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Which Way Redwood City:
Restoration or Development?
 
by Holly Van Houten

On June 4th, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion about recreation and open space opportunities for a 1,400 acre parcel slated for development in Redwood City. The forum was hosted by Cargill/DMB, the team preparing development plans for this last remaining large parcel on the Peninsula’s bayfront.

Although Cargill sold 15,000 acres of its South Bay holdings to state and federal wildlife agencies for wetlands restoration in 2003, it retained ownership of this site which it felt had the best opportunity to be developed. Cargill teamed up last year with luxury home/new town developer, DMB Associates, to begin a public outreach effort in the community in advance of preparing plans for the site. The site, at the foot of Seaport Boulevard, just east of Highway 101, is known either as the “Redwood City Industrial Saltworks” or “Seaport Wetlands,” depending on one’s views about what should happen there.

Although Cargill/DMB claims that 80% of the respondents to its surveys want mixed-use development of the site, most of the 160 participants in the June 4th forum seemed decidedly in support of preserving the land for open space and wetlands restoration.

The next decision point in the project is Redwood City’s update of its general plan. Currently, the general plan zones this property primarily as tidal floodplain with only a small portion zoned for industrial uses, immediately adjacent to Seaport Boulevard. CGF is pressing the City to retain this zoning as it adopts the new general plan later this year.

To get notices of future meetings about this property, you can sign up with DMB at their website: www.rcsaltworks.com. Another good website is that of the Friends of Redwood City which first presented plans to restore this site to wetlands to the City Council — plans available at www.forwc.org. We’ll also keep residents of Redwood City up to date with CGF Action Alerts.

Published Summer 2007 in Green Footnotes.

Page last updated August 20, 2007.