Speak up for open space in Redwood City on June 4th!

Posted May 31, 2007

• What’s happening
• Why is this important?
• What you can do to help

Some 1,400 acres of former bay lands in Redwood City owned by Cargill will be taken out of salt production soon and are being planned for development. Cargill has teamed up with DMB Associates, a developer of new towns and luxury housing, to create a plan for this site. DMB has led a public outreach process over the last six months, including holding a series of “topical forums,” but to date, no plans have been presented for public comment. This coming Monday, June 4th, the topic is open space and recreation. CGF Executive Director Holly Van Houten has been asked to speak on the panel. Please plan to attend this event and speak up for open space and restoration of this site.

What’s happening
Although Cargill sold much of its salt ponds to the state and federal wildlife agencies for restoration, it retained this 1,400 acre site for potential future development. Located at the end of Seaport Boulevard (the extension of Woodside Road on the east side of Highway 101), the Industrial Saltworks or Seaport Wetlands site (depending on your point of view) could become either a major new housing/mixed use development or restored for wetlands and open space purposes.

DMB Associates, a private planning and development company, has been retained by Cargill to lead to the public outreach process and will present a plan for the site to the City later this year or in early 2008. DMB has been engaging community organizations and leading public meetings over the last year, including a “survey” of residents. In their summary of the survey, they indicated some 80% of respondents wanted to see the area developed as mixed use and only 20% wanted it restored as wetlands and open space. Monday’s topical forum is the first organized around open space and recreation issues and a good opportunity to speak up on behalf of preserving these important bay lands.

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Why is this important?
Friends of Redwood City, the local land use group, has presented a plan to the City Planning Commission recommending most of the site be restored as wetlands, with some acreage for active sports fields, but this alternative has been largely ignored by DMB.

Most of the 1,400 acres is zoned Tidal Floodplain with a land use designation of Open Space. Only a small portion of the property adjacent to Seaport Boulevard is zoned Industrial. Redwood City is currently updating its general plan and CGF and FoRWC hope to persuade the City to retain this zoning and land use designations in the updated plan, limiting options for development at the site.

Although the Cargill property was diked off for salt production, it was recognized as restorable, and included in the congressionally-designated boundary of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. It is the largest remaining area of former bay lands that was not acquired as part of the Refuge. Given its strategic location adjacent to Menlo Park’s Bayfront Park, Greco Island, and Bair Island, it could be a key element in the overall restoration of the former south bay salt ponds. Cargill may argue that it isn’t feasible to restore the area, since this site was used for crystallizer beds, the final finishing stage in salt production with the most intense concentration of salt. However, similar sites, such as the LaRiviere Marsh in the East Bay, have shown great success in restoring such industrial sites to marshes.

Further, recent analysis by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission projecting the potential impacts of global climate change on the Bay shows this area of Redwood City would be flooded with just a 1 meter rise in sea level. Preserving and restoring this area now provides an opportunity to help address climate change as tidal wetlands have been shown to be an important carbon sink, equally or more important than planting trees.

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What you can do to help
1. Attend the Topical Forum and speak up for open space. Holly Van Houten, CGF’s Executive Director is one of the panelists, but DMB needs to hear from the general public about the importance of preserving this area for wetlands and upland marshes.

When: Monday, June 4th, 6 to 7:30 pm

Where: Veterans Memorial Senior Center at Red Morton Park, 1455 Madison, Redwood City

RSVP: By email to info@RCSaltworks.com

2. If you can’t attend but are interested in being put on DMB’s mailing list for future public meetings, send them an email to info@RCSaltworks.com. We’ll also alert you to important upcoming public meetings as the General Plan is being reviewed by the City.

Thanks for speaking out on behalf of open space, it makes a difference!

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