Finding a place to park in downtown Pleasanton just got a little easier as city officials ceremoniously cut the ribbon for a newly improved parking section at Civic Park last week.

The expanded parking lot, which is located between Bernal Avenue and Abbie Street across from Vic's All Star Kitchen, will provide 81 additional parking spaces to the downtown area.

Mayor Karla Brown and the rest of the City Council cut the ribbon last Wednesday after acknowledging several city staff involved in the project, which has been in the works since 2008 when the city purchased the so-called transportation corridor between Bernal Avenue and Stanley Boulevard from Alameda County.

"As many of you know, Pleasanton is the 'City of Planned Progress', and this project is the culmination of many years of efforts and planning," Brown said.

The goal in 2008 was to create 429 new parking spaces throughout the corridor, Brown said. The first expansion came in 2011 when the city completed improvements in the section between Neal and Spring streets.

Then in 2017, the City Council approved the Downtown Pleasanton Parking Strategy and Implementation plan which helped identify this newest section of the corridor as a priority project at the time.

Some of the other additions and improvements to the area include a recreational pathway for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as new LED lighting and landscaping in Civic Park.

One of the notable achievements in the actual construction of the section that Brown pointed out was the sustainability measures that were implemented.

Adam Nelkie, assistant director of engineering for the city, elaborated on some of those improvements such as the multimodal path that runs along the lot and leads people all the way through downtown.

He said that is one way the city can use infrastructure to incentivize people to get out of their cars and onto the sidewalk.

Nelkie also added that the city used 100% recycled stone material underneath the sidewalks in parking lots along the corridor and that the pavement inside the parking lot is made up of 20% recycled materials.

Native trees were also planted on top of what are known as silva cells, which is a modular suspended pavement system that supports large tree growth and provides on-site stormwater management.

Nelkie said the trees and plants in the lot are low-water plants and that irrigation was designed to prevent waterways and will save over 35,000 gallons annually as compared to regular conventional irrigation practices.

"The combination of pedestrian focused facilities, recycled materials, newer technologies, drought prone plants, makes a simple parking lot and turns it into a truly amazing sustainable amenity for downtown Pleasanton," Nelkie said.

He also said that the Civic Park turf was reduced in size by 3,000 square feet to create space for all of these new amenities and that while there are already electric car charging stations at the lot, the extra space will allow the city to add more stations.

While the other sections in the corridor are planned for improvements in the future, according to interim assistant city manager Pamela Ott, for now city officials are proud to see this project finally getting completed after so long.

"It does take a village," City Manager Gerry Beaudin said. "We've had interest from the Chamber of Commerce over time to build this project so we're proud of those relationships and happy to be able to bring this amenity to downtown as well. It's the commitment and dedication of our residents and our businesses to make downtown a successful and vibrant place."