Promenade? Hostel? Swimming? What do you want to see at new shoreline park?

The East Bay Regional Park District plans to redesign the 20-acre North Basin Strip in an effort to address rising sea levels. Credit: East Bay Regional Park District

The East Bay Regional Park District plans to redesign a 20-acre strip of land at the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park in an effort to address rising sea levels.

In 2002, EBRPD identified the North Basin Strip, sandwiched between the Berkeley Meadow and Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex, as a site slated for recreational improvements in its Eastshore State Park General Plan. 

The shoreline park, currently inhabited by weeds and some volunteer-planted native plants, is often used as a practice space by local high school mountain bike teams. This fall, with the help of a $600,000 grant from the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, the park district began a public process to explore ideas for the space’s future. 

Much of the North Basin Strip is on higher ground and unlikely to be directly impacted by rising seas, according to the district’s projections. But the low-lying Virginia Street Extension, located at the southernmost part of the site, regularly floods during the highest tides of the year. As the sea rises due to human-caused climate change, more flooding is expected there. The district is exploring its options, which include building a boardwalk over the flooding area, designing a new trail or redirecting an existing one. 

The Virginia Street Extension regularly floods during King Tides, the highest astronomical tides of the year. As the sea rises due to human-caused climate change, more flooding is expected there. Credit: East Bay Regional Park District

A boardwalk could create a “living laboratory” for visitors to get a closer look at the habitat, Scott Stoller, a civil engineer for the park district, said during a November meeting. 

Adding a new trail in the North Basin and connecting it to the growing Bay Trail, which currently runs parallel to Interstate 580, would give travelers a better view of the bay. Since the North Basin sits on higher ground, the route would remain “well above” projected sea levels for 2100 and is unlikely to be swallowed up by the sea, according to Stoller. 

The district is also exploring a swath of other improvements for the habitat and visitors. 

Potential options could include an “interpretive center,” a hostel with 20 to 40 beds, a boathouse, a waterfront promenade, recreation concessions, restrooms, swimming areas like those at Alameda Beach, a fishing pier with a fish cleaning station, and parking for 350 cars, according to a November staff presentation. Other amenities could include a sand volleyball court, exercise equipment, a barbeque area, picnic tables and bike and aquatic recreation rentals. 

Not everything will be built. The list should be understood as a “buffet” of amenities that the district is authorized to choose from under the 2002 general plan, according to Stoller.

Also under consideration is a project floated by the watershed advocacy group Friends of Five Creeks that seeks to “daylight,” or excavate from underground pipes, the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek. 

The small section of Schoolhouse Creek advocates have long sought to daylight currently runs through a large concrete culvert that deposits into the bay at the North Basin. Daylighting proponents contend the project would also reduce flood risk upstream in residential West Berkeley. Allowing the creek to run free would mean it’s less likely to get backed up during a deluge. 

Plus, restoring the creek could help visitors understand the connection between creeks and the bay. There’s currently no place to see freshwater flow from a creek into the salty bay between south Oakland and north Richmond, according to Friends of Five Creeks.

Watershed advocacy group Friends of Five Creeks has long advocated for a project to “daylight” the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek (pictured). The creek, which once ran freely from the Berkeley Hills to the bay, was mostly culverted by European settlers as they sought to develop Berkeley. Credit: East Bay Regional Park District

The idea, which would make the area more resilient to sea level rise and would help restore lost habitat, is “technically feasible,” Stoller said at the meeting. But, he noted, “there are some challenges and constraints that remain, primarily digging into this undocumented fill and the risks associated with that and coordinating with the city of Berkeley around this.”

Chris Barton, the park district’s restoration manager, said he did not know when construction might start, though staff is aiming to present a final design for approval in winter 2026.

Funding could limit the size and scope of any grand dreams for the park. The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority grant is supporting a climate adaptation study and the project’s preliminary design phase, Barton said in an email through a spokesperson, but the district still needs funding and board direction in order to proceed with detailed design, permitting and construction. A cost estimate will only be available once the preliminary design is chosen.

“It’s great to have this opportunity to restore that land and make it beautiful,” EBRPD board director Elizabeth Echols said during a November meeting. “I certainly remember what it looked like when I was a child driving by [at] low tide … the artwork was interesting, but I do prefer the beautiful natural environment that we’re creating out there.”  

Berkeley High’s mountain bike team has regularly practiced at the North Basin Strip, or “Shred Meadow,” for about eight years. Before that, practices were held at a nearby pile of dirt that’s since been transformed into Brickyard Cove. Credit: Berkeley Mountain Bike Team

Nick Hoeper-Tomich, head coach of Berkeley High’s 90-member mountain bike team, said he hopes the young cyclists who frequent the North Basin Strip won’t lose another rare and accessible training ground. They already lost their previous spot in 2016, when the park district transformed the giant Berkeley dirt pile into Brickyard Cove, a nature preserve and hiking area.

Students from Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito practice almost daily on a roughly three-quarter-mile unpaved trail that winds through the North Basin Strip, or “Shred Meadow,” as they like to call it, he said. Since their mountain biking season runs from December through May, practice time is limited by early sunsets. The only alternative is Tilden Park or Wildcat Canyon, which are harder to reach. Plus, the North Basin handles rain better, he said.

“Just having us at the table and having us in the conversation, I think, would be really important,” Hoeper-Tomich said. 

Mountain bikers were invited to a community meeting held by the park district in November. With thoughtful design, Hoeper-Tomich said there is enough room for both mountain bikers and the park district’s plan to improve the area. 

Park district wants you to weigh in

The East Bay Regional Park District is considering several trail options to address sea level rise. Credit: East Bay Regional Park District

As part of its outreach process, EBRPD wants you to weigh in on the project by filling out a survey by Dec. 31 to be entered into a raffle for a free membership to its parks. The survey period ends in mid-January. 

It’s one of several efforts by the district to increase participation in the park planning process.

In September, the district kicked off its “New Voices Partnership.” The new program, meant to “empower previously underrepresented communities to participate in the park planning process” pays participants stipends of up to $1,000 for attending training sessions, workshops and public meetings spread out over nine months, according to the program website. People of color, disabled people, low-income people and people of all gender identities and sexual orientations were “strongly encouraged” to apply. 

The park district also held two meetings in November. The first was a “small-group” meeting for invited stakeholders — mostly recreational groups that use the Tom Bates sports field and bikers — and New Voices participants. The other was a public community meeting held on Nov. 17 in person at the North Basin Strip. 

Another public community meeting is planned for spring 2025, but a date has not yet been set, Barton said.

Featured image: East Bay Regional Park District