Lee Duboc, Steve Schmidt: Two views of Bayfront Park proposal Lee Duboc, Steve Schmidt: Two views of Bayfront Park proposal (December 07, 2005)

Golf course is not a done deal

By Lee Duboc

In recent weeks there have been letters to the editor, news articles, editorials, flyers, as well as information disseminated by people sitting in front of Bayfront Park. Some of these avenues of expression have been fact-based; some have not.

The fact is that nothing will be done at Bayfront Park until an exhaustive environmental study has been done; all relevant commissions and agencies notified, updated, and, when necessary, actions taken; and an extensive public process involving the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council is completed.

The council has only given the go-ahead to begin good-faith negotiations with the Highlands Golf company to ascertain if we should proceed any further and discover if all that is now a theory can be worked out to be advantageous to Menlo Park and its citizens.

The overriding considerations in this process that began in early 2003 have and will continue to be:

* Bayfront Park's operational fund is continually depleting. Without long-range revenue-generating plans, the city's overstressed general fund will be paying for the park's ongoing and long-term operations and maintenance.

* More and more of our citizens are playing organized field sports of all kinds (soccer, lacrosse, baseball/softball, Pop Warner football, and more). Even with the newly renovated fields made possible by Measure T funds; our agreements to share fields with the local school districts; and use by Menlo Park citizens of fields in Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside and other nearby communities, there is a need for more fields. (A subcommittee of the Parks and Recreation Commission will be working with staff and sports groups to quantify this need.)

* Highlands Golf is a company with a proven track record of building affordable, family-friendly, public golf courses that feature low-water use and native vegetation. I believe there is a need for such a facility in our area. The company plans to offer junior golf programs for all income levels.

* All costs of the fields, environmental studies, and plans will be covered by Highlands Golf, which would cost at least $6 million if Menlo Park were to do it alone.

* If approved, all perimeter pathways at Bayfront Park will remain and designated, safe pathways will be established in the golf area. (Highlands has successfully done this in its Rustic Canyon project). Seventy-eight acres of the park will remain open space. The park will remain open to the public at no cost.

My hope is that all citizens of Menlo Park will take a deep breath and let the process unfold. The City Council and city staff is engaging in this process out of its wish to accomplish many things: find a way to offset the costs of this expensive closed landfill; build artificial turf, possibly lighted fields in an area that has low impact to Menlo Park's neighborhoods; give our citizens a family-friendly, nearby public golf facility that will generate much-needed revenue to the city; and make sure that as much open space as possible is retained so that people can still enjoy walking dogs, bird watching, and observing the nearby salt pond restoration.

Lee Duboc is a member of the Menlo Park City Council.

No need to give up open space for fields

By Steve Schmidt

At the November 16 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, a subcommittee was formed to identify locations for additional playfields in Menlo Park. I understand that the commission chair, Richard Cline, wants to expand the group to include environmentalists and soccer advocates, and we should support his efforts to create an open and diverse task force.

There is at least a perception that playfields are in short supply in Menlo Park. I recall council member and former Mayor Lee Duboc saying recently that there is an insatiable demand for more playfields.

If "insatiable" is an accurate description of the playfield situation, some might be tempted to throw up their hands and say, "Why bother? It's an impossible situation; a problem that can't be solved; we should learn to live within our means." These responses may be appealing, depending on one's priorities, but a task force could find relief for the city's beleaguered soccer enthusiasts that doesn't result in giving up open space or wetlands at Bayfront Park.

For starters, the existing fields that are most popular should be identified and scheduled for conversion to artificial turf as soon as the next increment of Measure T money is available. Then these fields could be used much more intensively than they are now. And if the deficit of fields remains so pressing, let's exhaust every alternative.

There have always been sites for fields in Menlo Park. The problem has been that there hasn't been a commitment from either the council or the neighborhoods to seal the deal. In 1990, council members Gail Slocum and Jack Morris couldn't get the third vote to require the developer of St. Patrick's Seminary to give the city a field. In 2000 a small but vociferous group of residents in Linfield Oaks neighborhood opposed the closing of Alma Street where two fields could have been captured. There's always a price when finding solutions that benefit the greater community. Perhaps the soccer parents can work with the existing council and the Burgess Park neighbors to set aside old political grudges and find viable field locations and then build them.

In addition there are city-owned parcels on Hamilton Avenue in the redevelopment district which have been vacant for years. Shouldn't the city work with larger property owners like the Seminary, Bohannon Development or Stanford University (owner of the two vacant auto lots on El Camino and the hotel site on Sand Hill Road) to transfer future development rights from an acre or two for additional fields? These ideas are just a start. Surely there are other possibilities. A crisis can be the opportunity for the most creative thinking.

So before we as a community trade away the commitment that our predecessors made to the public for accessible open space and a natural setting at Bayfront Park, let's focus on identifying the real problem and solving it in the most efficient fashion.

Steve Schmidt is a former member of the Menlo Park City Council.

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