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Menlo Park voters have soundly defeated Measure J, which dealt with building sports fields at Bayfront Park.
With all 30 precincts reporting, 61.3 percent of voters rejected the measure. The final unofficial count was 5,132 opposed, and 3,236 in favor.
Measure J was an advisory measure that asked voters whether the city of Menlo Park should have the option to build sports fields at Bayfront Park, a 160-acre park off Marsh Road.
The measure was strongly backed by and tied to the incumbent slate running for City Council.
The non-binding measure was placed on the ballot on a 3-2 Menlo Park City Council vote, with the council majority — council member Mickie Winkler, Lee Duboc and Nicholas Jellins — voting yes.
The three had backed a previous proposal to build a golf course plus playing fields at the open space park, but the developer dropped out after facing considerable opposition from people in the community who want Bayfront Park to remain as open space. The opponents also said that the costs and environmental hurdles would be high to building sports fields on a former landfill next to a wildlife refuge and the Bay.
The council majority argued that Measure J would have let voters settle the dispute about whether the city should move forward and investigate the prospects of building sports fields on 17 of the 160 acres at the park.
Opponents accused the council incumbents of using Measure J as a wedge issue in the council election, with the goal of rousing support for an incumbent slate of candidates from playing field advocates, including sports leagues.
