The design balances the public desire for a 19th-century-style picturesque park with the necessities of highly sensitive environmental systems and with the site development restrictions inherent to building on landfill — no impermeable surfaces (all paths are of crushed oyster shells); no trees whose roots might pierce the clay cap; no irrigation (so only native grasses are used). The design process involved extensive input from the public as well as various agencies such as State Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the Coastal Conservancy, the Army Corps of Engineers, and BCDC. The project was done in collaboration with environmental sculptors Peter Richards and Michael Oppenheimer and consultants included architects and landfill engineers as well as a native grass specialist. As a whole, the site design draws inspiration from the place’s unique characteristics: landfill, slough, marsh, wind, and sky.