At 5:30 on a weekday morning, the lap lanes at Clarke Memorial Swim Center open on schedule. Elsewhere in the same park, behind construction fencing, sits graded ground where the Heather Farm Community Center stood for decades until this spring. The building that replaces both is planned around one rule. The pool you swim in today stays open until the new one is ready.
That one rule explains most of what has changed at Heather Farm this year, and what hasn't. It also tells you the order things will happen in through 2027 and possibly into 2028.
The pool stays because its replacement is being built on a different part of the park
The new Aquatic and Community Center is a single complex. It combines the event and classroom space that used to sit in the old community center with the swimming that has always happened at Clarke. The aquatic side includes a 50-meter competition pool with 9 long-course and 18 short-course lanes, plus a 25-meter recreation pool with beach entry and play features, according to Claycord. The city's project plans also call for a large Lakeside Room, three multipurpose rooms and classrooms, outdoor event terraces, a bathhouse, and a new restroom beside the All Abilities Playground.
The new complex is rising on the former community center site, separate from Clarke, so the old pool can keep running the whole time. The Bay Area Telegraph reported in August that the existing swim center will not be demolished until the new aquatic complex is ready. For anyone on a lap-swim routine, nothing about the construction moves your lane. Clarke's current posted schedule:
| Program | Days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Lap swim | Weekdays | 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Lap swim | Monday to Friday evenings | 7 to 8 p.m. |
| Lap swim | Weekends | 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Recreational swim | Weekends | Noon to 4 p.m. |
The city lists these hours on the Clarke Memorial Swim Center page, which says the center is open for regular programming.
What came down to make room
Keeping the pool open meant the community center went first. The timeline, from city records and local reporting:
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| August 2025 | Heather Farm Community Center closed |
| October to December 2025 | Concrete pond refilled after earlier pond and nature lake work |
| December 2025 | Sports Fields 1 and 2 reopened with synthetic turf |
| Early February 2026 | Contractor Lathrop began Phase 2 construction |
| March 6, 2026 | Community center demolished |
| Spring and summer 2026 | Foundation removal, excavation, mass grading, utility installation |
About 75 trees were removed along the way. The city has said it will plant two new trees in the park for every one taken out, and the redwoods that came down are being made into wood products, the Telegraph reported. The fenced work zone covers roughly 4.7 acres in the central and southern part of a 102-acre park. Crews typically work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with weekend work allowed when needed.
The project's approved budget is $75.8 million, and that figure includes design, construction contracts and soft costs, according to a March 2026 City Council report. Most of the money comes from Measure O, the ten-year, half-cent city sales tax voters approved in 2022. The General Fund Facilities Reserve and bond proceeds cover the rest.
The real cost of the sequencing is rooms and picnic tables
Because the pool stays put, the gap at Heather Farm falls on everything else the old community center did: classes, camps, private parties, meetings. The city's class locations directory now lists the building as "CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION THROUGH 2027." Walnut Creek Arts + Rec says Heather Farm classes and camps are running at other city facilities and parks for now and are expected to return to Heather Farm in 2027.
If you used to book the community center for a party or a meeting, the city's facility rentals page points to these alternatives:
- Civic Park Assembly Hall
- Center for Community Arts
- Tice Valley Gym
- Lesher Center
- Library Oak View Room
The rental office itself has moved for now and is temporarily at the Center for Community Arts.
Picnic space has shrunk too. The city's picnic rentals page currently lists Heather Farm picnic sites 2, 3, 4, 5 and 12 as closed because of construction. The Telegraph's August report named only 2 through 5, which means site 12 joined the closed list sometime after that. Check that page before planning a birthday party under a particular tree.
Parking is the other pinch. The city identifies three lots next to the project: the solar-panel lot north of the old community center, the lot serving aquatics and the All Abilities Playground, and the lot along North San Carlos Drive. It warns that parking will be challenging during construction. The same city FAQ notes that demolition and construction nearby would affect access to the refilled concrete pond, and that restocking the pond was still to be planned.
Everything outside the fence keeps its own schedule
The rest of Heather Farm is open. Destinations outside the fenced zone remain accessible, though visitors should expect noise and occasional detours, the Telegraph reported. Several of the park's anchors sit far enough from the work, or were already rebuilt, that their calendars look the same as any other fall.
Sports Fields 1 and 2. Converted to synthetic turf with Measure O funds, they reopened in December 2025. That makes them the first finished piece of the park's overhaul.
Walnut Creek Tennis Center. The center's operator has posted fall 2026 tennis and pickleball schedules, with hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The center has two pickleball courts, according to the operator's Walnut Creek page.
The Gardens at Heather Farm. The nonprofit garden at 1540 Marchbanks Drive is free and open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week, except when it closes for private events. Its two biggest dates of the season are also its most immediate.
The Gardens' last fall plant sale is this Saturday, November 7, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., after sales on September 26 and October 17. The nursery grows its own stock, including water-wise plants, organically grown seasonal vegetables, and species the Gardens says you won't find elsewhere. Members get 10% off. Details are on the Gardens' nursery page.
Four weeks later, the 40th annual Teddy Bear Tea runs Saturday, December 5, and Sunday, December 6, 2026. Each day has two seatings, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. The Saturday morning seating is already sold out. For the tea, the Gardens points guests to its own lot and to street parking on Marchbanks Drive if the lot fills.
When the order flips, and what the swap opens up
The finish line has moved more than once. The city's project FAQ still shows an early target labeled "Toes in the Water – Summer 2027." The city's construction-impact page now says work will continue through the end of 2027. Claycord reported in July that a city bid document leaves more room than that:
A recent city bid document describes completion as "late 2027 or early 2028."
Whichever date holds, the swim-first plan means the swap happens in a fixed order. The new pools open first, and Clarke stays in use until they do. Only then does the old swim center come down. The new building is also designed to support emergency operations when needed, so it will serve a civic role beyond recreation.
That last step opens a new question for the park. Once Clarke is cleared, Walnut Creek will plan what to do with its roughly three acres. Ideas discussed so far include more green space, pickleball or bocce courts, a basketball court and an amphitheater. The Telegraph noted that this planning process is separate from the current project and that no final design has been decided.
Big public projects like this one shape how a neighborhood feels to the people who already live there, and for any home near Heather Farm, the dates matter almost as much as the finished building. If you have questions about how projects like this play into timing a move or a sale anywhere in Walnut Creek, Team Fondnazio is happy to talk it through, with no pressure and plenty of local detail. Let's Connect.
