East Bay’s newest park, Vargas Plateau, shuts gates in neighbor dispute

The East Bay’s newest public park, which opened two months ago as the culmination of millions of dollars worth of prized land acquisitions, abruptly closed its gates Friday after a judge said roads to the property near Fremont had not been adequately widened to handle the fresh flock of hikers, bikers and birdwatchers.

Vargas Plateau Regional Park, which debuted in early May, offers sweeping views of San Francisco Bay over 1,249 acres of hilly open space to visitors willing to drive several miles of winding, narrow roads to get there.

[...] Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled this week that the East Bay Regional Park District had not upgraded the roads as required under a 2012 court settlement with neighbors who were concerned about traffic.

Park officials, who insist they’ve satisfied their end of the legal arrangement, plan to appeal the court decision.

The East Bay Regional Park District acquired most of the ridgetop land in the mid-1990s from families that once ranched it, but was kept from welcoming in the public — partly because of a lingering lawsuit that suggested a potential for car collisions and parking hang-ups.

A settlement four years ago required the park district, before opening Vargas Plateau, to widen portions of Vargas Road, the main artery to the park off Interstate 680.

The district was also compelled to remove vegetation and install no-parking signs along Vargas Road, limit visitor parking to 25 spaces in a designated lot, and discourage motorists from using the windier Morrison Canyon Road route from Fremont.