Alameda Mayor Asks for Alternatives to Mif Albright Land Swap

Mayor Marie Gilmore will ask city council members Nov. 15 to look at other options for a controversial plan to swap a golf course for business park property.

"I would like the City Council to consider amending our previous motion to direct
staff to seek alternative options to the property exchange that would still provide
for the long-term financial sustainability of the Chuck Corica Golf Complex," Gilmore wrote.

The proposal to swap the 12-acre Mif Albright nine-hole golf course, part of the golf complex, for an equal amount of privately owned land in Harbor Bay Business Park has drawn .

Under the proposal, Harbor Bay developer Ron Cowan would be permitted to built 130 houses on the Mif Albright site and would, in exchange, construct playing fields on 12 acres of land on North Loop Road.

On July 1, 2011, the city council directed city staff to negotiate a Memorandum of Understandinq with Harbor Bay Isle Associates (HBIA) regarding the swap and to return to the council with the proposed MOU as well as more detailed information about the swap, a proposed lease agreement with golf course management company KemperSports, and a concept to pursue the North Loop Road sports fields.

Click on the PDF above to read Gilmore's request in full, and the complete agenda for the council's Nov. 15 meeting is available on the City of Alameda website. 

At an Oct. 24 planning board meeting on the issue dozens of Alamedans spoke out against the proposal. Alameda blogger Lauren Do has a post about recent appraisals of the land here.

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