Court battles and other controversies concerning Point Molate, which over the decades have included a plan to build a casino and another to build up to 2,000 units of housing—both vehemently opposed by those in favor of saving one of the last wild spaces on the Bay—have finally come to an end.
On Aug. 26 the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) announced that its purchase of 83 acres of Point Molate’s shoreline had been completed, paving the way for the entire section of the peninsula to be preserved as a park. Activists who contributed years of effort reflected on the process.
Point Molate Alliance co-founder Pam Stello said that in the beginning, “It was difficult to engage the public in defending a place they couldn’t visit. All but 11 of 412 acres are behind fences.” That changed in 2020 when photographer Jack Scheinman created the Facebook page ptmolate4all, where he posted what became viral photos of the peninsula’s beauty and diversity, as well as rebuttals to developer SunCal’s “misrepresentations about Point Molate and their development plans on their website.”
Stello noted that it was also challenging to combat what she described as “skillfully misleading narratives” about the SunCal plan being presented to the public. Through his “meticulous analysis,” she said, “Jeff Kilbreth exposed the financial risk to which SunCal’s plan would expose the city and the city’s General Fund.”
Fellow Point Molate Alliance co-founder David Helvarg listed several turning points: the 2010 Richmond election, in which Richmond voters rejected the casino plan by 58%-42%; the 2014 Richmond election that created a progressive city council; and former State Sen. Nancy Skinner’s securement of $36 million in state funds to purchase Point Molate.
“Ironically,” he said, “Covid helped.”
Residents seeking open space flocked to Point Molate Beach, opened in 2014, and “got to know the area” being proposed as a park, discovering its biodiversity and realizing its value for all city residents.
Robert Cheasty, executive director of Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP), is part of the legal team that brought key multiple lawsuits, including a final, pivotal one challenging SunCal and its subsidiary, Winehaven Legacy LLC’s, use of an “outdated and flawed” Environmental Impact Report. SunCal filed a lis pendens, a formal notice that a lawsuit has been filed, creating a cloud on the property’s title and freezing the sale, he explained, but the company lost on appeal. “This spring,” Cheasty said, “Winehaven LLC gave up, and the sale went forward.”
The Point Molate Alliance, CESP and other organizations will remain active in planning, Stello, Helvarg and Cheasty said.
“The organizations and individual members of the Point Molate Alliance are extremely knowledgeable about Point Molate, such as the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and the Golden Gate Bird Alliance,” Stello said. “[They] will bring decades of experience and research about Point Molate to EBRPD’s park-planning meetings.”
Also, she noted, the Blue Frontier-Point Molate Alliance’s Coastal Leadership Program launched this summer with 27 West County youth ages 14-20. Thirteen of the program’s graduates have volunteered to serve on a youth park planning board that will continue to participate in EBRPD’s park-planning process.
“We have committed to participate fully in the planning process so that it’s a park that is truly useful and authentic,” Cheasty said. CESP also continues to advocate for its goal of linking parks and trails from Crockett to San Jose.
Park District General Manager Sabrina Landreth said that goal is in line with EBRPD’s master plan.”[This acquisition] is really appropriate for a regional park system,” she said.
Now begins the start of “robust” community conversations with the City of Richmond and area residents about how the regional park will take shape, she said. This will make use of earlier proposed designs, but will also incorporate new voices.
Planning and execution is expected to take years, but she pointed to the newly opened 2.5-mile extension of the Bay Trail through Point Molate as a start. “Parks are forever,” she said. “This [victory] is an example of what governments are supposed to do.”
Former State Sen. Nancy Skinner will be honored at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Citizens for East Shore Parks at 11am, Sept. 21, at the Berkeley Yacht Club, 1 Seawall Dr., Berkeley.
Interviewees were asked to name additional people and organizations without which the effort could not have succeeded.
Pam Stello: “Carol Teltschick and Charles Smith, the first to publicly advocate for a park at Point Molate. Richmond Progressive Alliance … and the Sierra Club were in this fight from the beginning and stayed the course. Joan Garrett, who co-founded Citizens for a Sustainable Point Molate that grew into the Point Molate Alliance, was a vocal and articulate advocate for a park and skilled community organizer. The Richmond City Council—with Gayle McLaughlin and Claudia Jimenez’s leadership—was not willing to put the city at grave financial risk. We could not have won without our attorneys, Robert Cheasty, Norman La Force and Stuart Flashman, the work of Citizens of East Shore Parks manager, Roberta Wyn.
David Helvarg: “[Point Molate Alliance co-founder] Andres Soto; [Contra Costa County Supervisor] John Gioia; Sustainability, Parks, Recycling, and Wildlife Legal Defense Fund (SPRAWLDEF); Sally Tobin; Golden Gate Wetlands; [representing the Native American community] Courtney Cummings.”
Robert Cheasty: “Gov. Newsom, and the members of CESP.”
All three reiterated Sen. Skinner’s support was crucial, and all cited the ongoing efforts of the EBRPD, its leaders and staff.
Sabrina Landreth: “I am really proud of our entire team. This is an example of what [a community] can do when we all work together.”
Use the links below to see EBX’s coverage of this issue since 2019:
eastbayexpress.com/the-clock-is-ticking-at-point-molate-1/
Good news!