New Bernal Park sports fields, Oak Woodland now open

Great addition for Pleasanton! Didn't notice picnic area: tables BBQ? Also snack bars for snack foods? Will that come later?

Curious to know if the parking was adequate.

I don't remember the vote on the Bernal Park Master Plan being on the ballot. (I guess I was sick that day.)

Article is wrong on the voting of the master plan. That vote was in 2006. There have been four elections on this parcel of land:

1) 2000 - Bond Measure to purchase the land from the SF Water District. SF Water District wanted to build 3,500 homes there. This bond measure did not pass (narrowly).

After hard negotiation, the City Council negotiated a deal with Greenbriar and South Bay Development where they would build 571 residential units and 750,000 square feet of commercial/office space The remaining 318 acres were dedicated to the City for a park.

A group of people, including our now Mayor Thorne, wanted more housing (on the parkland). There were talks of 5-20 acres of housing but the group that wanted the housing there did not want any limits on housing.

2) 2002 - An initiative went before the voters to not allow housing on the city-owned park land. Thorne campaigned hard against this initiative. The initiative passed with over 60% approval for no houses on the parkland. (Web Link

3) 2004 - Measure X locked in the approved uses of the Bernal Property Parkland to that a future City Council could not just change the uses without another vote of the people. (passed with almost 90% Yes) (Web Link

After the initiative passed, the council had a Design Competition on the master planning of the Bernal Park. The Council adopted the master plan of the winner of the Design Competition.

4) 2006 - The Master Plan from the Design Competition went before the community for ratification. It passed overwhelmingly (82% of the vote) (Web Link

Typical. Shows up after the fact. Complains about not being consulted.

And the 2006 Master Plan did not include the vast City Hall, police dept, library complex now proposed for a substantial part of the land. There was supposed to be an cultural arts center and amphitheater.
Go see the model in the library

My son had soccer practice at the new park last night. It looks a great facility. Unfortunately the parking lot leaves a lot to be desired. Its not close to having enough parking spaces in my opinion and also badly designed, as everyone parked has to back out into the only route in and out of the small lot.

Linda, I think the City would be required to put an initiative on the ballot to allow the City Hall as an allowed use since the allowed uses were approved by the voters and can only be changed by the voters. My guess is they will do that once they are further along in the process. This brings up the issue of what they plan to do with the old city hall facility. I have heard they want pack and stack housing there. I think that would be a non-starter for many in the community. Personally, I think the city hall and police department are fine where they are at. I would be in favor of an improved library but I see no issue on moving the library to the Bernal property and keep the rest of city hall where it is at. There is a building right on Main St (157 Main St?) which is the old post office, and that building and site could be sold for a better use on Main St. I believe that building is so old that the city cannot put things upstairs there since the building's structure will not support much weight. I would like to see:
1) Larger library on Bernal Property
2) Keep City Hall where it is at and use the old library for city needs
3) Sell 157 Main St and use that money to help finance the new library.

The current City Hall, sans the library, meets the needs of our residents.

@res1. Good plan. I like your thinking but the powers that be are chomping at the bit to bulldoze everything at the end of main st. And my money is on them putting in stack and pack housing!! Keep an eye on this one it's going to slip right by us citizens!

I noted a number of "water features" in the new sports park. While tranquil and visually interesting, what plans does the city have to ensure they don't become mosquito breeding grounds, especially in light of Zika spreading throughout the US?

that the sum total of these blog posts seem of the selfish, what's in it for me ilk that it leads me to conclude that if these first world problems are the most challenging issues we have to complain about, well then maybe our life here is probably pretty good and maybe we should start focusing on the positive instead only the negative.

Are dogs allowed at the turf soccer fields?

@Emily, no, no, no! Keep your dogs off the soccer field and use one of the two doggie parks that you now have. There is absolutely no excuse for dog poop being on every possible square of lawn in this town, use the dog parks and let the rest of us have some grass without poop everywhere.