Closure in Ravenswood Open Space Preserve Announced (posted 10/14/2011) The southern area of Ravenswood Open Space Preserve will be closed starting on Monday, October 24, 2011, to prepare for upcoming construction at Cooley Landing. The project includes site remediation and a new trail loop, and is being conducted by the City of East Palo Alto in partnership with the District. This area of the Preserve and Cooley Landing are expected to open next summer. Please refer to the attached map for details. The northern area and trail of the Preserve, which can be accessed from Highway 84, remain open. Please plan your trip accordingly and check for updates on the Trail Conditions page. For more information on the Cooley Landing project, please visit the City of East Palo Alto’s project website. Thank you for your patience.

Location and Jurisdiction

Cooley Landing is a peninsula, composed of three parcels located at the eastern end of Bay Road in the City of East Palo Alto. The District owns two of the three parcels -- a 25-acre parcel to the north and the 15.7-acre parcel to the south -- as part of Ravenswood Open Space Preserve. Purchased by the District in 1980 before the incorporation of the City in 1983, the Preserve falls within the jurisdictional boundary of the City of Menlo Park.

The third parcel at Cooley Landing belongs to the City of East Palo Alto (Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) gifted the land in 2006) and is located within the jurisdictional boundary of East Palo Alto.

Further to the south lies the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, which is located within the jurisdictional boundary of East Palo Alto and known for the highest concentration of the endangered clapper rail in the world.

Project Timeline

City leaders and residents have long had an interest in opening Cooley Landing to the public for low intensity recreation, education, and conservation that respect the natural and historic integrity of the site.

• 2003 - The City hired a design consultant and held a study session and a series of community workshops to prepare conceptual designs for Cooley Landing. Three conceptual design plans were prepared showing increasing intensities of use.
  

• 2004 - Stakeholder meetings, which included District staff, focused on the type of uses deemed conceptually acceptable for the site.
  

• 2005 - The City presented the conceptual design plans at community meetings. The City Council and the community both gravitated towards the lower impact designs, which focused on more passive uses on the peninsula.

• 2006 - 2007 - The City conducted a series of technical studies funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to ascertain what regulatory issues would face the project.

• 2007 - The City and District were briefly in contact, resulting in a District letter that confirmed its collaborative intent and commitment to working with the City.
  
  The Cooley Landing project manager’s contract at the City ended, placing the project on hold.

• 2009 - Lily Lee, the new Cooley Landing project manager on loan from the US EPA until March 2011 and funded by a Packard Foundation grant, contacted the District. Since then, City and District staffs, including the City Manager and District General Manager, have discussed the City’s goals and the level of potential District staff involvement in the project.

  With District staff input, the City issued a Request for Proposals/Qualifications (RFP/Q) in August 2009 for design services to further the project’s design process. The City contracted with a consultant team later that fall.
  
  
• 2010 - District and City staffs signed a Partnership Agreement describing roles and responsibilities and the anticipated timeframes for Project development. Through an extensive public process, the City prepared a Vision Plan for the site, which the City Council and the District’s Board supported that summer as the Project Description to use for the environmental review process. The City’s Initial Study (IS) and Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) were released in December.
  
  
• 2011 - The MND was certified by East Palo Alto's City Council on February 15, 2011. Construction documents for Phase 1 have been completed and permitting is nearing completion. On July 25, 2011, Menlo Park's Planning Commission voted unanimously to issue a conditional use permit for the parcels located within the jurisdiction of Menlo Park. On July 27, the District's Board also approved amendments to the Partnership Agreement and to the Preserve's Comprehensive Use and Management Plan that will allow for the construction of Phase 1. The City's goal is to bid the project later this summer, start remediation work this fall, and finish Phase 1 by summer 2012.

For more information, including plan drawings and status updates, please visit the City's Cooley Landing Project site.

Tax Deductible Donations

The Philanthropic Ventures Foundation has established a Cooley Landing Fund.   Tax-deductible donations can be made through Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity acting as the depository for the Cooley Landing project.