New $2.9 Million Grant Request for Cooper Gulch Park

The City of Eureka is excited to announce its application for the Prop 68: Rural Recreation and Tourism Program offered by California State Parks.

This funding helps fund park projects in critically underserved communities with low population levels. The city is working hard to improve all city parks with the focus of this grant application being to revitalize Cooper Gulch Park.

This grant application is an evolution from a previous Prop 68 funding opportunity that was not awarded funding. A robust community input process took place from October 2020-February 2021 with the support of the neighborhood community group, Cooper Gulch Common Grounds. We would like to thank the countless individuals who attended the meetings and responded to the survey, along with those who reached out directly with their input. Though the originally proposed project was not awarded funding, the park design and input have directly guided the scope for this new grant request.

This new funding opportunity makes available a maximum of $3 million for park projects. Staff carefully selected improvements from the previous application that would be most competitive and created a well-balanced improvement project scope and budget.

The new grant request resulted in a total of $2.9 million for the following park improvements:

• Construction of two new, accessible playgrounds for ages 2-5 and 5-12
• New ADA accessible restroom featuring low-flow toilets and LED lighting with a rentable concession stan
• A universally accessible jogging/walking loop will be added around the ballfields
• New recreational trails throughout the park including new neighborhood entrances and a new entrance at 14th Street
• New wildlife viewing structures and trail system for birding and wildlife viewing including interpretive signs and information for a self-led interpretive tour
• Removal of invasive species and new native plantings and trees to restore the creek and riparian corridor
• Outdoor fitness equipment along the walking loop
• Disc golf course will be renovated with new baskets, launch pads, safety, and shared signage, and paths

A notice of award should occur in Summer 2022 should this project receive funding. To stay up to date, you can visit www.CooperGulchParkImprovements.com.