Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond, California, is operated by East Bay Regional Park District, and is a multi-use park for joggers, windsurfers, kayakers, photographers, picnickers, and people walking dogs. It has access for pedestrians and via public transit, private vehicles, and bikes (although bike-riding within Point Isabel itself is not allowed). It also features a concession offering food for people and grooming for pets. A longtime community organization and nonprofit, Point Isabel Dog Owners and Friends (PIDO), is active in the maintenance and improvement of the park.
Point Isabel was closed from March 31, 2020 to June 1, 2020, as a precaution during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dogs were required to be on-leash during the first week after the reopening but off-leash privileges were restored on June 8, 2020. As throughout East Bay Regional Park District, social distancing measures apply.
History
This now park was incorporated into the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in 1975. The United States Postal Service operates a large bulk mail facility adjacent to what is now Point Isabel Regional Shoreline. As mitigation for the construction of this large facility on the shoreline, USPS offered to lease what is now Point Isabel Regional Shoreline free of charge to the EBRPD until 2025. The lease came with the condition of free public access.
Originally 23 acres, Point Isabel officially added the roughly 26 acres of North Point Isabel (sometimes called Battery Point) in 2002 when McLaughlin Eastshore State Park (then Eastshore State Park) was created. North Point Isabel is across the narrow Hoffman Channel from Point Isabel proper and accessed via a short footbridge or from the Bay Trail.
Both Point Isabel and North Point Isabel, like many parks along the East Bay shoreline, are landfill. For years North Point Isabel was a dumping ground for industrial waste—the "Battery Point" name referred to battery casings—and underwent an intensive cleanup and clay-capping operation in the mid-1980s. Two of the toxins of concern in the area were lead and zinc. The fenced-off area just north of the public restrooms at the Rydin Road end of the park is dirt that was dug more recently when the restrooms were installed. The dirt pile tested positive for high levels of contaminants and was fenced off, planted, and is permanently off-limits. Other small areas of North Point Isabel have been fenced off either because they tested positive for lead or zinc or to prevent further erosion of the clay cap and edges of the landfill.
The park has seen many improvements over the years, including the building of permanent buildings for the Mudpuppy's Tub & Scrub dog wash and adjacent Sit & Stay Café; permanent bathrooms on both ends of the park (Isabel Street and Rydin Road); trail repaving on the Point Isabel side; and parking lot repaving and restriping. The bridge across the Hoffman Channel was reinforced in 2019 to ensure it could hold emergency vehicles on the adjacent Bay Trail (along the Hoffman Marsh). The informal launching area for nonmotorized watercraft (primarily windsurfers and kayaks) was significantly improved around 2018, including shoring up the edges of the landfill, installing a pea gravel area for windsurfers to stage their equipment, a broad, concrete ramp to the water's edge, and paved sidewalks out to the launch area.
Park usage has increased exponentially from an estimated 500,000 human visitors in 2000 to some 1,400,000 10 years later, according to EBRPD estimates. It is used heavily by people walking dogs but also by walkers, joggers, windsurfers, kayakers, photographers, birdwatchers, and picnickers. A few years ago it underwent some US $500,000 worth of capital improvements, including new irrigation systems and turf, fox tail removal, trail repavement, picnic sites and café seating. That was funded by a portion of US $225 million collected by Measure AA (1998)
Point Isabel regularly makes the list of the top best places in the U.S. to walk dogs off-leash. It was named the number one dog park by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 2006.
It is named for the natural promontory of Point Isabel, which was itself named for landowner Víctor Castro's daughter Isabel. During the Gold Rush, the Castros operated a ferry from Point Isabel to send supplies from their ranch to San Francisco. For many years a pottery company, Tepco, operated near where the water treatment plant is today. Shards of broken pottery are still frequently found along the western shoreliner.