Crews wrap up Camden parking lot

San Jose city work crews have finished redoing the Camden Community Center parking lot.

City park manager Dave Mitchell said crews on July 25 poured concrete into the holes of several parking lot islands where 40 trees were removed a year ago.

He added that 46 parking spots in the rear portion of the Union Avenue parking lot were blocked off during the one-day job.

The trees were cut down to make way for solar panels that today generate electricity for the community center.

“When we did the solar panels, we cut the trees and left the (island) diamonds,” Mitchell said.

He said the city wrote a check “to plant additional trees throughout District 9 to replace the trees that were taken out.” Staff still hasn’t decided “where the trees will be planted yet, but they will be in parks in District 9,” he added.

Several other minor projects were also completed that day, Mitchell said. The small landscape islands near the parking lot entrance were replanted, as were areas around the trees removed last year. And the footpath near the parking lot entrance was relocated to the other side of a fence that encircles a large playing field.

“When we put the post supports along the entrance road adjacent to Camden, it made it impossible for a person wheeling a baby stroller to maneuver,” Mitchell said. “So we relocated the pathway on the other side of the fence to provide a four- to fivefoot-wide path. People can still do laps around the turf area.”

The tree replacements and other improvements were paid for with solar project funds.