East Bay Regional Parks Is Improving Crown Beach with 3.89 New Acres of Park Land

Karin Jensen

The East Bay Regional Park District is adding 3.89 acres of new parkland at Crown Memorial State Beach and street improvements along McKay Avenue in the City of Alameda. EBRPD invites the public to submit feedback about the design concepts in its Master Plan through an online survey by August 31st.

This expansion will create new recreational and interpretive opportunities around the existing Crab Cove Visitors Center area and accommodate sea level rise adaption.

The Master Plan's goal is to provide the vision for the park expansion and McKay Avenue redesign which will improve visitor access and circulation. Once complete, EBRPD will use the Master Plan to raise funds for construction and develop an implementation schedule.

Future Recreational Needs

Karin Jensen

EBRPD anticipates the following future recreational needs:

• Outdoor Classrooms and Gathering Space. District staff requests designated outdoor classrooms or gathering spaces to facilitate outdoor learning experiences.
• Picnic Areas. Group picnic areas are regularly filling up. There is limited space to add new picnic areas that do not impede existing uses or block shoreline views. Using the expansion area for new picnic facilities could expand capacity without limiting the experience.
• Expanded Parking and Bus Parking. The current parking lot does not have space for bus parking, which is difficult for visiting school groups. Vehicular turnaround on McKay Avenue is also challenging. Reconfiguring the parking lot as a turnaround could alleviate circulation and expand space for parking.
• Operations and Maintenance Facility. The current Glory of the Seas building and enclosure is not ideal for operations and maintenance staff. Relocating this use to a new facility outside the central park area would open the space for recreation.

Key Consideration

Karin Jensen

A key consideration is the impact of sea-level rise on recreation. Many popular recreational activities at Crown Beach will be impacted, including:

• Visiting the beach
• Fishing, walking, running, and biking along the Bay Trail
• Using the lawn in front of Crab Cove Visitor Center

An essential element of the Master Plan is considering how to maintain these uses.

Three Concepts

EBRPD is proposing three possible concepts for the new parkland.

Concept 1, Recreational Destination. EBRPD describes this design concept as creating a destination at the end of Crown Memorial State Beach with a variety of new recreational and open space areas.

East Bay Regional Parks District

Concept 2, Open Space Retreat. EBRPD describes this design concept as creating a peaceful shoreline retreat with minimal programming and significant opportunity for engaging with the natural setting.

East Bay Regional Parks District

Concept 3, Educational Bayfront. EBRPD describes this design concept as including a smaller overall footprint primarily dedicated to enhancing opportunities for educational and shoreline learning

East Bay Regional Parks District

Regardless of which concept is chosen, improvements to McKay Avenue would include preserving the existing healthy street trees and repaving the access road. EBRPD is also considering removing parking along one side of McKay Avenue to create a two-way protected bikeway, similar to the one along Shoreline Drive in Alameda.

Provide Your Feedback

EBRPD welcomes your feedback by August 31st, 2021. Learn more about the design concepts here. Participate in the survey here.

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