A group of Sunnyvale residents fighting to restore public access to Raynor Park has raised almost enough money to cover all of its legal fees, but the battle is not yet over.
Save Sunnyvale Parks & Schools, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the city in January over the sale of the Raynor Activity Center, alleging the sale agreement violates both California’s Public Parks Preservation Act and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
According to the lawsuit–filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court–the city approved the sale without having determined whether an environmental impact report is required by CEQA, and violated the Public Park Preservation Act by selling available parkland without the intent to replace it.
Since the filing of the lawsuit, members of the all-volunteer group have gone door to door, collecting donations and holding rummage sales to cover legal costs.
“We’ve been slowly chipping away,” said Tim Dietrich, member of SSPSI. “I would say we are about 85 percent of the way there.”
Despite all of the legwork and grassroots fundraising, the first claim was dismissed by Judge Joseph H. Huber on May 2. Huber ruled in favor of the city of Sunnyvale, stating that the California Public Parks Preservation Act does not apply to charter cities.
Unlike general law cities, the governing system for charter cities such as Sunnyvale is defined by the city’s own charter document rather than by state, regional or national laws.
In the other claim, the petitioners argue that the city should have done a CEQA review before entering the purchase and sale agreement.
“The city’s position is that the purchase and sale agreement does not constitute a project under CEQA, and that CEQA review will be conducted as part of the use permit process, in the event the sale goes forward,” Sunnyvale communications officer Jennifer Garnett said.
The CEQA claim will be heard in court on Aug. 1. Depending on the outcome, the nonprofit will discuss the possibility of an appeal, but it sounded unlikely, according to Dietrich.
“We talked about what an appeal would look like should we lose,” Dietrich said. “It’s mainly going to come down to funding. We’ve already spent a lot of money on this lawsuit, if we lost we would be back to zero dollars.”
But Dietrich said the effort has helped to form a core group of people interested in staying active in local government and to watch over future development projects in the city.
A second rummage sale will be held on July 19, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Filipino-American Church parking lot, 1515 Partridge Ave. The proceeds benefit both the church and the parks group.
The city council voted to sell the Raynor Activity Center to Stratford School in December after years of debate about letting the site go. On Dec. 3, 2013, the council heard from 34 speakers–not including dozens more in the audience–nearly all of whom were opposed to the joint use agreement, in which public access to the green space would be limited during school hours.
The city council decided to enter into a slightly adjusted joint use agreement with the for-profit private school.
The school would have priority use over two designated areas called Area 1 and Area 2 during certain months and during certain hours. Area 1 is the ball field at the corner of Dunford Way and Quail Avenue, and Area 2 will be a basketball court Stratford plans to build on the grassy area near the dinosaur play equipment.
Priority field use hours were reduced to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m on school days. In addition they get some after school hours. After school hours for priority use begin at 4 p.m. From Sept. 1-Nov. 30, the school would have priority use on Thursdays from 5-6 p.m. and on Fridays 4-5 p.m. Priority use hours are only on weekdays.
The agreement was also clarified to state that the priority use areas and basketball court would be available for the public when not in use by Stratford.
“Park space is very limited,” said Ash DCosta, SSPSI member. “I think besides that there is a fundamental issue; we believe public lands should be for public use.”
For more information on Save Sunnyvale Parks & Schools, Inc., visit savesunnyvaleparks.com or call 408.444.7357.
