A 44-space parking lot—with room for an additional eight horse trailers—is being built by Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District on Bear Creek Road to increase access to hiking and equestrian trails. Joseph J. Albanese Inc. won the contract with a bid of $1,904,963. Construction started in late May. The Grand Opening is tentatively scheduled for the end of the year. The lot will feature public restrooms and electric vehicle charging, and will provide access to a loop trail.
Meanwhile, local nonprofit Friends of Bear Creek Stables has taken over management of nearby Bear Creek Stables. Midpen is planning to invest several million dollars into repairing the stable in the years ahead. Currently capital projects at Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve are in Phase 0, in anticipation of certain criteria being completed.
Friends of Bear Creek Stables was initially required to raise $250,000 in order to get the long-term management contract for the horse boarding facility. They took over with a ribbon-cutting on July 1. Midpen, a public agency, was spearheaded by a woman named Nonette Hanko in 1972 in Palo Alto. The entire Preserve is nearly 1,500 acres, which includes Bear Creek Stables and the land where the parking lot is being built…