City Council Sidesteps Community Planning Process for Enterprise Park

During a closed session meeting of the City Council on October 21, 2025, the Council unanimously authorized City staff to prepare a long-term lease agreement with a private developer to build a commercial surf pool and associated amenities in Enterprise Park at Alameda Point. They did so despite the fact that no community-at-large master planning process for this shoreline park, as was done with other projects, has ever been conducted to find out if Alamedans want a commercial enterprise of this type anchoring the park.

If the project moves forward, a significant part of this public parkland will become fenced off and privatized under a no-bid contract.

If past practice were followed, as done with Jean Sweeney Open Space Park, Estuary Park, and De-Pave Park to give three examples, we would find out if a specialized pool that creates waves to practice surfing for a niche user group meets the unique needs and interests of residents. Why wasn’t a professional consultant hired to facilitate community workshops and come up with a design for the entire park?

A City staff report on a previous planning effort for Alameda Point in 2010 and 2011 did not mention any community interest in having commercial businesses in parks. The report determined that, “The parks and open space network originally established in the Reuse Plan, adopted in the General Plan, and then further refined in the 2006 Preliminary Development Concept (PDC) open space framework plan, is widely agreed upon. If trade-offs and compromises are necessary to achieve financial feasibility, there appears to be a general consensus that passive recreational facilities (e.g., trails, paths, promenades) and habitat conservation areas are a higher priority than active recreational facilities, new marinas and new ferry terminals.”

The same themes were reiterated the following year during preparation of a citywide parks master plan with extensive community input. It was called the Urban Greening Plan – Parks Improvement Assessment. One of the recommendations was to provide additional passive open space, habitat areas, trails and shoreline access. “Access to natural open space and trails ranked as the highest priority for most Alameda residents,” states the assessment. “Partnerships with East Bay Regional Parks District, expansion of Alameda’s trail system and shoreline access, and open space planning for Alameda Point are among the recommended strategies.”

Perhaps over the last 15 years an interest in a privately-run surf pool has become a unique need for our park system. However, no formal planning process has determined such a need. All that we have to guide us is past practice and the Parks and Open Space Element of the current General Plan, which states, “Expand and improve the parks and open space system to address the evolving needs of a growing community, serve all residents and neighborhoods equitably throughout the city, and adapt to the climate crisis.”

In this instance, the City opted for an ad hoc process (a pop-up community meeting on May 17) of starting with one concept that will fence off a significant area for only paying customers, and, if approved, then the developer will pay for designing, but not constructing, a plan for the remaining area. This is backwards.

If a fenced-off private surf pool is a desired feature in our otherwise passive public park, then the City could seek a developer to build it through a competitive bidding process, rather than a no-bid contract.

Having a predetermined developer and predetermined goal is contrary to the democratic process of how our public parkland is planned and utilized.

Contributing writer Richard Bangert posts stories and photos about environmental issues on his blog Alameda Point Environmental Report. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Richard-Bangert.