Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Public Golfers Continue to Win Legal Battles at Alister MacKenzie’s Sharp Park



SAN FRANCISCO. (Oct. 9, 2015) – Anti-golf zealots have ended their most recent lawsuit at historic Sharp Park Golf Course, filing a Request for Dismissal in San Mateo Superior Court in the matter of Wild Equity Institute vs. California Coastal Commission, et al, No. 534243.
The dismissal comes two months after San Mateo Judge George A. Miram denied a motion for preliminary injunction to halt work on the Sharp Park Pump House Project, a habitat restoration and flood control project at the golf course, which the Coastal Commission approved in April, 2015. 
In his August 20 Order denying preliminary injunction, Judge Miram found that plaintiff Wild Equity Institute failed to show that it would likely prevail at trial, and also failed to show that it would suffer greater injury from denial of preliminary injunction than the Coastal Commission, City and County of San Francisco, and public golfers would suffer if the motion were granted. 
This is the fourth time in recent years that eco-litigant organizations have failed in their legal challenges to golf operations at Sharp Park. The United States District Court, Northern District of California in 2012, and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and San Francisco Superior Court in 2015 all dismissed prior law suits. Lawyers at San Francisco-based Morrison & Foerster have represented the Intervener San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, on a pro bono basis, in all the lawsuits. 
Work on the Pump House Project, a permit issued to San Francisco by the Coastal Commission in April, began in June 2015, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of October 2015. The Coastal Commission’s approval of coordinated golf restoration and habitat recovery work is only the most recent in a long line of local, state, and federal governmental and administrative agency actions between 2009 and the present day rejecting anti-golf attacks on Sharp Park Golf Course. 
Habitat recovery work still remains to be done at Sharp Park, along with renovation of the historic golf course itself. Plans for that work are currently undergoing environmental review in the San Francisco Planning Department. In coordination with San Francisco and San Mateo County, the non-profit San Francisco Public golf Alliance and the Alister MacKenzie Foundation stand ready to support this effort.
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For the full story click HERE

For more information, contact
Richard Harris
415-290-5718
Bo Links
415-393-8099

Posted by Steve Sinai

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is good news. Perhaps now, we'll have a decent golf course.
And perhaps that will attract higher income immigrants into Pacifica and as result contribute to higher valuation of local real-estate and businesses.

Here is to hoping!

Sharon said...

Have to say I really love the picture!

Sharon said...

4:02 maintaining and improving the value of the neighborhood is important but not the only issue at stake here. This course provides a healthy social and physical outlet for many of all ages and the constant movement of the golfers and marshals and grounds keepers throughout every day adds an important safety factor to the area.

Butch Larroche said...

Well said Sharon!! As I have contended for quite some time, If Plater got his way, Sharp Park GC would turn onto the biggest homeless encampment in the Bay Area!! Golfers help police the area, pick up garbage and generally help in the upkeep of the property.

Many thanks to Rich Harris, Bo Links and Morrison Foster for continuing to keep Golf in Pacifica and the Bay!!

Kathy Meeh said...

Yes, big thanks and congratulations to ALL those who saved Sharp Park Golf Course for the benefit golfers, San Francisco and our Pacifica community!

And, kudos to Steve Sinai for posting a well deserved, succinct article photograph! The photograph reflects appropriate sentiments to Platter, Wild Equity and their friends.

The only thing that could be more perfect would be accountability from organizations such as Wild equity, and return of monies paid to them from their drawn-out, expensive, frivolous lawsuits.