City wants Expo land for park

Dubbed "the Rose Bowl solution," it follows a similar plan as the Pasadena stadium which sends overflow parking to a neighboring municipal golf course. Another example can be found at Stanford University, where overflow parking is pushed onto an athletic field a few times a year. The Expo Center only fills the parking lot a few times a year for events such as the annual county fair.

The "Rose Bowl solution" has the potential to remove a major obstacle standing between the city and the Bay Meadows Land Company. The city wants a 15-acre park as part of the major redevelopment agreement while the land company said a 10-acre park with five acres of smaller parks sprinkled throughout the development makes more economic sense. Otherwise, developer representative Chris Meany said the 83.5-acre site may not be developed in the near future.

County officials seem open and the majority of the City Council indicate the solution is viable. However, talks are still in the early stages.

"There have been some preliminary discussions with the county to explore the potential for using some of that back parking lot for park space that could be joined with the proposed parkland," said San Mateo Senior Planner Stephen Scott.

The back parking lot is directly south of the San Mateo County Expo Center and borders the northern end of Bay Meadows race track.

Discussion of tearing down the track began to take shape four years ago when the city formed a citizens advisory committee to determine what San Mateo residents and business owners wanted to see in the new development. The land company wants to create a transit-oriented development with 1,250 residential units (mostly multi-unit), 1.25 million square feet of office space and 150,000 square feet of retail space. During the three-year citizens advisory committee process, there was an overwhelming agreement that the new development should have a 15-acre contiguous park, much like the city's Central Park.

City officials initially appeared unwilling to lower their demands, but are now exploring the new proposal in earnest. If the city obtains land from the Expo Center, the development has the potential of creating more than 15 acres of open space.

Officials are now focusing their attention on the smaller parks throughout the proposed development to determine if they are large enough to meet the needs of the Parks and Recreation Department, said Councilman Jack Matthews.

"I think it's important to have 15 acres of open space but I don't think it has to be continuous," Councilman Jack Matthews said.

He said he'd have no problem approving the plan if the small parks can accommodate the city's recreational needs.

Both councilwomen Sue Lempert and Carole Groom agree the Bay Meadows proposal appears reasonable.

"As long as it's a total of 15 acres it could be accepted. We need to discuss these issues before we say this is a great idea and acceptable or a terrible idea," Lempert said.

It is unclear what the city or Bay Meadows Land Company could offer in exchange for the land, or even what the county could want.

"We're open to look at any option they want to propose and we're here to try and make things work. We don't want to be an obstacle," said Supervisor Jerry Hill, one of two supervisors who sit on the Expo Center board.

The Expo Center board will likely discuss the preliminary proposal at next month's meeting, Hill said.

At the same meeting the board will also discuss swapping land with Bay Meadows to help align the construction of the 28th Avenue extension. The swap leave the county with an additional 1/10 of an acre currently owned by Bay Meadows, Hill said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.