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.
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
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
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
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
...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
...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
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
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
|