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The East Bay Regional Park District marked the completion of its most-recent community improvement and open space project in the Tri-Valley earlier this month — the Tyler Ranch Staging Area at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. Representatives noted the new area offers "amazing panoramic views of the Bay Area."
The new staging area, located in Sunol, provides new pedestrian, equestrian and bicycle access on over 18 miles of trails spanning 2,800 acres. The grand-opening event on Dec. 3 saw several local leaders speak on the recently completed project.
"With this opening, we're really proud as a park district that we get to provide yet another public access improvement project for the community," EBRPD General Manager Sabrina Landreth said at the ceremony. "This really was an all-hands-on-deck effort with our design group and all of our operations."
"The opening of this new staging area is going to increase access to over 2,800 acres of open space, including 18 miles of trails here," Landreth said.
EBRPD Board President Dennis Waespi shared his remarks on the completed project.
"The vision for this staging area here was part of the Pleasanton Ridge Master Plan. We started in 2012, which sounds like a long time (but) in park district time to have something that you dream of come to fruition in less than 20 years is a miracle," Waespi said.
Waespi has been on the Board of Directors since 2014. Prior to his service on the board, he was a district employee for over 38 years.
"This is a beautiful place; we're very happy to be welcoming the public," added Waespi. "It's wonderful to be able to get out on a trail and experience the scenery that our area has to offer."
"We have our 78 parking spaces, as well as equestrian staging, trailer parking, accessible restrooms and picnic areas," said EBRPD Board Member Olivia Sanwong, whose district includes Pleasanton.
"There's certainly a lot of effort still remaining in regards to connecting trails and increasing access and open space," added Sanwong, who was elected to the board in November 2022 after previously serving on the district's advisory committee as well as Zone 7 Water Agency Board of Directors.
Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown appeared at the event on behalf of her city and emphasized the importance of collaborating with the park district.
"It's such an honor to be here and work in conjunction with EBRPD," Brown said. "Once you open these beautiful staging areas, they will be here for generations to come. So they do take a lot of time but they are well planned and well executed."
"The Tyler Ranch provides another access point to this wonderful ridge; we're going to enjoy it for years to come. We're pleased to be working together. The city of Pleasanton and the EBRPD have a partnership, one that's incredibly valuable to all of us," the mayor added.
Known as the largest regional park system in the United States, EBRPD oversees 73 parks, 55 miles of shoreline and more than 1,300 miles of trails fit for hiking, walking, horseback riding and other forms of recreation in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Funding for the staging area was made possible by California State Parks and Measure WW.
To learn more about Tyler Ranch or other EBRPD amenities, visit ebparks.org.
