Development of park gets OK

By HongDao Nguyen
Mercury News
Thursday, November 3, 2005

Hours after the Menlo Park City Council voted Wednesday to push forward plans for an 18-hole golf course at Bayfront Park, Elizabeth Lasensky shot an e-mail to dozens of development opponents to plan their next move.

Rather than sounding downcast by the 3-2 vote, Lasensky seemed optimistic that the impassioned, late-night council meeting, which drew about 200 people, would raise awareness about the park throughout the region.

``Maybe we can develop the dialogue that needs to go along with why it's important to keep this as open space,'' she added in an interview.

Controversy has simmered for weeks over the divisive plan to develop the 160-acre park into a golf facility and sports fields. Supporters say the city has a chronic shortage of playing fields and are happy that the golf course developer will pay for them. But other area residents revere the spot where they jog, walk and bike.

On Wednesday, about 100 people pleaded their case before the council. Dozens of parents and children -- some in athletic jerseys -- talked about the need for more playing space. Dozens more donned green stickers and demanded the park be left alone.

In the end -- around 12:45 a.m. -- Mayor Mickie Winkler, Councilwoman Lee Duboc and Councilman Nicholas Jellins approved beginning a process to hammer out a contract with developer Highlands Golf of Buena Park.

``I just think it's too premature for us to stop exploration now,'' said Duboc, who made the initial motion to negotiate with Highlands.

Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson and Councilman Andy Cohen dissented. At the meeting, Cohen said he didn't want the character of the park to be destroyed. He also wanted to give the parks and recreation commission more time to vet the golf course proposal.

``I am entirely dissatisfied,'' he said. ``I think that this plan is flawed from the start.''

The city has been looking for ways to pay for the annual costs -- $187,000 and rising -- to maintain Bayfront Park. The deal sweetener was that Highlands offered to pay for the design and construction of sports fields at the site, though those fields would be built on wetlands.

Bowing to environmental concerns, the council charged city staff members with looking for other sites where the developer could build two all-weather soccer fields and a baseball field.

The council also tacked onto the plan the suggestion to add a dog park to Bayfront. And, in the interest of public outreach, council members voted to make sure the city's parks and recreation commission has the first crack at examining the deal before it returns to the council for further review.

After the meeting, Tom Gaa, vice president of the Mid-Peninsula Strikers Football Club, a youth soccer organization, said the lack of fields -- both in quantity and quality -- restricts the group's growth and hurts youths.

``If I can't give them a place to practice and play games, I'll lose them -- maybe at a time when it's critical,'' he said.

But Karen Peterson-Iyer, a Menlo Park resident, said wilderness areas on the Peninsula are so rare that the city should ``hold on with all our might'' to places like Bayfront Park.

Both were disturbed that in the debate, the sports groups have been portrayed as pit against open space lovers and vice versa.

``The question is, can we somehow share this resource and make it work for both of us,'' Gaa said. ``That's the hard work that needs to be figured out.''

Contact HongDao Nguyen at hnguyen@mercurynews.com or call (650) 688-7581.