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Members of the past and current Pleasanton City Council along with city staff and other representatives pose for a photo during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Lions Wayside Park on June 27. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
Dozens of residents and other community members gather to celebrate the reopening of the beloved park last Friday. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
The project preserved and repurposed the historic Chan Henderson Bicentennial Bandstand as a social gathering space. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
From left to right: Councilmember Jeff Nibert, former councilmember Valerie Arkin, former mayor Karla Brown and Councilmember Julie Testa pose for a photo on the new bandstand. All four were on the council in 2023 and voted to pause the original redesign project and instead approve the plans for the improvements which have now been realized. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Part of the continued improvements to the two downtown parks includes converting the land to the north of Lions Wayside (4363 and 4377 First St.), which the city previously purchased for $2 million, into a parking lot. (Photo by Christian Trujano) 
Pleasanton Mayor Jack Balch delivers a speech where he applauds city staff for their hard work on designing a re-envisioned park that did not cost the city any money from its General fund. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
The modern bandstand and dance floor was one of the main improvements to the park. (Photo by Chuck Deckert)
More than 60 people including residents, city workers and elected officials gathered last week to commemorate the completion of the Lions Wayside Park renovation project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony where community leaders commented on how the park improvements were a much-needed investment in downtown Pleasanton’s overall vibrancy.
“In a time when budgets are tight … this project improves the quality of life, boosts our community pride and strengthens the downtown without asking anything more from the taxpayers,” Mayor Jack Balch said during the June 27 ribbon-cutting event.
From being a place for people to enjoy their ice cream from nearby Meadowlark Dairy and meet with friends and family, to being a location for special events, Lions Wayside Park has served as a hub for Pleasanton residents.
However, for decades the city had been working on plans to completely redesign the park.
In fact, those discussions date as far back as 1993 when the master plan for adjacent Lions Wayside and Delucchi parks were first drafted. Then in 2014, the city adopted the Lions Wayside and Delucchi Parks Master Plan, which outlined several goals including connecting the two parks and the rest of downtown and relocating Kottinger Creek.
That plan was not approved by regulatory agencies at the time due to the city not obtaining the necessary environmental permits. However, staff eventually received preliminary regulatory agency approval in 2021 and began doing community outreach for an updated master plan in 2022.
That process led to staff presenting an updated master plan for the complete redesign of both parks in February 2023.
But in a 4-1 vote, the council at that time decided to press pause on the master plan due to early cost estimates putting the original project somewhere between $12 million and $14 million. Instead, the 2023 council decided to go with a scaled down renovation project.
Councilmember Julie Testa said in regards to the pausing of the larger $14 million project, she thought scaling it down was a better option because the city now has a beautifully renovated park and residents won’t have to wait for a larger redesign project that could have possibly taken years to complete.
“To continue down that path made no sense,” she said.
Balch, who was the sole dissenting vote on pausing the original park redesign project in 2023, said that the only reason he did so was because he wanted to see what the cost would be for that prior design before changing course to a different design — staff at the time gave the council the $14 million estimate but said they couldn’t confirm those numbers without adopting that plan first.
But once Balch realized he didn’t have council support to determine those costs for the complete redesign, he said he shifted his focus to make sure the new project would still benefit the community.
And after seeing the final product last week, he said he thinks the improvements do just that.
“I look at the bandstand and the park, the design, and when you see it on paper versus reality and built — this is gorgeous,” Balch said. “It just shows how much we really care about our downtown.”
According to the city, the total cost for the now-realized project was $1.9 million and was fully funded though developer fees that were collected from new residential and commercial projects — the city’s general fund was not impacted, according to the city.
Some of the updates to the park include the modern bandstand and dance floor; ADA accessible paths throughout the two parks and to the bandstand; new lighting along Neal Street; picnic tables, benches and gathering areas; and additional shade trees, new lawn and irrigation.
The project also honors the park’s legacy by preserving and repurposing the historic Chan Henderson bandstand as a social gathering space. Part of the park’s renovation also included installing an underground electric outlet and infrastructure to support additional lighting for holidays and for additional speaker systems.
“Now with the improvements we’re celebrating today, it’s more welcoming, more functional and definitely more beautiful than it’s been in a long time,” Balch said.
Matt Gruber, the city’s landscape architect, said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that this park redesign was the type of project that he would dream about when he was a student.
“I’ve been itching for this moment,” Gruber said. “This is kind of the highlight of my park experience so far.”
Gruber also said after the main renovations at Lions Wayside were funded, they had enough money left over to fund a lot of other improvements including ones at Delucchi Park, which he said were set to wrap up this week.Â
He said the leftover funding helped pay for other improvements that are in the works including a lawn expansion by the Firehouse Arts Center, a trail extension that connects to the center, a public art and musical plaza at Delucchi Park, future trail segment through the transportation corridor parallel to the parks, and a new 24-car parking lot to the east of the Lions Wayside Park bandstand.
Gruber said the additional improvements such as the trail extension and new parking lot should be finished by either September or October.
Part of the trail extension also includes plans to create a connected park and trail system that will link Civic Park, Delucchi Park, the Firehouse Arts Center and Arroyo Del Valle via planned trail corridors.
“It’s a broader vision of what makes our downtown even more accessible and connected,” Balch said.
Ramesh Immadi, a Pleasanton resident who sits on the Parks and Recreation Committee, applauded the city for the newly renovated park design. He said parks are valued community spaces and the cornerstone for a good quality of life in any city.
“These parks serve as a vital bridge between Pleasanton’s economic vitality and the natural beauty just steps away from Main Street,” Immadi said. “This renovation is not just about restoring the park. It’s about reaffirming our commitment to public spaces that serve everyone.”
Gabrielle Welk, the executive director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, also chimed in near the end of the ceremony with her own words of excitement for the renovations and how the reimagined park will help downtown Pleasanton’s economic vitality by drawing in more visitors to the area.
“The renovation of Lions Wayside Park is more than just a facelift,” Welk said. “It’s an investment in our community’s quality of life. It reflects our shared values and sustainability, accessibility and importance of public spaces that bring people together.”
The park is set to host its first free picnic and concert during this week’s Fourth of July celebration and next week, the PDA will be hosting its first Concert at the Park event of the year on July 11.
And did we forget about having a few bike stands ?
We should be encouraging residents in the neighborhood to bike here rather than dive to the park.