San Miguel Park is about to expand — right over a block of K Street

The 1.5-acre park that serves San Miguel residents isn’t large enough to accommodate a multiuse sports field, according to San Luis Obispo County officials.

But that’s about to change, thanks to a county public works project that’s scheduled to begin construction Tuesday. The project, which will cost more than $1.9 million, will widen L Street between 13th and 14th streets and remove one block of K Street, which bisects San Miguel Park, according to a news release from the county Department of Public Works.

The park currently contains a ball field, a large open playing field, two children’s play areas and a swimming pool, according to the county parks department. But the ball field is on one side of K Street, while the swimming pool is on the other.

The project, which was proposed by the parks department, removes one block of K Street between 12th and 13th streets to expand the park with turf and water-efficient irrigation and create a multiuse sports field area. The project includes the addition of a multiuse path through the park and a parking lot.

“Once complete, the citizens of San Miguel will have a safer park and an improved roadway, an improved outdoor gathering space, and will be able to actively pursue organized youth sports,” according to a news release.

L Street will be widened to accommodate additional traffic that will be created by closing K Street.

L Street will be closed to through traffic, and there will be limited one-lane closures on K Street as well. Once L Street is reopened, K Street will be permanently closed to all through traffic.

Portions of the park will be closed during the expansion work.

The project is funded by grants from California’s Water Conservation Fund program, public facilities fees, parks reserves, county road funds and regional transportation funds from the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

Work on L Street is scheduled to start Tuesday.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "San Miguel Park is about to expand — right over a block of K Street."