Bayfront Park: Playing fields are key variable Bayfront Park: Playing fields are key variable (November 09, 2005)

** Menlo Park council votes 3-2 to consider golf course.

By Rory Brown

Almanac Staff Writer

Plans for a golf course at Bayfront Park drew more than 250 people to last week's Menlo Park City Council meeting, but other sports -- soccer and baseball -- may have a lot more to do with whether the community will support plans for an 18-hole golf course at Bayfront Park.

Lighted, artificial turf soccer fields and a baseball field promised by the developer would serve the community's players, coaches and league officials, but the fields will be a main point of interest for all parties invested in the proposed development plan.

The council listened to more than five hours of public comment at its November 1 meeting before voting 3-2 at about 12:40 a.m. November 2 to authorize the city to enter into a contract with Highlands Golf LLC to prepare designs and environmental studies for an 18-hole golf course and three lighted playing fields at the park.

Council members Mayor Mickie Winkler, Nicholas Jellins and Lee Duboc voted to support the agreement.

At the meeting, more than 50 people spoke against developing the proposed 75-acre golf course at the park, and more than 30 -- including young soccer players in uniform -- stressed the need for the proposed fields.

The fields are being proposed for the southern-most portion of the park -- land currently filled by a tidal pond. That location is planned because the rest of the park is atop a landfill and artificial turn fields cannot be built on landfills, said Craig Price, president of Highlands Golf.

The 160-acre park, located at Marsh Road and Bayfront Expressway and adjacent to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, was a garbage dump from 1957 to 1984, until the city developed the land into its current use.
Linking fields, golf

Additional fields aren't adequate justification for filling half of the park's grounds, including the tidal pond, according to people opposed to the plan.

"This is a question of preserving open space," said Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson. "Now is the time to decouple the future of the park and the field situation. We're sacrificing our open space and wetlands to make way for a deal that provides field space; it's barbaric."

The proposed development is pitting open space advocates against field supporters, said Ms. Fergusson, who voted against the agreement with Councilman Andy Cohen.

"I want to bring the leaders of our youth sports groups to the table in hopes of working together to address their needs," she said. "We need a realistic strategy -- we stopped filling the Bay years ago."

Lennie Roberts, the legislative advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills, said the 1976 environmental impact report (EIR) for the park calls for the pond to remain undisturbed. Any plans for active recreation at the park are "clearly inconsistent with the EIR," Ms. Roberts told the council at the meeting.

In response to environmental concerns with filling wetland areas, Mayor Winkler asked for other venues, in addition to the tidal marsh, to be considered for the proposed playing fields, but acknowledged there's room for several uses at the park.

"Change happens. What was once a dump is now being considered a pristine nature preserve," she said. "It's time for hundreds of users to let thousands of others use the park. I'm so disturbed by the idea there can be no give at all."

Several days after the meeting, Mayor Winkler acknowledged that the attached fields make the proposal an "attractive package."

"If the cost is too high, the environmental impacts are overwhelmingly negative and we can't find other sites for fields, then I think we let the project go," she said.
Oppose development

Members of the recently formed "Friends of Bayfront Park," a group against developing the park, said people are ready to help solve the playing field issue, just not at the expense of the environment.

"We need to put the focus on providing adequate playing fields for the kids," said Bruce Shapiro, a member of the group. "Let's just look at other city properties."

Mr. Shapiro, a former regional field coordinator for the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) Region 109, said he's ready to devote as much energy to the playing field situation as he is to saving Bayfront Park.

Former councilman Steve Schmidt said the 2002 council, which he was a member of, dismissed the idea of a golf course at the park.

"I'd end this development, save everybody a lot of time, and move onto more important things," said Mr. Schmidt.

He also said there are other potential sites for playing fields, such as land on Hamilton Avenue, and land developers may be willing to exchange for other benefits.
Baseball, soccer

The attached playing fields are the motivating force for local sports organizers, coaches and players to support the golf course proposal.

"We have over 500 kids with 40 teams," said Bob Crowe, president of the Menlo-Atherton Little League. The teams share facilities with other leagues, and games are sometimes cut short, said Mr. Crowe.

Tom Gaa, vice president of the Mid-Peninsula Striker Futbol Club, a Community Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) group, said the number of soccer players is limited by available field space.

Several field advocates who spoke at the meeting also pointed out the proposal would give the city something it has very few of -- adult-sized fields.
Best option

Public works director Kent Steffens said a golf course on the park's grounds is the best option to cover the $187,000 annual cost to maintain the park -- expenses currently covered by a $1.6 million fund that will run out in seven or eight years. The fund, labeled the Bayfront Park Maintenance Fund, is what's left of fees collected for dumping garbage at the park from 1971 to 1984.

Highlands Golf would cover all costs for design, the environmental impact report and construction, including costs associated with the playing fields, said Mr. Steffens.

It would cost the city $4 million to $5 million to build similar playing fields, he said.

When a proposed golf course was presented to the parks commission at its October 19 meeting, the commission voted 5-0 to recommend the council delay any action to allow for more public input. Chair Richard Cline said the city was rushing plans for developing the park. His stance remained the same at the council meeting.

"We had seven hearings for a dog park," he said. "We need to take our time and make the right decision for what we do with 160 acres."

Two other parks commissioners were at the meeting. Commissioner Robert Silano said the city needs the proposed fields, and Commissioner Rory Whittaker donated time at the podium to John Posthauer, an advocate for more playing fields.

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