State hurdles for Bayfront Park development? State hurdles for Bayfront Park development? (November 23, 2005)

** Commission's letter refers to 'potential conflict' between golf course proposal and state permit.

By Rory Brown

Almanac Staff Writer

Add a state government agency to the list of groups keeping a close eye on a proposed 75-acre golf course and three lighted playing fields at Menlo Park's Bayfront Park.

Steven McAdam, deputy director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), which regulates filling and dredging in the Bay, recently sent a letter to City Manager David Boesch regarding "a potential conflict between the city's BCDC permit and [the] proposed facilities."

According to BCDC Permit No. 18-70, issued to the city in 1970 and amended in 1985, the city was required to restore an 11.5-acre portion of the park at the corner of Bayfront Expressway and Marsh Road to "tidal action."

Buena Park-based Highlands Golf LLC is proposing to fill the tidal marsh in order to build three lighted playing fields, although the city is looking for alternate sites.

The park was a garbage dump from 1957 to 1984 before becoming a closed landfill -- a use permitted, in part, "because [the commission] relied on the city's commitment to ensure that these areas would be available to the public for passive recreation for as long as the sanitary landfill remained on the site," Mr. McAdam wrote in the letter.

Mr. McAdam acknowledged development plans for the park "are very preliminary and were presented to the council to establish a basis for future negotiations," but encouraged discussion between the city and the commission to "understand all of the implications of the proposal."

Mr. McAdam told the Almanac that the commission hasn't evaluated the proposed development, but would like to open communication with the city because any development will require an amendment to the permits issued by the commission to the city.

The 27-person commission is made up of appointees from state and federal agencies and local governments, including an appointee from each of the nine Bay Area counties and one appointee each from a north, east, south and west Bay city.

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon, who sits on the commission, said all parties would benefit if the commission is involved early in the process rather than later.

"Menlo Park should certainly be talking to [commission] staff pretty quickly," Mr. Gordon said. "It seems to me you'd want to know whether or not a project will work before you start."

Mr. Boesch said the commission's letter was not a surprise, and viewed it as "courtesy communication."

"I would hope that we might be able to meet with [commission] staff over the next couple of months while we're pursuing some form of agreement with Highlands Golf," he said. "That would make sense to me to try and meet with them early on."

On November 1, the City Council voted 3-2 to authorize the city manager to negotiate an agreement with Highlands, with the condition that the agreement will go to the city's Parks and Recreation Commission for recommendation before coming back to the council for a decision.

If an agreement is approved, 12 to 18 months of environmental review and public meetings would follow before the council could approve the proposed development, according to city staff.

Mr. Gordon said he thinks the city should be communicating with the commission before an agreement comes before the council.

"It seems the City Council would have a much more informative discussion if they had information from [the commission]," he said.

The city will have to amend its own master plan for the park, created when the park became a closed landfill, before trying to amend permits issued by the commission, according to Lennie Roberts, the San Mateo County legislative advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills.

"There needs to be a planning process, a public planning process, to amend the park plan before an agreement is reached with the developer," said Ms. Roberts. "How can the city enter into an agreement that isn't consistent with its own plan for the park?"

Filling the tidal marsh to make way for playing fields will provide the city "difficulties right out of the gate," according to Ms. Roberts.

"If there isn't an EIR until the end of this process, it'll be very flawed," she said.

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