An empty waterfront lot in Antioch is about to sprout. What should it become?

ANTIOCH — Residents will soon get a chance to let their leaders know what they would like to become of a long-empty waterfront space in the city’s downtown.

Vacant for more than 50 years, the former Beede Lumber yard, located at Second, Third and E streets, has been at the forefront of controversy for nearly three decades as residents, business owners and city staff deadlocked on what it should become: a park, an event center, town square, housing or something in-between.

Now, the city and a consultant will co-host two workshops to gather input from community members on just what an outdoor community space there should look like. The first workshop will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 8 at the Antioch Community Center, and the second will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Antioch Senior Center Riverview Room.

“It’s really unique because it’s waterfront property located in the downtown, so it’s perfectly situated and … it’s not something that comes around every day,” Antioch Acting Assistant City Manager and Parks & Recreation Director Brad Helfenberger said. “It’s really a unique opportunity.”

A plant grows in the lot at W. Second and E Street in downtown Antioch, Calif., on Wednesday, July 13, 2016. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

The city hired RHAA, a Mill Valley-based landscape architectural firm, in 2022 to develop conceptual plans, conduct a survey and hold the community workshops on the Rivertown community space. While the consultant was paid $350,000 through developer park in-lieu fees, no money has been allocated yet for the actual development of the site. That could cost more than $1 million, according to Helfenberger.

Community members, though, have long fought to protect the two-acre parcel from development, first uniting in a CRAWDAD resident group and later in a “Save the Yard campaign” that worked toward a ballot initiative to do just that when a plan to erect townhomes seemed imminent in 2016. Though the initiative failed to get enough signatures, the group’s vision for an event center town square lived on. In late 2021, Joy Motts of Save the Yard finally presented the group’s concept for the parcel to the council, which got the ball rolling.

“We’ve been fighting and advocating for over 20 years,” Motts said. “We’ve been advocating to stop those two acres from becoming multi-level housing.”

Helfenberger, for one, said he is glad the efforts seemed to have paid off. The dirt lot commands an expansive view of the San Joaquin River and a town square there could draw people downtown and help revitalize the area, he said.

“There’s nothing wrong with condos and townhomes, per se, but it wouldn’t really be a signature for the city,” he said. “They would kind of blend in with just the surrounding housing and they would just be another development. We have the opportunity to do something really unique and have it be a meaningful community gathering place.”

Motts, who served on the council from 2018 to 2020, agreed that the outdoor space could “create vibrancy and bring foot traffic to downtown,” with concerts and other outdoor events. Motts pointed to neighboring Brentwood, Oakley and Pittsburg, all of which she said host events downtown and have bustling outdoor centers.

“We have this beautiful waterfront,” she said. “We’re lucky. Unlike our neighbors, it’s open and visible. We can see the river from downtown. We have exceptional river views.”

Motts said she thought the former lumber yard space, which the city purchased years earlier, would be good for outdoor concerts, farmers’ markets and even the city’s Christmas tree and annual holiday celebration.

A thriving downtown, she said, “has been part of the mission statement for the last 30 to 40 years … But yet, we are one of the few cities that seems to still continue to struggle to make that happen.”

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