The construction is substantially complete as of March 22, 2024 and the trail is open for users. Temporary fencing for protecting new plantings during establishment has also been taken down.
Project photos (March 2024)
Project History
The planning and implementation of the restoration of Codornices Creek between Kains Avenue to Interstate 80 has been ongoing since the late 1990s and involves the City of Albany, the City of Berkeley, and the University of California. Lower Codornices Creek forms the boundary between the cities of Berkeley and Albany and the primary owner within the Albany is the University of California (UC Village). The original master plan was prepared in 2001 and the City Council approved a Mitigated Negative Declaration in 2004, pursuant to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. In addition, in 2004, the City entered into a three-way Memorandum of Understanding with the University of California and the City of Berkeley in 2004 to allow the tree agencies to work collaboratively on project to restore and maintain segments of the creek that runs from the railroad tracks on the west to San Pablo Avenue on the east.
The Lower Codornices Creek Restoration Project is an ongoing project to restore Codornices Creek from San Pablo Avenue to the western edge of UC Village. Three phases of the restoration project, from 8th Street to the railroad tracks (the western edge of UC Village), have been completed to date. As a result of earlier creek projects, native riparian habitats have been created, restoring habitat to native Steelhead Trout and improving community resilience by reducing exposure to flooding at UC Village student housing. In addition, a bicycle-pedestrian shared use trail has been constructed that connects to local and regional bicycle trail networks, and provides recreational, educational, and stewardship opportunities. In 2010, the first phases of restoration of Codornices Creek won the Association of Bay Area Governments' Growing Smarter Together Award in the category of "Protecting and Preserving the Environment" for advancing smart or "focused" growth in the Bay Area.
The Phase IV Project (CIP No. 43001) includes construction of a multi-use path from 8th Street to 10th Street to fill a gap in the multi-use path paralleling the creek. The City engaged Restoration Design Group (RDG) to design Phase IV, which was completed in 2019 and included stakeholder meetings with entities active in the project area (i.e. adjacent property owners, Ecocity Builders, Friends of Five Creeks, Albany Little League, and UC Village). Key environmental, transportation, and public works staff at the MOU Agencies provided comments and recommendations during this effort.
In June 2019, the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Commission and the Transportation Commission recommended approval of the Project. In October 2019, the City Council accepted the Project design and authorized staff to identify funding for construction (Resolution 2019-86).
In November 2020, the City Council adopted FY2019/20-2023/24 Capital Improvement Plan(PDF, 1MB), and appropriated budget for the first three fiscal years. This included $620,000 in funds from remaining Measure R LLAD 1996-1 fund balances for the Lower Codornices Creek Restoration Project – Phase IV (CIP No. 43001).
In December 2020, the Council authorized submission of the Phase IV Project for consideration for funding as part of the Alameda County Transportation Commission's 2022 Comprehensive Investment Plan (Resolution 2021-97(PDF, 428KB)). The grant period began in July 2022.
With construction funding secured for the Phase IV Project, staff reviewed the project site in August 2022 to review potential changes as the current design was completed in October 2019. Staff observed repaving projects by UC Berkeley, habitat restoration, and tree and fence changes within the Project site since the 2019 design. Staff concluded that existing conditions had changed significantly enough to warrant an updated survey and revised plan set to reflect current conditions.
In early 2023, staff began working with original design group RDG to provide an updated plan set to reflect changes in project specifications, materials, and best practices. In addition, due to the environmental complexity with construction adjacent to a forested creek and the involvement of multiple, actively engaged stakeholders, staff worked with Zoon Engineering to provide a pre-construction review, evaluating the biddability and constructability of the Phase IV Project plan set and specifications. This pre-construction review was important for streamlining construction and providing staff more resources to manage coordination on the stakeholders' needs and requests during development of the revised plan set.
The City Council authorized a call for bids for construction of the project at the April 17, 2023 meeting (Resolution 2023-19(PDF, 1MB)).
The City Council awarded construction contracts for the project at the July 17, 2023 meeting.