Friday, December 23, 2011

a piece of the puzzle

Map from RCO file for Kah Tai grant #81-043.
If the Port never intended to include all of its Kah Tai land in the park created with LWCF funds in 1981, what is this map (click to enlarge) doing in the official 81-043 grant application files at the State Recreation and Conservation Office?

The map highlights two things. One is zoning, showing that all public land in the park boundary is zoned P-1, Public Use, as it has been in every City Comprehensive Plan since 1968. And the second thing it shows is ALL the land at Kah Tai that was owned and/or controlled by the Port at the time of park creation.

That oddly shaped yellow parcel on the west is the property donated by HJ Carroll 'for park purposes only' and held by the Port in retroactive waiver from 1977 until it was included in the park as a part of a required local match for the 1980 application process. And the big yellow parcel to the south of the lagoon? Why, that's all that dredge-spoil-created uplands that the Port now claims it never intended to include in the park. You know, the non-lagoon, non-marsh part where people can walk with their families and their dogs, and bicycle, and sit peacefully to enjoy nature writ relatively large for an urban area. The part with the play meadow, and the bathroom and shelter built by volunteers in 1985. The part of the park that isn't supposed to be a park.

So, could someone explain why this map would be prominent in RCO records for the park acquisition grant if it wasn't intended to show ALL the Port holdings to be included in the park? Why would a map be in the official records while highlighting holdings that were included and holdings that were excluded - and make NO differentiation?

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