August
14, 2014
San
Jose Mercury News
By
Jason Green
The fate of a piece of land at the center of
recent controversy in Palo Alto could soon be resolved.
On Monday, the City Council is slated to
consider an ordinance that would permanently add the 7.7-acre parcel to
Foothills Park, a 1,400-acre preserve open only to residents of the city.
The family of Palo Alto Medical Clinic
founder Russel V. Lee granted the land to the city in 1981 with the condition
that it be used for conservation, "including park and recreation
purposes."
The city instead leased the parcel from 1996
to 2005 to developer and adjacent property owner John Arrillaga, who used it
for "construction staging," according to a critical report released
in June by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury.
Arrillaga eventually offered to purchase the
parcel in the fall of 2012 for $175,000. Although city officials told the grand
jury his bid was unexpected and unsolicited, an investigation revealed that
they had commissioned their own appraisal earlier that year that came up with a
value of $175,000, "exactly the same amount the landowner offered to
pay."
The grand jury was similarly troubled that
the council met in a closed session to discuss the offer instead of following
an established public process for disposing of surplus property.
Prior to the release of the grand jury
report, council members Pat Burt, Karen Holman and Greg Schmid proposed adding
the parcel to Foothills Park. And on March 24, the council voted 8-0, with Greg
Scharff absent, to draft an ordinance to turn it into protected parkland.
"In a city where we've added 8,000
people over the last decade, to have the opportunity to add a gem of a park to
that city is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Schmid said at the time.
In addition to the ordinance, the council
requested a list of "major options" for how the land could be used
and what they would cost. The city's Parks and Recreation Commission is
expected to return with that information next year, according to a report from
City Manager James Keene.
Passive parkland, however, may be the only
option. A series of easements exchanged between the city and Arrillaga in 1985
limits public access to a 60-foot-wide, steeply sloped section.
"This area would contribute little to a
future park use, except as a landscaped area providing an esthetic backdrop to
the park," city staff wrote in a 1985 report to the council.
In the meantime, Acterra, an environmental
nonprofit, will continue to use a roughly half-acre portion of the parcel as a
native plant nursery as it has since 2005, according to the report from Keene.
On Monday, the council is also expected to
approve a letter thanking the Lee family for the gift of the land.
"Although this thank you letter is long
overdue, please know how truly grateful our community is for the vision and
leadership Russel and Dorothy demonstrated in their wish for the Lee Ranch to
become a permanently-protected wildlife refuge and park for the people of Palo
Alto," the letter states.
Email Jason Green at
jgreen@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at twitter.com/jgreendailynews.
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