June 24, 2008
Daily Journal Staff Report

An open space measure to allow voters rather than the Redwood City Council qualified for the November ballot with far more valid signatures than required.

 Open Space Vote advocate David Lewis announced yesterday it had 1,200 more names than necessary.

Redwood City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden plans to present the certification to the Redwood City Council at its July 7 meeting, according to a letter she wrote to initiative proponent Ralph Nobles.

Proponents now expect the council to place the initiative on the ballot and “we believe all councilmembers should endorse this measure, which is widely supported among their constituents,” Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay, said in his announcement.

The Open Space Vote Coalition filed 8,121 petition signatures gathered over 45 days. To qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot, just under 5,300 must be deemed valid.

Of the total, 1,578 signatures — or, 19 percent — were deemed invalid, according to the San Mateo County Elections Office.

The proposed measure asks that the city charter be changed to require that the construction of new development on open space require a super-majority — or 66 percent — for approval. Building or expanding public recreation facilities on open spaces wouldn’t require such a vote. In contrast, the measure to approve the charter change only needs a simple majority.

At  previous City Council hearings on the proposal, the initiative received mixed response but many speakers expressed confusion over what exactly it would do.

The measure affects two zoning districts, the tidal plain and the Redwood Shores Bayfront, all city parks and the uses of five privately held areas of land: Cargill salt ponds; Docktown Marina; marsh land south of Galveston Drive, adjacent to Redwood Creek; wetland area of the Preserve at Redwood Shores; and Oracle’s parcel along Belmont slough.

Although the measure would have far-reaching effects, the initiative was sparked by the pending Cargill saltworks plan. The Cargill site, approximately the size of the Presidio in San Francisco, is the largest untouched land parcel on the Bay and the subject of intense scrutiny for more than a year as developers, the city and the public grapple with its future.

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