Creekside Fields Upgrade Set to Start
The $5.7 million facelift of two sports fields behind Creekside Middle School is set to begin as early as Monday, officials said.
The project includes upgrades to the upper track field of the campus, parallel to Paradise Knolls and the lower baseball fields parallel to Gem Avenue. The project will also extend the eastern border of Creekside’s property from about 500 feet by about 630 feet long to accommodate new features, walkways, and maintenance areas. The existing parking areas will remain unchanged, and no new spaces are planned.
Construction crews are expected to begin fencing off areas around the perimeter including public access gates. The projected finish date would be July 2022, according to Sharon Trieu-Quince, director of Facilities Construction at CVUSD.
“We started the planning process on this project back in October 2017 so to see it start breaking ground is really exciting.”
The dog park, play structure, and restrooms at Earl Warren Park will remain open. However, the construction will impact the picnic area southwest of the play structure and restrooms, Trieu-Quince said.
“We will be leveling the grounds of the area, which will require removing the non-native eucalyptus trees near the fields,” Trieu-Quince said. “But this will give people better walking access into the area and extend the recreation space by about 170 feet.”
New to the upper field will be a new flag football and practice soccer fields within a 28-feet wide, 400-meter track. A new, four-foot-wide paved pathway will form the perimeter of the track. The upgrades will also include a long jump and landing zone facility installed on the currently unimproved turf area immediately west of the existing field, paved storage and loading area sized for three 20-foot-long containers located between the field and Paradise Knolls, and bleachers to seat 100 people installed on a concrete slab on the south side of the field. Extending the width of the upper field to accommodate a regular football field would have added $300,000 to the price tag, Trieu-Quince said.
“During the planning process, the biggest ask from the Athletic directors was that 400-meter competition-sized track,” Trieu-Quince said. “We also got input from Castro Valley Independent Sports League and Castro Valley Soccer Club to make sure we included their needs.”
The lower field improvements will include a new 360-foot long, 225-foot-wide soccer field, as well as a new baseball field with a diamond on the east side of the facility. Two new batting cages would be installed within the footprint of the new field, east of the proposed baseball diamond. In addition, new turf, irrigation sprinklers, infield clay, dugout fencing, and small bleachers would be installed on the existing softball field on the west side of the lower facility.
An Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant ramp that connects the two fields will also be installed. Similar to the current conditions, both field improvements will continue to support natural grass with compacted gravel for the running track. Trieu-Quince noted that CVUSD is starting a future fund in case the decision is made to convert the fields to artificial surfaces like the ones found at Castro Valley High School Field.
The overall project is a collaboration between Castro Valley Unified School District and Hayward Area Recreation and Park District. The funding comes from a combination of voter-approved Measure G and Proposition 51 monies as well as reimbursement from the California State funds for deferred capital improvement projects.
“For the Creekside projects, we have pretty much finished with their building upgrades as well as their classroom renovations,” Trieu-Quince said. “The fields are the last thing that we are doing and we could not be prouder.”