Other groups
concerned about disc golf
in McLaren Park

 

SF organizations express concern about disc golf in McLaren Park

The following groups have expressed concern about disc golf in McLaren Park in letters or other communications to SF Rec/Park or in other ways.

From the California Native Plant Society

The Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society has been helping to maintain the indigenous plants of McLaren Park since 1988, and we have been working alongside the City's Natural Areas Program to effect this purpose ever since the Program's inception in 1997.  We joined neighbors in opposing a disc golf course in a previous proposal over a decade ago and we will do so again.

The proposal represents a damaging use of a valuable natural resource.  A disc golf course would damage or destroy indigenous vegetation and promote erosion in areas where our natural heritage still persists. It represents a conflict with other values and with other City policies. We ask that the Commission deny this permit request.

--Statement from California Native Plant Society to SMP

 

From the Golden Gate Audubon Society

We are concerned that the proposed changes, which are for a single user type (disc golfers), may result in significant changes to the ecology and character of McLaren Park. For example, we are unaware of any environmental assessment that has been conducted for the proposed project. We are concerned that it will result in loss of habitat for birds and other wildlife and that the RPD will lack the funding and oversight to mitigate for these impacts over time.

--Letter from Golden Gate Audubon Society

 

Resolution from PROSAC, the Park and Recreation Open Space Advisory Committee

PROSAC RESOLUTION Adopted Tuesday June 1,2010

Whereas, in regard to a Disc Golf course in John McLaren Park, and whereas in 1997 the community was notified and was vehemently opposed to the proposal, and whereas, no notification was given to the Community in 2005, and whereas the agenda item for the 2005 Commission meeting was for a Disc Golf course in either Golden Gate or John McLaren Park,

Now, therefore, PROSAC requests the Commission hold a public hearing regarding implementation of Disc Golf at John McLaren Park before any more formal planning decisions are implemented on a Disc Golf course at John McLaren Park.
--PROSAC resolution 1 June 2010

Statement by FACE, Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon & the Excelsior

Our organization would like to go on record in support of a moratorium on the installation of a proposed Disc Golf course in John McLaren Park... We support a position of “starting over” with a fully vetted community process to evaluate the suitability and suggested location of the proposed course.
--Letter from FACE

 

From EDIA, the Excelsior District Improvement Association

...RPD announced the development of a course and a proposed course layout without consulting or attempting to contact the many local neighborhood and park groups that have advocated for the park, worked to improve it, use it and consider it among the prime assets of our part of the city.
--Letter from EDIA

 

Quote from OMMRA, the Outer Mission Merchant and Resident Association

...we are writing to send our strong opposition to the 18-hole disc golf course in McLaren Park.  We feel that this type of activity/sport is not compatible with the wilderness conditions of McLaren Park.
--Letter from OMRA

 

Statement by San Francisco Tomorrow

We appreciate the Commissioner's call for a hearing. However, this should be just the first step in a thorough review of this project, its impacts and its compatibility with existing uses in McLaren Park.
--Statement from SF Tomorrow's Jennifer Clary to SMP

 

Comment by Friends of McLaren Park

Friends of McLaren Park president Franco Mancini said that just because the course has worked in Golden Gate Park doesn’t mean it will in McLaren.

"The bottom line is there isn’t reasonable room," he said. "We are one third the size of Golden Gate Park, and only one third of our park is flat. Those flat portions are already subscribed to dog walkers, bikers, hikers, visitors — there’s no way in the world you can place a disc golf course where other people already have a franchise."
-- from Friends of McLaren Park President Franco Mancini,
interview with SF Examiner

 

The San Francisco Bay Chapter of The Sierra Club on disc golf in McLaren Park:

The Sierra Club requests an immediate moratorium on any construction of disc golf in McLaren Park until there is an EIR with public notification and a hearing.
--Resolution passed by SF Group Executive Committee,
Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, May 18, 2010,

 

The Sierra Club is happy to see the Commission have a discussion in public about this potentially damaging proposal. It is unusual for the Commission to call its own hearing on a topic, and we see this as a positive development.

This activity has the potential to do serious damage to McLaren Park's wild, open spaces. In Golden Gate Park, disc golf has destroyed the undergrowth and ground cover that provide habitat for animals. Naturalistic spaces in parks are not 'underutilized.' They provide escape from the surrounding urban environment.
--Statement from Sierra Club's John Rizzo to SMP

 

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