Marking a milestone in Santa Clara Valley history, Guadalupe River Park and Gardens will celebrate its official opening on Sept. 10. But the day isn't just commemorating the end of a project that's been more than 20 years in the making. It also represents the start of an urban pleasure garden.

The downtown San Jose park stretches 2.6 miles along the banks of the Guadalupe River, from Highway 280 to Highway 880. The park and gardens boast immaculate landscaped greenery, family-friendly areas and winding paths for hiking, biking, walking and running that will serve the community in the years ahead, including residents of Cupertino and Sunnyvale.

"Personally, I have been involved in some aspect of this project for going back 30 years," says Al Gurevich, an engineering unit manager of the Guadalupe River watershed for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. "I've had four different colored paychecks."

The Sunnyvale resident says the $340 million project is unique in its combination of flood protection, recreational open space, and preservation of an environment that's home to steelhead trout, chinook salmon, birds and other wildlife. Gurevich has been involved in the design and construction aspects of the park and gardens.

"There has been a tremendous amount of planning on this project, not just recreational and flood protection, but the environmental features--balanced solutions that protect resources," Gurevich says.

Gurevich hopes the park will become a competitive attraction with others in the Bay Area. He says many people don't think of San Jose as a destination, but now with a new city hall and events such as the San Jose Grand Prix, times are changing.

San Jose is the third largest city in California, following Los Angeles and San Diego, according to recent population figures from the California Department of Finance and the U.S. Census.

"San Jose is the 10th largest city in the nation," Gurevich says. "We're hoping for it to become one of the major league players."

One sunny afternoon, San Jose mother Nikki Moore watches her son and his friends romp around the park. She brings 8-year-old Elyjah Wirth and his friends Joey O'Conner and Michael Thomlinson to the Arena Green Playgrounds at least once a month.

The Arena Green is located between Santa Clara and Julian streets, and is directly across Autumn Street from the San Jose Arena.

"They love to come here," Moore says. "They call it 'spider web park' because of the climbing structures. It's a good place to just let them run around. We come here whenever we get all three of the boys together."

Kathleen Muller is the 10-year executive director of the park and gardens. Her task has been coming up with ways to let the community know there's more than just one great place within the park for Elyjah, Joey and Michael to play. The recreational areas hold a myriad of delights.

Park Places

A children's carousel in the Arena Green features 33 painted, fiberglass animals. The hummingbird, coyote, salmon and eagle represent indigenous species, and two sharks symbolize the San Jose Sharks ice hockey team.

Discovery Meadow near the Children's Discovery Museum features the largest Monopoly game board in the world. The 930-square-foot game is an interactive element of the park, where groups can rent large tokens and play a game of Monopoly in the outdoor public setting.

"It's really exciting to see it get to this point," Muller says. "This has been such a long-term project that's gone on for decades. It's taken so many people coming together from all different organizations."

The project wouldn't be possible without Muller's dedication and organization, Gurevich says.

"I have known Kathy for a very long time," he says. "She's a tremendous networker and a huge advocate of the park."

Guadalupe Gardens include an additional 120 acres of city-owned property to the south of Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. The gardens are being developed as a center for horticultural and environmental education. Ultimately, the gardens will serve as a gateway entrance to downtown.

The gardens include a renowned heritage rose garden with more than 4,000 varieties; a courtyard garden and the Taylor Street rock garden, which uses recycled water; a garden center; and a historic orchard planted with varieties of fruit trees that once grew abundantly in this valley. The area was previously famous for being called "The Valley of Heart's Delight."

Michele Keefhaver, a management analyst with the Santa Clara Valley Water District, volunteers as a docent for the park and gardens. The Cupertino resident also enjoys bringing her niece and nephew to the Arena Green Playgrounds as well as a child-friendly, manufactured river re-creation area in McEnery Park, where children can play in the water. The park is named after John P. McEnery, the father of former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery, who was prominent in local politics and community life in San Jose. The park is on the south side of San Fernando Street, just east of the river.

Keefhaver's favorite area of the park is a parade of animals, an area in Discovery Meadow that features "larger-than-life" animals including an eagle, frog and rabbit.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing how other people see the park at the grand opening," she says. "I'm sure people will be impressed. It's a hidden treasure that's being revealed right here in San Jose. People just don't expect it to be there, so the grand opening will give it some exposure."

Planted in 1994, the 3.3-acre historic orchard is just north of Taylor Street and adjacent to the river park trails. The orchard contains more than 250 fruit trees, including cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, prunes and apples. Dedicated volunteers maintain the orchard.

Produce harvested from the orchard is donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. In addition, the park is home to tennis courts, public art, a history plaza and visitor and education center. There are also educational programs available within the park for both children and adults.

"There's lots of places to sit quietly and enjoy the outdoors," Muller says.

The park was created in conjunction with an innovative flood protection project constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that uses underground tunnels to carry floodwaters away from homes and downtown businesses.

"There's a bypass system of tunnels under the park that carries the excess floodwaters through," Muller says.

Community leaders worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Santa Clara Valley Water District for more than 20 years to design a project that combines flood control work with environmental protection. The city of San Jose/Redevelopment Agency and county of Santa Clara partnered with the Santa Clara Valley Water District on the project to "make it more than just a concrete channel," Muller says.

"It's a tremendous satisfaction watching many years of hard labor pay off," Gurevich says.

The design was intended to create a "ribbon of blue and ribbon of green" open space in the heart of downtown San Jose, Muller says.

The park and gardens are historical, since the city of San Jose--el pueblo de San José de Guadalupe--was founded along the river in 1777 by the Spanish, according to a brochure from Guadalupe River Park and Gardens. Successive waves of people including Native Americans, Spanish and Mexican settlers, Chinese and Italian immigrants have lived along its banks. As the city developed, the river was remembered only when it flooded.

"A lot of people are surprised when they learn there's a river in San Jose," Muller says.

The river has periodically overflowed over the years, Muller says, most recently in 1995 when downtown streets were flooded with 15 feet of water. But today, the flood-protection project protects downtown San Jose from the potential damage that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. The project was completed in December 2004.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently released revised maps of the area showing how risk areas have been reduced in San Jose, Santa Clara and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, Gurevich says.

Looking ahead

In 2006, Muller says additional trails will be completed along the lower Guadalupe River from the park to Alviso. The park's future includes an upper Guadalupe River project that will continue the trails south to Almaden Valley, as well as connect Guadalupe Park's trails with the popular Los Gatos Creek Trail. The Los Gatos Creek merges with the Guadalupe River at Confluence Point near Santa Clara Street.

According to the park and gardens website, the Los Gatos Creek Trail will eventually connect to the Guadalupe River Park Trail at Arena Green, near the HP Pavilion. Muller says there's no projected date for this link to occur but progress is being made in extending the Los Gatos trail north from Meridian Avenue, where it now ends. The city of San Jose is currently seeking funds from many sources and trying to acquire property to complete the trail as soon as possible.

Muller envisions people using the trail rather than having to deal with parking in downtown San Jose for events such as the San Jose Grand Prix, San Jose Jazz Festival or Cinequest Film Festival. The park is also expected to offer wireless Internet access for out-of-town visitors and business people who want to sit in the park with their laptops.

"The park is not complete," Muller says. "There will always be things added--improvements and other projects. It's an urban park in the center of the city. It's a major milestone point we're celebrating."