Well, the City Council slammed the door pretty well on the whole issue of a fourth public school being developed on park land in Foster City the other night. Tons of folks showed up too to express themselves in the process. The idea of Boothbay Park, Port Royal Park and the 15 acre site being used for a new school wasn’t suitable, the council decided. Here’s the Daily Journal acticle on this topic:

ParksBrouhaha

It would appear that the location the City would like the discussion moved toward is the area on the south side of Beach Park at Halibut, but there also seems to be quite a large number of issues that need to be overcome before that site becomes “the one”. I’m thinking the School District isn’t going to be too high on this site for all the reasons mentioned in this Daily Journal piece and I’m thinking the alternative ideas of adding square footage to the existing schools is going to get a whole lot more traction going forward. It’ll probably be the fastest fix too. It’s definitely a fork in the road for the 4th school.

The 25 page agenda packet has been released for the big pow wow scheduled for Monday in which a fourth elementary school will be discussed. It’s kind of tortuous to get through all 25 pages but there’s some interesting stuff there.

The attorney has rendered an opinion that “the sale of Boothbay Park to the School District is prohibited by Government Code Section 37111.1″ because “transfer of this park land to the District would not represent use for a ‘municipal’ purpose” and because “the City has not, within the last 3 years, acquired or developed an equal or greater amount of land for park purposes” that could replace the park.  It’s also indicated that Port Royal Park might be restricted based upon the dedication that was made by the original developer in that section of town.

Further, it’s also opined that giving the land away would be a gift of public funds, which is prohibited under the Government Code. As such, the District would have to pay “fair value” based on an independent appraiser.

Hmmm…pretty interesting. Especially if you’re fighting to save Boothbay Park. It also sure would seem to put pressure onto the 15 acre/Parkview Plaza site again, doesn’t it? At any rate it sure will be an interesting meeting on Monday!

Many of you have been really aware of the problem of overcrowding in the local schools, exacerbated by the economic slump that’s forcing plenty of families to move kids from private schools to public out of financial necessity. What we now have is a problem…way too many kids for the existing schools, particularly the elementary schools.

The solution from the school board seems to be the creation of a fourth elementary school in one of four proposed locations, on part of the 15 acre site, at Port Royal Park, on 3.9 acres at the end of Halibut at Beach Park and at Boothbay Park. A big city council meeting is planned on August 31 to discuss the planned sites and, interestingly, there’s folks who are quite passionate about these choices. Particularly Boothbay Park, which has a ground swell of local neighbors who are opposed to developing this location.  They’ve created a website to fight this battle, saveboothbaypark.com and will certainly provide some interesting dialog at that meeting on the 31st.

All this without the usual debate about a High School. Schools are, with good reason, a very hot topic and in Foster City where the quality of education and the test scores are consistantly so high it’s not a surprise how passionate folks are. The interesting thing here is how passionate they are about the parks as well!

Finally! The grand daddy of them all! Sea Cloud Park. 23.90 acres of just about everything. 8 baseball/softball diamonds and as many soccer fields. It has batting cages, snack shack, lawn area, FC Sports Hall of Fame and restrooms. It’s arguably the best park on the Peninsula. Here’s a map:

SeaCloudParkMap

Now this may very well be the most popular park in town! Every time I’ve been there it’s been busy…people and dogs running amok (so to speak). I’m not sure who came up with this idea but it was a great one! Plus the park is also the home of a boat launching area, thus the official name, but most peolpe call this the “Dog Park”. In addition to the dogs and boats, there’s also a picnic area on it’s 3.2 acre site. Here’s a map:

BoatParkMap

It’s one of the big ones, that’s for sure. Almost 21 acres of just about everything, Leo Ryan Park boasts a wonderful amphitheater, a gorgeous waterfront, lot’s of open green grass, a terrific central location, bocce courts, the community center, a boat launch, and the soon to be “Vibe” teen center. It’s an impressive place and it’s located right on E. Hillsdale across from the Metro Center between Edgewater and Shell. Here’s a map:

LeoRyanParkMap

It’s just a little park, but because we’ve got some good friends that live on this street and we’ve spent plenty of time over the years either picnicing or playing games here, I thought it was worth including. This park is only 0.56 acres and is located in the middle of the big circle that is Pompano. It’s actually a pretty good space for touch football. Here’s a map:

PompanoMap

Killdeer Park is a very busy one almost everyday, thanks to the fact that it’s located right next to Audobon School. It’s located between Sandpiper Ct, Killdeer Ct and Stilt Ct. It has this kind of unique sandpit with a fish sculture in it that’s pretty interesting. Nice large open grass area too. Here’s a map link:

KilldeerMapLink 

Sunfish Park is my favorite neighborhood park. It’s 2.41 acres of really well manicured enjoyment. It’s got a basketball court, kids play area and a vast open green space. It’s accessible from Seahorse Court, Sunfish, Mullet and Halibut streets. Here’s a map link:

SunfishMap

Edgewater Park is another of the big, sprawling spaces that seems to have almost everything in it. 9.55 acres of Tennis courts, baseball diamond, basketball court, picnic area, kids play structure and tons of green grass to romp on. Pretty convenient location too between Edgewater Blvd, Polaris, Regulus and Foster City School. You can’t miss it. Here’s a map link:

EdgewaterParkMap