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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

November 8, 2005

Bay Meadows demolition OK'd

COUNCIL'S VOTE CAPS DEVELOPMENT DEBATE

In its place, developers plan a community of up to 1,500 condominiums, 1.2 million square feet of offices, plus retail and parkland, located next to a Caltrain Baby Bullet train station.

Council members said the project not only allows the city to add badly needed housing and parks but also ends the threat that landowners might try to install slot machines and "Las Vegas-style entertainment" to boost profits.

"The only way the track can make sufficient money is to expand gambling," Councilwoman Sue Lempert said. "They have tried to do this before, and they will try it again."

But preservationists and racing buffs who fought to save Bay Meadows are ready to fight the development at the ballot box. At noon today, they will launch a petition drive to get a referendum on the April ballot to overturn the project.

People who want to save Bay Meadows as a racetrack say the specter of a casino is being used as a scare tactic to boost the project.

"We think the voters of San Mateo will think very differently than the city council," said Linda Schinkel, leader of Friends of Bay Meadows. "There is a deep feeling about this racetrack as a regional icon."

The track enthusiasts say the track with its pink art deco-style grandstand and mile-long racing loop stand as an important piece of the history of San Mateo and the region. Bay Meadows once hosted such legendary thoroughbreds as Seabiscuit and Citation.

Bay Meadows founder William P. Kyne brought the Daily Double, fully enclosed starting gates, and photo-finish cameras to the racing world, track historians say.

Schinkel says Bay Meadows turned backwoods San Mateo into a commercial hub when it opened 71 years ago. She's trying to get the track listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Even if she succeeds, the city could ignore the designation and declare that the demolition is in the public interest.

Consultants who evaluated the track say it lacks historical significance largely because of major alterations over the years. Bay Meadows Land Co., which owns the track, says it never was as glamorous as Belmont or Churchill Downs. And its popularity has waned over the years to just 600,000 visitors a year.

The owners say the track does make a profit, but it's largely on the strength of off-track betting.

The project gained support from some powerful groups that have traditionally opposed big development, including the Sierra Club and Greenbelt Alliance. They say the dense housing and offices will preserve outlying green space while promoting mass transit.

Monday night's vote caps nearly five years of community meetings and debate weighing the loss of a famous landmark against the city's overall goal to put housing and offices near public transit.

If the project goes forward as planned, it could be three years before Bay Meadows is demolished, city planners said. Racing would continue while the developers submit building plans.

Contact Renee Koury at rkoury@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7598.

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