Sep 7, 2007

Vasona deal revs up

City reopens talks to sell 13-acre parcel to county for $6M

By Shannon Burkey / MediaNews

The town of Los Gatos may soon have a recently rescinded $6 million offer from the county back within its reach.

Since the deal for a 13-acre piece of Los Gatos-owned land that runs through the middle of Vasona Park was withdrawn on June 18 by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Mayor Joe Pirzynski and Council Member Mike Wasserman have twice met with Don Gage, chairman of the board of supervisors, in closed sessions to renegotiate the offer.

"We have successfully reopened negotiations, which is great news," Wasserman said. "We went there after having our hopes dashed and were able to get them to reconsider putting the offer back on the table."

The parcel has been leased to the county since 1960. The lease is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2010, and the county would like to purchase the land since it sits in the middle of one of its most popular parks.

The original deal included selling the parcel to the county for $6 million and in return, the town would be given ownership of a 0.66-acre piece of county-owned land in Oak Meadow Park. The county would have taken care of all fees associated with the transaction.

The offer that is currently being discussed would include everything from the original deal, but would also include use of a field near the Billy Jones Railway track for practice by the Los Gatos youth soccer community, possibly on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

The county pulled the original offer after the Los Gatos Town Council unanimously voted on June 4 to put discussions of the sale on hold for up to six months while continuing dialogue with the county.

At that time, youth sports supporters urged the council not to sell the parcel, which is surrounded by county-owned parkland in a riparian corridor along the Los Gatos Creek. Instead, they wanted to see a swap for land that could be used for sports fields.

"There is a real shortage of land for outdoor use," Joe Carroll, a local coach, said. "Our youth sports are really lacking on needed land."

Carroll, a youth soccer, baseball and basketball coach who was strongly against the original deal, said the town should either hold out for a land swap or hold onto its land if a swap is not an option. When he found out about the closed session meetings with Gage, he said he felt betrayed by the council.

"We need to adopt a principle that we are not going to sell any assets in this town," Carroll said. "Los Gatos is a mature town with very few pieces of land, and for Mike and Joe to go into that meeting and walk out with an understanding that they will work hard to push this sale through is ridiculous - they sold us down the river."

But from the beginning, Pirzynski said it was made clear that the town would continue to engage in dialogue with the county, and he reiterated that no conclusions or decisions have been made at this point.

"What has occurred is at the behest of the council and not something Mike and I have concocted unilaterally on our part," he said. "There has been no betrayal by any means. We're still dealing with it, open to all kinds of options."

Carroll, however, said he does not feel the council is acting in the best interest of the town or of its youth.

"This council is not that in tune with youth sports and activities; it's not really on their radar," he said. "Youth sports is a wonderful thing in Los Gatos, but it's also one of the least supported things by this council."

To address the need for practice and playing fields in Los Gatos, the council has directed its staff to do a recreation assessment in the town to determine which facilities are not being fully utilized and to possibly create partnerships to use those facilities. The council is also looking into adding a recreation element to the General Plan when it is updated in 2010.

"I would argue with anyone that this council has done more for youth than any other council in the last 50 years," Wasserman said. "That's why I'm so offended by this."

Wasserman added that since he has been on the council, it has brought back the town's youth commission and helped to create the "Alive ... and Loving Life" program.

Dale Greenley, president of the Los Gatos United Soccer League, said he has concerns about the limited use of Vasona Park outlined in the deal.

"It's a nice gesture, but is it really going to get us more space? It would be a start, but we would like to have something with a lot more use," Greenley said.

Greenley said there are other factors that would need to be considered before he could really say whether the deal is practical for his organization. At the top of that list would be how safe and level the practice area would be, what usage fees soccer groups would have to pay and whether parents would have to pay a fee to enter the park to drop their children off at practice.

With the county unwilling to trade the land for any of its own land, Wasserman said it is clear the town should sell the land, especially since it has no vehicle access and cannot be developed.

"We will have money in the bank to buy or partner in the acquisition of land for soccer," Wasserman said. "If the county pulls out again, the town will have what they have had for 50 years - use of Vasona and Oak Meadow Parks. If we take the property back in three years, do we have $6 million in the bank? Do we have the Billy Jones property? Do we have one single blade of grass more than we have today? No."