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Publication Date: Friday, June 13, 2003

California Splash!

Plans for a $7 million expansion of the waterslides at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area on Stanley Boulevard could make Pleasanton a major destination for water park enthusiasts throughout the Valley.

Called California Splash, the proposed theme park would be modeled after Knott's Berry Farm's Soak City in Southern California and would attract up to 200,000 visitors each year between mid-May and mid-September when the water park would be open. If approved by the Pleasanton Planning Commission, where it is under consideration, and then later by the City Council, it would be the first large commercial recreation area allowed in Pleasanton. A plan by Six Flags over Texas to build a similar amusement park in Pleasanton was dropped in 1968 by the proponents. It would have been built at Foothill Road and Bernal Avenue, where Laguna Oaks is now located.

But Glenn Kierstead, a partner in the California Splash plan, said his investment group has neither the money nor the interest to develop a major theme park like Six Flags or a Disneyland-type facility.

"California Splash will be smaller and less expensive than Raging Waters in San Jose and other water parks in Manteca and Concord, with entry fees about $20 for teens and adults, and less for younger children," he said. "Even parking will be cheaper. It costs $6 a car to park at Shadow Cliffs, and it's at least $8 at the other parks."

Still, with 10 longer and more challenging slides replacing the four now at the existing Rapid Water Slides, plus a Lazy River ride that will be the longest in the country and a 26,000-square-foot Wave pool, Kierstead said California Splash will attract thousands of teenagers and families in Pleasanton and the Tri-Valley who spend their money to drive during the summer months to the water parks in other cities.

Among other features planned for California Splash are: ¥ A four-lane Surf Hill featuring a 38-foot drop over a 230-foot length into a channel and pool; ¥ Two Speed Slides that will intertwine with the Surf Hill slide, also with 38-foot vertical drops; ¥ The Sidewinder, a raft ride that will provide a 35-foot drop into a concave half-pipe, where riders will traverse the walls before ending in a pond; ¥ A Dual Aqua Drum where water sliders will twist and turn inside a large 30-foot-diameter bowl before splashing into a run-out slide; ¥ A 9,000-square-foot Children's Pond, which will include water cannons and small slides; ¥ A 3,500-square-foot Challenge Activity Pool that will include higher impact activities for older children, including "water fight" equipment that will appeal to those interested in more aggressive water play; and, ¥ A 4,000-square-foot activity pool with a large slide hill complex.

In addition, Kierstead said the expanded water park would include a general store for supplies, lounge chairs and picnic grounds and two corporate/private picnic facilities with their own private pool.

Kierstead's group developed the existing Rapid Water Slides at Shadow Cliffs in 1981, just 10 years after the East Bay Regional Park District acquired the 266-acre regional park from the Henry J. Kaiser Co., which included the 80-acre lake. Park boundaries have expanded over the years, with the most recent addition an 11-acre De Silva parcel. That acquisition paved the way for expanding the water slides, which the park district favors, and also provided an additional 2 acres, which the city of Pleasanton plans to use in developing and operating a bicycle motocross (BMX) facility. Pleasanton annexed the entire Shadow Cliffs site in the mid-1990s.

In public workshops held by the city Planning Commission last year and again last month, as well as in public hearings by the East Bay Park District, most spoke in support of Kierstead's California Splash proposal. Those opposed generally cited concerns over increased traffic and their objections over excessive noise. Even now, the shouts and voices of those atop the existing slides can be heard across the Arroyo del Valle in the Shadow Cliff residential neighborhood and at the mobile home parks along Vineyard Avenue.

At the Planning Commission's request, Kierstead and an engineering team conducted noise tests last Saturday, playing tapes of crowd noises through loud speakers placed along the park district site, and then monitoring any noise in Vintage Hills neighborhoods. That report will be made at the next Planning Commission meeting on the park proposal.

As for traffic, the new water park would generate up to 4,000 patrons on its busiest days, such as July 4, with another 3,000 already using Shadow Cliff's lake and recreation facilities. Although some reach the park by bus, bicycle and walking, most drive. But the city's Principal Planner, Jerry Iserson, told the Planning Commission that a traffic analysis showed that existing city streets and intersections are adequate to handle the additional traffic. He pointed out that most of the Shadow Cliffs-bound traffic is on weekends and holidays when there is almost no commuter traffic on city streets.

Asked how he would direct water slide customers to Pleasanton, Kierstead said it would be the same as now where the East Bay Park District routes drivers to exit I-580 at the Santa Rita interchange, and then go to Valley and Stanley to reach the park. To accommodate the additional traffic, Kierstead plans to add another 809 parking spaces at Shadow Cliffs, raising the total number of parking spaces available there to 2,000.

Of the 14 speakers at the May 28 Planning Commission workshop, only five spoke against the proposed water slide expansion. Derrick Dinelli of Reflections Drive said he likes the limited nature of what Pleasanton has to offer now, and does not believe that a large water park would be an appropriate addition for Pleasanton. Ron Kane of Canelli Court asked that a full environmental impact report be made, a yearlong process that could determine more precisely how noise from the water slides would affect his neighborhood. Kelly Fusman of Trenton Circle also spoke in opposition, arguing that the traffic flow would be as disruptive on a regular weekend basis as the County Fair traffic is for a limited time each summer.

But Jerry Lemm of Greens Lane, a 34-year resident of the city, said he believed the water park "has been a good amenity for Pleasanton over the years, and an expanded facility would be even better."

"After all, we'd be getting this great new water park for nothing to the taxpayers, compared to the $35 million it's costing to build the golf course at the other end of town," Lemm added.

Financially, both Pleasanton and the park district would gain revenue from California Splash - up from $40,000 now to more than $400,000 a year to the park district and an additional $66,000 to the city of Pleasanton.

Planners also indicated that as part of any approval agreement with Kierstead's group, they would likely require upfront fees that could run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These could include construction of new water lines, more traffic lanes and turning lanes on Stanley, major improvements to the Stanley/Valley/Bernal intersection and a payment into the city forestry fund.

Kierstead said he hopes to gain approval for his project from both the Planning Commission and City Council this summer so that he can start construction in the fall. The expansion would take place in phases over the next several years, with the Wave pool, a portion of the Lazy River and the major slides to be opened by next summer.