Publication Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
City leaders eye Palo Alto baylands
City leaders eye Palo Alto baylands
(June 16, 2004) Area seen as possible solution to local problems
by Jocelyn Dong
Golfers teeing off at the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course east of U.S. Highway 101 could one day be guests at a four-star hotel sitting across the street, or residents of a housing development that lines the site.
Those are among the ideas a group of Palo Alto community leaders are offering up, in hopes that a new vision for the city's baylands area can be developed within the next year.
For decades, the area has been a fairly placid piece of land, with its golf course, airport, city dump, office buildings and car dealerships going about their business.
But a range of critical issues now facing the city -- from stalled revenue to a housing shortage-- has the group exploring options for the land to help ease those problems.
In the past month, City Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg, Planning and Transportation Commissioner Patrick Burt, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Paul Losch and neighborhood leader Karen White, among others, have considered the viability of a hotel, housing, sports fields, a power plant and improved golf course.
None of the group's members are acting in an official capacity, but rather as interested citizens, they said.
Kleinberg said the impetus to re-evaluate the area came about a year and a half ago, but the brainstorming picked up steam recently with the planned closure of Hyatt Rickey's hotel, leaving a sizable hole in the city's tax revenue.
Along with that, Kleinberg said, buildings along Embarcadero Road are reaching the end of their life span, and many are half-vacant since the dot-com bust. The time seemed ripe to gather ideas from the community over what "higher and better uses" could be planned for the area, she said.
"Land is the resource we can't get enough of," Kleinberg said.
What the leaders want to do, Burt said, is urge the city to plan for the land comprehensively -- "not a piecemeal approach."
The recently proposed $12-million Environmental Services Center, to be located on 19-acres on the baylands, galvanized Losch and White to join the discussion.
Both believe the city should explore other options before settling on a single plan, with Losch suggesting a look at what other cities have done with their land fills.
"It makes sense to look long-term," White said.
One long-term idea that Burt and Kleinberg excitedly discussed last week was developing a hotel along Embarcadero across from the golf course. One of the reasons the Hyatt Hotels Corporation decided not to rebuild its hotel in Palo Alto was that such sites aren't drawing the business they once did. Burt said offering golf privileges to hotel guests might entice out-of-towners.
In addition, an interested hotel developer might work out a deal with the city to subsidize golf-course improvements, an expense the city would likely be unable to undertake, Kleinberg said.
Similarly, building homes that are integrated with golf courses has become a popular concept in recent years, according to the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Commercial land along Embarcadero could be converted into housing, Burt said. Developers he talked to noted the land value for residential buildings is higher than commercial. They seemed open to the idea, he said.
Burt also suggested the 180-acre golf course might be redesigned to include some sports fields, which athletes in the community claim are desperately needed. Last year, Burt spoke to Steve Emslie, the city's planning director, about the idea. Emslie reportedly indicated the golf land is 25 percent larger than some 18-hole courses.
The golf architects' association Web site noted that the average acreage of an 18-hole course these days is between 140-200 acres.
Emphasizing that their discussions are in the early stages, the group members said they are seeking input from the whole community -- from environmental activists to hospitality managers to the Chamber of Commerce.
Ideas to revamp the area would not include changing the Baylands Nature Preserve.
Kleinberg said the discussion will continue on an informal basis until additional council members express interest in revising the city's master plan for the baylands. The council would then need to appoint an ad hoc committee to look into the issue.
In the meantime, the Environmental Services Center plan will be discussed at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting next Tuesday, June 22.
Senior staff writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com.
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