Newly-Opened East Bay Park Closed After Neighbors File Lawsuit
FREMONT (KPIX 5) – An East Bay park that opened to the public about two months ago has suddenly closed after neighbors who complained about traffic and parking filed a lawsuit.
The Vargas Plateau Regional Park opened back in May, but not everyone was happy.
"There's going to be either a serious injury or a death on that road," Christopher George, who owns a ranch near the park, told KPIX 5.
George and another neighbor filed the lawsuit that shut down the park. The neighbors argued that the East Bay Regional Park District did not do enough about the traffic and parking problems.
A judge agreed -- saying the park would be closed until they could figure out a solution.
"The road is narrow," said Tony Bethard lives at the bottom of Morrison Canyon road, which leads to the park and understands the concerns.
But he hopes the battle over the park can be resolved, and it can finally be open for good this time.
"We live in the Bay Area, so there's always traffic," Bethard told KPIX 5. "They need more parks, people need to go do stuff and the park bought the land so they have to open it up to the public."
The park general manager called the closure on their website "extremely unfortunate" and hopes they can reopen the park to the public soon. In the meantime, they will have patrols at the park making sure the public stay out.
The park district widened a portion of Vargas Road and removed vegetation as part of improvements, but that didn't seem to be enough to some neighbors. According to the park manager, they plan to appeal the judge's decision.
