In particular, a 72-acre (29 ha) tract north of the Bay Bridge that extended between the cities of Emeryville and Richmond attracted the attention of commercial developers and environmental activists alike, though for different reasons.

[4] Santa Fe had a temporary setback in 1972, when the Berkeley City Council voted against allowing a proposed regional shopping center to be built atop a landfill.

[4] In addition to the complicated process of buying parcels of land and landfill that would become the future state park, how areas were to be used was and remains controversial.

The City of Berkeley was to have contributed its former landfill to become one of the larger areas of "upland" (dry land) for the park but held it back, apparently out of concerns that recreation would be overly restricted.

North Point Isabel, a toxic landfill that was remediated and capped in the mid-1980s, had been popular for recreation, including off-leash dog walking.

Sierra Club, Citizens for East Shore Parks, Golden Gate Audubon Society and others worked to restrict recreation on that spit of land and require dogs to be on-leash-only.

In response to tremendous public support, state park planners authorized the continued use of North Point Isabel for off-leash recreation.

The height of the pile will be lowered 15 feet (4.6 m) by grading, using the dirt to create small hills that would act as a buffer between the park and the adjacent freeway.