, San Ramon, Wash. - Borrowing on a theme from New York City's Central Park's "Great Lawn," this plan calls for a 35-acre manicured lawn off Bernal where Pleasanton would celebrate Indian summers, Octoberfests and other events at a "Founding Fathers Meadow." At the northeast corner, the NUVIS plan suggests building a sports complex with indoor basketball and volleyball courts and a gymnasium, in addition to outdoor fields for baseball and soccer. A civic arts center is proposed near the middle of the site that would include an 800-seat Juan Pablo performing arts theater. Alisal Grove, an area planted in sycamore trees, would surround the complex with a man-made Ohlone Lake and other waterways in the central parcel, and detention ponds on both sides of the freeway. ¥ Marta Fry Landscape Associates, San Francisco - This firm visualizes the Bernal property as being developed into abundant wetlands, waterways, streams and water channels. Sports fields and a sports center would be developed in the northwest corner of the site, with an "interpretive pod" and California grassland area near the KB Home development. The plan also calls for construction of an amphitheater, small civic arts center and an arboretum. ¥ Tom Leader Studio, Berkeley - Like the Marty Fry plan, Leader emphasizes waterways, drainage lagoons and creeks on much of the old farmland. With sports fields in the northeast corner along with an adjacent train station, the plan places a variety of other facilities elsewhere on the site, including a center for meditation, teen center and day care center. It even includes acreage for a new elementary school. A working farm would be built at West Lagoon Road near Bernal on the west side of I-680, along with space for a farmers market.

The cost of the design competition is estimated at $85,000, including approximately $28,000 in fees and expenses to the competition consultant, William Liskamm, a San Francisco architect and environmental planner. Each of the jurors will receive $1,000 plus expenses, or about $7,000 in all, with each of the five finalists receiving $7,500 from the city.

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