Advocates Win More Open Space At Skywest
A new plan doubles the open space at Skywest and almost halves development. While some advocates still aren't satisfied, the plan moves forward to allow more details to be sorted out.
At the June 23rd Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee meeting, city staff presented a new site plan which included significantly more open space and a much smaller development area. The open space increased to 50 acres while the proposed business park area was reduced to 28 acres from a previous 49 acres. Two members of the HARD Board of Directors were present, who tentatively supported the park district taking over maintenance of the open space.
Advocates from SOS Skywest and the local community supported the increased open space, but continued to push for the total area to be left as park land. City and airport staff said that some development area was necessary to offset the cost of park maintenance as the airport generates its own revenue. The committee moved the plan out of committee, without formal approval, in an effort to solidify details for HARD while continuing community engagement and feedback.
Years Of Pushback Pay Off
The Skywest property is a 126 acre site that, up until 2020, was operated by the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) as Skywest Golf Course. The course closed in September 2020 and airport staff has taken over basic maintenance of the property since then. The city gathered community feedback in 2021 which resulted in the Initial Site Plan that included some open space, a FAA-mandated Airport Safety Zone, a business park, and aeronautical development areas with aircraft access.
The plan received over 700 comments from local residents, environmental advocates, and students, many of whom rallied under the banner of SOS Skywest. Much of the feedback centered around environmental concerns, especially since the eucalyptus trees on the site have become a wintering location for the Monarch Butterfly migration. The pond in Skywest was also home to a population of Western Pond Turtles, though poor infrastructure maintenance resulting in the emptying of the pond may have placed that population at risk.
Other concerns included safety of local residents, concern over property values, noise complaints, and the environmental impacts of small aircraft in general. The group of advocates have been attending Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee meetings for years and have consistently pushed for more park space and for the preservation of the at-risk species.
The result is the new Revised Site Plan, which has more than doubled the open space to 50 acres and reduced the development area to from 49 acres to 21 acres. There are plans for a perimeter trail connecting the open space to the shoreline, and plans to pursue a partnership with HARD for maintenance of the open space. Any airport developments have been removed from the plan, as well.
One part which has remained unchanged is the Airport Safety Zone, which is now required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Community Demands Maximum Open Space
Around two dozen members of the community gave comment during the meeting in favor of maximizing open space in Skywest. While many of the speakers were from San Lorenzo, the property sits directly adjacent to San Lorenzo homes and, according to several nearby property owners, the development of the Skywest property has serious effects on their quality of life and property values.
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Many residents said that there was a lack of open space for local children to use, which could be remedied with increased park space at Skywest. They pointed to the environmental and health benefits of the open space, including for local runners. "Our community depends on open space," said Daisy Maxion of Stack Run Club, "and environmental trails through parks to allow the community to be in relation to the land in Hayward."
Speakers also advocated for the protection of the Monarch Butterfly groves, with some saying they had participated in butterfly counts with the Xerces Society. Some speakers also pushed for maximum open space, with no development on the land at all. They also expressed concern about the Airport Safety Zone, which may impact the eucalyptus trees the Monarchs use.
HARD Is Open To Partnership
Many speakers supported a partnership with HARD for the maintenance of the open space, given that the local parks district has created a number of very beautiful parks, including the nearby Kennedy Park. The two HARD Directors who were in attendance, Louis Andrade and Sarah Lamnin, were supportive of the park district taking over the open space, but that key details needed to be worked out first.
Director Andrade said that it would be possible to renovate the land with a number of grants available for things like trails, but that the land would have to be leased or purchased at below market value. "We'd have to do some real soul-searching to pay for it," he said.
Director Lamnin highlighted the zero cost lease HARD has for Kennedy Park as something comparable and said that the biggest issue for HARD would be the cost. There were also open questions about the condition of the infrastructure, especially water lines and pumps, and that maintenance would be around $250,000 per year, which is what the Airport is currently paying.
Director Lamnin said that a number of details would need to be worked out before any kind of vote or MOU was signed, but that she personally supported keeping the whole area as open space. "Two big parcels that are currently vacant," she said, "I'd love to see them developed [as parks] and keep Skywest."
Get The Ball Rolling
The City Council members on the committee supported the move toward more open space but wanted more details before formally approving anything. A constant theme was that the plan before them was incredibly general, and without more detail, it was difficult to move forward.
HARD needed more details about infrastructure and the condition of the land, and the community had detailed questions about how the development area would be developed, but none of the questions could be answered at this point. Councilmember George Syrop asked if the western portion with the open space could be moved forward on its own, but staff said it was difficult to do because all the pieces were interconnected and it may still change.
One important factor was the cost of maintenance. "The city can't afford to maintain this," Councilmember Syrop said. "We're trying to find a partner to help us maintain it as soon as possible." He wanted to move forward with a HARD partnership as soon as possible.
Councilmember Angela Andrews also supported the open space. "[Let's] minimize the amount of development in order to address the cost related to maintaining the park section," she said. She also asked residents to reach out to Supervisor Lena Tam to support the project, since many of the speakers are from her district. In the end, almost everything required the process to be farther along.
Mayor Mark Salinas gave credit to advocates for the new plan but took a moderate stance. "I think we have trimmed a lot from this already," he said, in regards to the development area. He supported moving forward, however, and said, "We're on the right track."
Councilmember Syrop suggested moving the plan out of committee and to the full City Council, with the expectation that there would be more details hammered out with HARD and more community outreach to further refine the plan. "I want it to be different from this," he said, "or I'm not supporting it." He requested that the city's position to be maximizing the amount of green space when in discussions with the FAA and HARD, which was supported by City Manager Jennifer Ott.
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