Renovations continue at Amador Valley Community Park as phase one of the project to replace the aging irrigation system is set to wrap up the first week of August, with phase two beginning at that time and lasting until the beginning of 2007, said City Architect Mike Fulford.
“Every year the city’s parks maintenance tackles dozens of park renovations, but they’re not usually as big or as visible as the one currently happening at Amador,” Fulford said.
The $400,000 park project replaced the old irrigation system, which was originally installed when the park was built in the late 1960s. The shortcomings of the aging system meant that the fields, which are one of the most used in Pleasanton for sport activities, were not staying at a high-quality level, Fulford said.
Suarez and Munoz Construction, Inc., from Hayward was contracted for the first phase of the job, which entailed first killing all the existing grass last year, leveling the field, adding drain inlets, installing the new irrigation system and seeding the field with new turf. Now that phase one is almost complete, park maintenance will take over, maintaining the turf until the fields are ready to open. Currently, fences surround 12 acres of the park’s eastern fields at the intersection of Black Avenue and Santa Rita Road. This is to keep people off the area, giving the turf enough time to completely root.
Although it is expected that the city’s park maintenance will take on the second phase of the project, the City Council still must give its formal acceptance, which is set for the August 8 agenda, Fulford said.
With the park’s closure, several annual events have moved locations. Most recently, the Free Shakespeare in the Park, which is normally at Amador Valley Community Park, was held at the Pleasanton Middle School field instead.
As soccer season approaches, soccer clubs are “getting a little more creative with their scheduling” to accommodate the loss of the park space, said Community Services Manager Mark Spiller. Parks such as Sports and Val Vista parks and the fields at Pleasanton and Harvest Park middle schools will host soccer teams, as per usual, but might see some more activity. Muirwood Park is the one most likely to bear the brunt of additional soccer traffic, Spiller said. Although this may be an inconvenience to some teams, the clubs were informed well in advance of the park renovations so they could plan around it, Fulford said. The recreation center is still open, so events held in that venue are not affected.
Once the project is complete, the new system should last for another 25 years, Fulford said.
“We would expect these to be long-term improvements,” Fulford added. “We had been limping on with the old irrigation system.”
