San Rafael school property notice alarms Little League

The Gallinas Valley Little League is scrutinizing San Rafael City Schools’ surplus declaration of property that has one of its most active baseball fields.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions about the school district’s intentions,” league president John Baker said.

At issue is the Old Gallinas property, a 7.9-acre district-owned surplus site at 251 N. San Pedro Road. The league, which has 35 boys and girls teams serving about 400 youths ages 4 to 16, has played at the site for about 65 years, said Richard Nielsen, a league board member.

On March 15, the district published a notice saying that it had “voluntarily and simultaneously issued priority notice of the offering for sale, lease, or lease with option to purchase the Old Gallinas Site, or portion thereof, at fair market value, to otherwise eligible public entities and nonprofit charitable/public benefit corporations.”

The district complied with the surplus declaration requirements under the state Naylor Act for four sites in 1983, but took no further action on the properties, said Bob Marcucci, an assistant district superintendent.

The school district has set a public hearing to respond to community questions at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the district office at 310 Nova Albion Way in Terra Linda. Public hearings also are planned this week on the three other surplus properties: McPhail, Glenwood Marsh and the North Corporation Yard sites.

Marcucci said the hearings do not necessarily mean the district is planning to sell the properties, lease them or build on them. The hearings aim to solicit community comments on what would be acceptable dispositions, he said.

“It is the district’s desire to make the highest and best use of these properties,” Marcucci said in an email. That “could include many outcomes per individual property, including maintaining status quo, enhancing existing partnerships in new ways through leases, etc.”

Of the lack of field space in Marin, Nielsen said: “Right now we’re getting by.”

“If they want to take these sites for housing, then they better have something else for where those kids that are going to be in that housing are going to play,” he said.

Nielsen said previous Marin County planning documents have indicated that the Old Gallinas site was planned for housing development, “except for the field,” he said.

“They were trying to carve out the field,” Nielsen said. “But the school notices and everything else isn’t carving anything out.”

Surrounding neighborhood associations also plan to attend the public hearings.

“We hope there will be a big showing for both meetings to let the school know they neighbors are concerned about their neighborhoods,” said Mary Hanley, a member of the land use committee for the Santa Venetia Neighborhood Association, in letter to area groups. She said her association was most interested in the McPhail and the Old Gallinas properties.

Aside from the athletic field, the Old Gallinas site includes a temporary home for WildCare, the animal rescue nonprofit group, as the organization rebuilds at its original site. A former school building on the property houses a day care center that leases the facility, Baker said.

The Gallinas Valley Little League plays host every summer to All-Stars games for teams from throughout Marin and San Francisco, Baker said.

“The field itself is carefully maintained by GVLL’s professional landscaper at league expense on a year-round basis,” Baker said. “Working with the San Rafael City Schools, we have participated and paid jointly for specific improvements in maintenance of the hardscape, retaining walls, irrigation systems and surrounding landscape maintenance.

Baker said the league would be interested in a 10- or 20-year lease for the athletic field. That would offer more stability than the current system of per-hour rentals that take place five to six days per week from March to October.

“Given the number of players in minors and majors, GVLL could not conduct a season without the Gallinas field, given the lack of available alternative ballparks in the league boundaries,” Baker said.

The Old Gallinas site is the second recent instance in Marin involving concern over field space.

In the fall, the Mill Valley School District considered building a new middle school atop Friends Field, a popular recreation site adjacent to the current middle school, but withdrew its interest after a widespread community outcry.