Restore Sharp Park

Our Vision

Sharp Park in Pacifica, San Mateo County, was once home to a rare and beautiful lagoon and wetlands. Now it is at a crossroads: it can be restored to wetlands as a National Park or continue as a failing golf course, ignoring the growing challenges of climate change and sea level rise.

We envision restoring parkland at the site of the existing municipal golf course. A park will provide a healthy home for unique local wildlife such as the endangered California Red-legged Frog and the San Francisco Garter Snake. Protecting the natural wetlands will help the City of Pacifica adapt to sea level rise, while the alternative of armoring a seawall will cost taxpayers millions. Closing Sharp Park Golf Course will save the City of San Francisco millions in new infrastructure, improvements, maintenance, legal fees, and mitigation measures. A public park will bring jobs and tourist dollars to the area, as well as more accessible recreation.

For San Franciscans

Sharp Park Golf Course is a drain on San Francisco’s resources, but Sharp Park can be transformed to benefit the City. We must urge the City to transform Sharp Park into a National Park.

  • Allow the National Park Service to transform Sharp Park to better meet San Francisco resident’s recreation preferences. The National Park Service has stated three times in writing that it wants land, but not the golf course.  In a survey conducted by RPD, San Franciscan's stated that more hiking and biking trails are residents’ #1 recreational priority; golf ranked 16th out of 19 options.

Survey results indicate that San Franciscans want more walking and biking trails


For Pacificans

Pacificans can help their city prosper by supporting a new National Park at Sharp Park.

    • It will bring real dollars to Pacifica’s economy while improving Pacifica residents’ access to open spaces within their city. Despite decades of opportunities, Sharp Park Golf Course hasn’t generated revenue for Pacifica’s economy. In contrast, National Parks are a boon to local economies. In 2011, California’s National Parks generated $1.192 billion in revenues. That wasn’t a fluke. Taxpayers earn an average of $10 for every $1 invested in the National Parks Service. Pacifica can take advantage of the economic opportunity a National Park provides.  Sharp Park National Park has an additional economic edge. It will be the Southern Gateway to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The GGNRA is the most visited National Park in the nation. A visitor center at Sharp Park National Park will allow Pacifica to be a gateway for these visitors in San Mateo County, and help Pacifica draw visitors from around the globe.

  • The National Park at Sharp Park will continue Pacifica’s efforts to sustainably adapt to sea level rise.  Restoring Sharp Park’s wetlands will protect Pacifica neighborhoods from flooding. Wetlands are nature’s best defense against floods – they act like a sponge, slowing down water during times of high flow to help prevent flooding. In contrast, attempting to defend the golf course from the ocean by building and armoring sea walls, Sharp Park Beach will disappear. The beach south of the Pacifica Pier will soon look like the beach north of the Pacifica Pier. It will be ocean crashing against concrete and rocks – the sandy beach lost long ago to the sea.  Sharp Park National Park will prevent this tragic loss.

Concrete sea walls have already destroyed many Pacifica beaches. Let's not repeat the error at Sharp Park.

For Golfers

By supporting the Restore Sharp Park campaign, golfers can have it all. Restore Sharp Park will create a National Park and improve affordable golf. Local communities will benefit, and unique local wildlife will thrive. But we need golfers’ support to make that happen.

          • The Bay Area golf market is in trouble.  Golf is overbuilt here. There are 6 million more golf rounds each year than golfers want to play. Golf’s popularity peaked in 2004. Now the game loses about 3 million US players each year. Golf market experts do not expect the game's popularity to recover.

Under these conditions, some Bay Area golf courses must close. The only question is which ones.

          • Sharp Park Golf Course is one of the Bay Area's  worst performing golf courses. Even though its prices are heavily subsidised, many golfers choose to avoid the course's poor conditions and play elsewhere.  Rounds played each year are far below levels needed to sustain a golf course, and the course receives failing grades in nearly every category that the National Golf Foundation uses to rate golf courses. Winter rains cause flooding at the Golf Course, and it is threatened by rising seas.

Closing Sharp Park Golf Course, rather than other, better courses, will allow San Francisco to reinvest in the City's five other municipal courses and improve access to affordable golf for everyone.  It will also ensure that the best, most exciting courses are left as the collapsing golf market reaches a new equilibrium.  

Closing Sharp Park Golf Course will also remove a blemish from Allister MacKenzie’s otherwise successful career.

