February 23, 2007

City Council approves landscape improvements for Lake Cunningham Park

The San Jose City Council approved a bid for perimeter landscaping at Lake Cunningham Regional Park at its Feb. 13 meeting.

Suarez & Munoz Construction Inc. submitted the low bid of $1,147,030. It includes a contingency approval for $57, 352. The action was budgeted at $1.5 million. It covers the northern side of the park on Cunningham Avenue. The beautification project has been under discussion for a number of years, but tabled because of environmental concerns and fiscal problems.

The project includes roadway improvements, including a curb, gutters, a sidewalk and a vegetative swale for drainage and water percolation. The plans include making the road, which currently drops off into gravel and dirt. It also is being designed to increase rain percolation into the ground instead of into the bay.

Other improvements include shrubs and trees to improve the visual aspect of the park, according to Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Park Manager Brian Hartsell. Construction is expected to take about a year and is scheduled to begin in early April.

The western side of the park, located on Capitol Expressway currently is not scheduled. Hartsell said the city plans to wait until future VTA work is completed “to more cleanly define the western edge and then we will come back and finish landscaping that edge of the park too.”

—By Carol Rosen