The Foster City Council is asking the public to provide input on potential redevelopment options for Mariners Point Golf Center following a discussion on whether the site should be declared surplus land or made exempt.
Councilmember Jon Froomin on Thursday said his goal is to ensure the public has the information necessary to engage in the process with the council. He noted it was a significant decision that could bind the city to build 300 housing units on the site.
“I really want to fire up the community to get involved and participate,” Froomin said this week.
The council held a June 9 study session about the future of Mariners Point Golf Center and if it should be declared surplus land or be made exempt. Mayor Sanjay Gehani and Froomin convinced the council to solicit broad public feedback through a survey on redevelopment options before deciding.
The golf center has a nine-hole short course and a 64-stall driving range with practice greens.
City-owned properties like Mariners Point Golf Center are subject to the California Surplus Lands Act, a 2019 law providing more opportunities for affordable housing developers to redevelop surplus land and changing regulations. Staff asked at the June 9 meeting if the council was ready to either declare the property surplus land, which would lead to offers of lease or sale, or to exempt the surplus land, leading to a site and market feasibility studies and a community engagement process. It also said the council could gather more input.
Froomin said the city could consider building housing on the site and keeping the golf course or go in other directions. He stressed the public had lots of options beyond exempting the land or declaring it surplus, including maintaining the golf course.
“This is not the time for apathy. This land and the potential for change on the land are significant for the community. The community needs to engage and learn what the options are,” Froomin said.
Gehani, at the June 9 meeting, noted the council did not have to decide immediately if the city should sell or lease. He recommended additional community input and studies to have a clearly defined path.
“We can get community input. We can go ahead and move forward and have that discussion, which we should have had a long time ago, without going with one of these directions tonight, the exemption or the surplus,” Gehani said.
Councilmember Sam Hindi agreed to the survey and suggested exploring a way to save golf course amenities. He did not know the best option but said the council needed to have those discussions after making it a priority at its goal session.
“I think we should. That’s our job, to explore and have an open mind to what could the golf course be. What could the 20-acre parcel be, and we haven’t had any of those discussions,” Hindi said.
Hindi was not an advocate of getting rid of the golf course but noted it was an option the city could consider.
“If the price is 300 units to where you can do a whole lot more in it, I don’t think it’s a heavy price, to be honest with you. Especially where it’s located and knowing that if I don’t put it there, I might have to end up putting it somewhere more dense and more populated at this point,” Hindi said.
Vice Mayor Richa Awasthi said the city had an opportunity to shape its destiny with proactive decisions. She noted there were cost implications to not deciding, and she wanted to expedite public outreach.
Councilmember Patrick Sullivan made the motion and wanted to ensure as much public comment was obtained as possible.
The motion directed staff to create a community survey, present it by memo to the council, and then pursue community outreach to obtain community input on golf course redevelopment. Its goal was by August to share the results of the survey and have a council discussion. When the survey goes out, the city plans to have outreach on its website on an exemption to the surplus land act and what it means for the community. The council asked the survey include blank options about the future of the golf course for the public.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
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cube_corner said:
Looks great! Let's build faster.
cube_corner said:
cube_corner said:
Deeply corrupt board. The livestream was very revealing. Corzo and Mueller are terrible at lying.
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
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(1) comment
This article does not capture the meeting that I watched. What I saw was three councilmembers who had already made up their minds to redevelop the golf course into housing units. They seemed to have scripted talking points and wanted to skip public input. Instead, Awasthi and Hindi said they knew better than residents, instead of making an effort to inform the public.
Sullivan went so far as to try to cut short the discussion and force a vote on redevelopment. When they didn’t garner a super majority, he tried to have the city attorney get rid of the super majority requirement.
This meeting harkened back to the days of recalled councilmember Herb Perez trying to jam his agenda down residents throats. Given that he was recalled only 15 months ago by a 77% majority, I had hoped for better behavior from this council.
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