          • Although known for integrating his courses into natural landscapes, MacKenzie ignored the value of Sharp Park’s natural systems. His design destroyed the natural flood protection provided by wetlands, lagoon, and barrier dunes. Unsurprisingly, the opening day for the Golf Course was delayed two times due to flooding.  After the course opened, ocean storms swept away the holes that were built on flattened sand dunes. Few MacKenzie-designed holes remain.

It is better that MacKenzie be remembered for his most successful courses rather than the ecological destruction and economic folly that is Sharp Park Golf Course.


Watch this annotated audio excerpt of the Historic Preservation Commission hearing.

Latest News

 

Former Sharp Park Golf Course Supervisor Turns Whistleblower Over Course’s Environmental Problems

Massive water draining at Sharp Park Golf Course The allegations of Wayne Kappelman, a former supervisor at Sharp Park Golf Course, need to be put into perspective. Kappelman was showered with awards while he towed the party line as the course…

Tell Mayor Lee You Support Restoring Sharp Park!!!

In 2011 the Board of Supervisors passed legislation that enables San Francisco to partner with the National Park Service at Sharp Park to transition land management from an unsustainable golf course into a new National Park that everyone can…

#RestoreSharpPark for #WorldSnakeDay!

Happy World Snake Day! At Wild Equity we love snakes of all shapes and sizes, but of course there’s one that’s out and away our favorite. The San Francisco Garter Snake is possibly the most imperiled vertebrate in the state,…

Wild Equity Lawsuit Challenges Sharp Park Golf Course’s Destruction of Coastal Wetlands

 For Immediate Release: June 18, 2015 Contact: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Wild Equity Lawsuit Challenges Sharp Park Golf Course’s Destruction of Coastal Wetlands   Redwood City, Calif.…

Urgent! Sharp Park Hearing at the California Coastal Commission

Thursday, April 16th, 12:30pm-2:00:pm: Your attendance is requested for a critical public meeting in San Rafael (Marin County). That afternoon, the California Coastal Commission will be responding to the City of San Francisco’s request…

Action Alert: Hearing at the California Coastal Commission!

Dear Protectors of Sharp Park wetlands! Your attendance is requested for a critical public meeting on Thursday April 16th in San Rafael (Marin County). That afternoon, the California Coastal Commission will be responding to the City of…

Wild Equity Bands with Allies to Challenge Sharp Park Pumphouse Project

At 10:00am on Friday April 3rd, Wild Equity, Sequoia Audubon Society, and Save the Frogs will present oral arguments at San Francisco Superior Court over a project that will destroy and drain Sharp Park’s Laguna Salada wetland complex, arguably…

Wild Equity Secures Challenge to Lower Court Opinion

On March 11, 2015 Wild Equity appeared at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in our ongoing legal challenged to the money-losing, endangered species killing Sharp Park Golf Course. A few days later the court issued a short opinion that clears…

100 Parks for 100 Years!

Wild Equity has been calling for new National Parks for a long time — especially at the notorious Sharp Park in Pacifica — and as it turns out, we’re not the only ones! Numerous organizations and constituencies have banded together in…

Golfonomics: The Millennial Challenge

Golf needs millennials — but attracting them is proving to be difficult. The industry wants insight, and the Pro Golf Association (PGA) has created a task force aiming to redefine the golf experience. The sport’s popularity has been waning,…

California Red-Legged Frog is officially California’s State Frog

Thanks to Dr Kerry Kriger and friends of SaveTheFrogs.com – and everyone who helped – the California Red-Legged Frog is now California’s State Frog. Read more

San Francisco Recreation and Parks Caught Illegally Armoring Sharp Park Beach

March 21, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989Bill McLaughlin, Surfrider Foundation, San Francisco Chapter, (415) 225-4083 San Francisco Recreation and Parks Caught Illegally Armoring…

Wild Equity Institute Challenges Harmful Sharp Park Water Quality Decision

For Immediate Release, July 24, 2014 Contact:  Laura Horton, lhorton@wildequity.org, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 235-0492 Wild Equity Institute Challenges Harmful Sharp Park Water Quality Decision San Francisco, Calif.—Wild Equity…

