Walk the Lakeside Nature Trail this month and the skyline over the water is missing something. The tower that has marked the reservoir since before most of Lafayette's current homes were built no longer has its roof or its operating house on top. Cranes and a barge sit where the silhouette used to be. If you have done this loop a hundred times, the gap is the first thing you notice.
What most walkers do not know is that the missing roofline is not the end of a dispute. It is the outcome of one, and the losing argument was never about how the tower looks.
Two Engineering Opinions, One Deadline
The tower dates to 1929 and stands 170 feet tall, serving as both the outlet and the spillway for the reservoir's 1.4 billion gallons. East Bay Municipal Utility District, which owns the structure, determined it needed a seismic retrofit to meet current dam safety standards, and its design shortens the tower by 40 feet.
That is the part most coverage stops at. The part worth knowing if you actually live here is that a volunteer committee of Lafayette residents, all practicing engineers or architects, spent 21 months independently reviewing EBMUD's plan on the city's behalf. Their conclusion was not that the shorter tower looked worse. It was that the existing height could be retrofitted safely, and that EBMUD's shortening approach could increase seismic risk for residents downstream in the event of a major earthquake.
EBMUD disagreed, and the state's Division of Safety of Dams sided with EBMUD's design. When the city asked for more time to develop an alternative that might satisfy both the committee's concerns and state requirements, DSOD gave EBMUD a hard deadline: submit a different concept by April 1, 2025, or move forward with the shortening plan. No alternative cleared that bar. Construction started.
This was never a fight over nostalgia. It was two sets of qualified people disagreeing about which design keeps the neighborhoods below the dam safer, and the disagreement got resolved by a regulatory deadline, not by one side proving the other wrong.
What's Actually Happening on the Trail Right Now
Crews began the physical work of shortening the tower in early July, removing the roof and operating house first, then saw-cutting roughly a dozen concrete rings, each about three feet tall, off the tower stem. That phase was on track to reach the tower's new, shortened height by August 21.
If you are planning a walk, run, or picnic at the reservoir before the end of the year, here is what changes and what does not:
- Expect occasional 10 to 15 minute delays for both pedestrians and vehicles near the main entrance and the Lakeside Nature Trail, where crews move equipment across the path to reach the exit road.
- Picnic site reservations were paused between February and July 2026 while the construction schedule firmed up. Sites unaffected by the work have continued to operate on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Demolition debris is being trucked out through the Acalanes Road onramp, which means construction traffic is routed away from downtown Lafayette entirely. Your drive through town is not part of this project.
- Fishing, hiking, and general park access remain open throughout construction, though the areas immediately around the barge ramp and tower will look and sound like an active job site for a while longer.
The Timeline, If You Want to Plan Around It
| Milestone | Target date |
|---|---|
| Tower reaches new, shortened height | August 21, 2026 |
| New metal operating house installed and completed | November 2026 |
| Underwater slide gates and electric motor operators installed | Spring 2027 |
| Tower fully returned to operational status | Fall 2027 |
The seasonal environmental work window closes later this fall, so crews will pause the tower components once the operating house is done and pick back up next spring for the underwater work. That means the visible construction slows down for the winter, but the project itself is not close to finished. If you are hoping the site clears out entirely before next year, plan on Fall 2027, not this coming spring.
The Second Project Nobody Mentions
The tower retrofit is getting the attention, but it is not the only infrastructure work at the reservoir this year. EBMUD is simultaneously replacing the aging wastewater system and sewer piping serving the recreation area, a separate project running from fall 2025 through fall 2026. Both projects have crews working near the Lakeside Nature Trail at the same time, which is why a walk out there right now can feel busier with equipment than either project alone would suggest. If you see work happening in a spot that seems unrelated to the tower, that is likely why.
The Date That Doesn't Move
None of this changes the calendar for the Lafayette Res Run for Education, which returns Sunday, October 18, with a 5K at 8 a.m., a 10K at 8:15, and a 2-mile fun run at 8:45, co-sponsored by the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lafayette. The companion Reservoir Challenge, a virtual race along the 2.7-mile paved Lakeside Nature Trail, runs October 10 through 17 for anyone who wants to log their own lap ahead of race day. As always, the reservoir itself closes to Reservoir Challenge participants on the 18th so the 10K field has the trail to itself. Given the active work near that same trail this fall, it is worth building in a few extra minutes if you are heading out to register or pick up a race packet at the Chamber office on Lafayette Circle.
The tower will still be missing its familiar shape when the starting gun goes off. By next fall, if the current schedule holds, it will have a new one.
If you are the kind of Lafayette resident who has an opinion about that tower, you already know what it means to care about the details of a place before you ever think about buying or selling in it. That is the same instinct we bring to every listing we take on. If you ever want to talk about what is happening in the Lamorinda market, or just want a second opinion from a family that has been watching this town for two generations, Rochford Real Estate Company is a call away.
