Before They're All Gone (Feb/Mar 2004 Monitor)

Open space in the Bay Area tends to disappear over the years, often because it isn't really "open space", but land waiting to be something else. Saving views, wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities comes down to money—money to buy the undeveloped land, or at least to buy an easement that keeps it open. Then comes the need for more money for stewardship, caring for the land and making it available to the public as appropriate. Park districts, whether state, regional or local, can do only so much, and other organizations have become critical partners in the effort to preserve open space throughout the region.

During the past few decades, pioneer nonprofit organizations such as the Midpeninsula Open Space District and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust have been joined by many others. John Woodbury, Executive Director of the Bay Area Open Space Council, coordinates a group whose participants include park and recreation districts, open space trusts, land preservation trusts, county open space districts, and other agencies and organizations with an interest in open space. Many of these overlap, often deliberately. For example, in Santa Clara County, which has an active park and recreation district, the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority focuses primarily on land acquisition. The Midpeninsula Open Space District, which operates in southern San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties, created the Peninsula Open Space Trust as a nonprofit trust; the two cooperate to acquire and preserve land.

Often the overlap reflects the complex problems involved in open space preservation. The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was instrumental in creating an agricultural land trust to speak directly to the concerns of farmers in the county. In Sonoma County, where the Board of Supervisors also serves as the board of the open space authority, much of the open space preservation has been accomplished through buying easements. While this preserves views and often wildlife habitat as well, much of the land is not very accessible to the public. A separate nonprofit has been established to create public access through tours and a "land pass" permit system.

Single agency or cooperative arrangements aside, sometimes even acquiring land outright does not guarantee public access. In the East Bay, the nonprofit organization Save Mt. Diablo, which works to acquire additional land for Mt. Diablo State Park, may soon find itself transferring its acquisitions to a state agency which has severely cut back on the staff available to maintain the existing park.

Of the 27,000 acres acquired by the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties using money from a 1988 bond measure, 15,000 acres, over half, remain in "land bank" status. Recent parcel tax measures for upgrades and maintenance have failed, restricting the funding for opening the newer acquisitions to the public. The EBRPD board has discussed the potential for placing a more limited parcel tax measure on the ballot in the portion of the district which has been most supportive of the maintenance measures.

In Brief:
What: Vote on benefit assessment district for open space funding in Contra Costa County
When: Mail balloting is currently scheduled for Spring 2004
Who: All Contra Costa property owners
Why: To raise approximately $8 million per year for parks, open space and habitat preservation in Contra Costa County

Meanwhile, a group of nonprofit organizations, the Coalition for Open Space, has been working for three years with Contra Costa County staff and elected officials to address the funding shortfalls for parks and other open space needs, such as protection of prime farmland and restoration of urban creeks. It is the first time that a shared vision for open space priorities has been developed in Contra Costa County. In Spring 2004, the coalition plans to ask Contra Costa property owners to approve a countywide benefit assessment district for open space. This funding approach, which has also been used by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, ties the assessment to the benefit the property owner receives from proximity to parks and open space. For most residential property owners in the county, the cost is estimated at less than $2 per month. Votes are weighted according to the assessment to be paid, and a majority of the weighted vote will be needed to establish the district.

Approximately 75% of the funds, estimated at $130 million, would be allocated to what Bob Doyle, EBRPD Assistant General Manager, calls a "balanced mix of projects". "Flagship" projects include additions to Mt. Diablo State Park, completion of the regional Bay Trail, connections between parks in the Las Trampas area, and creek and watershed restorations throughout the county. Money would also be allocated to smaller projects around the county and to each jurisdiction for local needs. Doyle notes that some of the money could be used as local matches for funds available from state park bonds or other sources, increasing the impact.

The remaining 25% of the funds, approximately $45 million, would be allocated to stewardship, which would include maintenance, safety and operations. Ron Brown, Executive Director of Save Mt. Diablo, says, " Polling indicated that property owners strongly support the acquisition program. Interestingly, property owner support for the measure significantly increased if the measure also included stewardship funding for our existing parks, as well as for the new acquisitions". EBRPD's Doyle adds, "Residents we polled wanted to take care of 'their regional parks', meaning whatever parks were local to them, no matter who ran them."

The benefit assessment district would provide a small but much-needed, stable and predictable source of funds. For EBRPD, funds would supplement the funding remaining from the 1988 bond measure and support public access to all its parks. In addition, polls in the area being considered for the new EBRPD parcel tax measure show that even property owners who would be in the Contra Costa benefit assessment district would probably vote for a modest parcel tax as well. Some of the open space groups which have been working on the Contra Costa proposal have also begun discussions on what could become a similar benefit assessment district in Alameda County.

A countywide evaluation of open space needs like the one done by Contra Costa's Coalition for Open Space benefits the participants in many ways. In addition to the potential for funds, the process has helped to set priorities for open space acquisition and preservation, which have been agreed upon by many of the participating organizations, making it more likely that these needs will be filled. While it is still important to have the regional park district and the individual nonprofit organizations with their separate roles, all of them can now contribute more effectively to the goal of what EBRPD's Doyle calls, "saving the last wild places".

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