July 10, 7:30 pm: The Wilds of San Francisco & You Slideshow

Thursday, July 10, 7:30pm, at the Randall Museum: San Francisco has 32 pockets of undeveloped land set aside for the preservation of the natural world. These pockets hold the last remnants of wildness once found across the lands where we now…

Wild Equity Sues SF Rec. & Park Over Sharp Park Wetland Destruction Project

 For Immediate Release: April 22, 2014 Contact: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Conservation Groups Sue San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department Over Controversial Sharp Park Golf Course Wetland Destruction…

Sharp Park Pumphouse Project Appeal Hearing at San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Tuesday, March 25, 3:00pm – Please join the Wild Equity Institute at San Francisco City Hall to speak up and demand a full environmental review of the Sharp Park Pumphouse Project. We need to pack the chamber with supporters!!! A full environmental…

Environmental Groups Will Ask Board of Supervisors to Reject Misleading Environmental Report on Sharp Park

Building a healthy and sustainable global community for people and the plants and animals that accompany us on Earth March 24, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Michelle Meyers,…

3/25 – Join Wild Equity at City Hall to Protect Rare Frogs & Snakes

The Wild Equity Institute along with our partners: Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association, Save the Frogs!, and Golden Gate Audubon have appealed the Preliminary Mitigated…

A Better Mix of Greens

Today in San Francisco people are more interested in growing salad greens than golf greens. In a survey commissioned by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, city residents ranked the kinds of recreation they want to see more of…
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Sharp Park Pumphouse Appeal Hearing at San Francisco Planning Commission

Thursday, January 16, Noon: Please join the Wild Equity Institute at San Francisco City Hall to speak up and demand a full environmental review of the Sharp Park Pumphouse Project. We need to pack the chamber with supporters!!! A full environmental…

1/16 – Attend the Sharp Park Pumphouse Project CEQA Appeal Hearing at City Hall

After many continuances, the Sharp Park Pumphouse Project CEQA Appeal Hearing is finally confirmed for Thursday, January 16 at Noon, San Francisco City Hall, Room 400. We need to fill the room!!! Show your support for our appeal by attending…

Pumphouse Project Goes Before Planning Commission

Wild Equity appealed the Preliminary Mitigated Negative Declaration released for the Sharp Park Pumphouse Project, arguing that the city should do a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). We will be going before the San Francisco Planning Commission…

Watch the SAVE THE FROGS! Academy Webinar on Restoring Sharp Park

On September 25, 2013, Wild Equity Executive Director Brent Plater teamed-up with SAVE THE FROGS!’ Kerry Kriger to tell the world about our campaign to create a new public park at Sharp Park. The discussion was the latest installment…

Wild Equity Catches Agency Rubber-Stamping Permits to Kill Endangered Species

For Immediate Release, July 31, 2013 Contacts: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Mike Lynes, Golden Gate Audubon Society, (510) 843-9912 Fish And Wildlife Service Caught Rubber-Stamping Permits To Kill Endangered SpeciesLawsuit…

Department of the Interior (DOI) Report: National Parks make economic as well as ecological sense

Sharp Park offers us an exciting opportunity to expand National Parks along the California coast and capitalize upon the economic benefits described in a recent DOI report. A new National Park at Sharp Park, complete with a visitors’ center,…

Judge: Wild Equity Wins Lawsuit, Sharp Park Golf Course Must Pay $386,000 for Legal Violations

July 2, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989
 Conservationists Win Lawsuit Sharp Park Golf Course Must Pay $386,000 for Illegally Killing Endangered Species San Francisco— U.S.…

As Taxpayer Golf Bailout Continues, More Politicians Side With Restoring Sharp Park

Last year the Wild Equity Institute helped pass legislation to restore Sharp Park, only to see it vetoed by the Mayor. But the veto only made the campaign stronger as evidence continues to mount against the money losing, endangered species-killing…

Join Wild Equity at City Hall on 6/21 at 10:00am to Stop the Bailout of Sharp Park Golf Course

There is going to be a special session of the Budget and Finance Committee tomorrow, Friday, 21 June at 10:00 am, City Hall, Room 250. This your opportunity to give public comment on the Mayor’s proposed budget. We need you to let the…

Engaging Allies for the Underfrog

The Wild Equity Institute has engaged dozens of allies in our campaign to build a better public park at Sharp Park, and our list of allies keeps growing. This weekend we had a fantastic tour of Mori Point and Sharp Park to give people the facts…