Regional Park District, Racetrack at Odds Over Bay Trail Through Albany

A dispute over a strip of land behind the Golden Gate Fields grandstand is likely to end up in court soon, according to an article in the Oakland Tribune.

The East Bay Regional Park District is seeking to acquire the strip by eminent domain, with the goal of adding it officially to the Bay Trail encircling San Francisco Bay. The strip behind the racetrack would link trail sections in Berkeley and close to the Albany Bulb.

While the racetrack owners have allowed public access to the strip, they have not signed the property over to the park district despite about 15 years of negotiations, according to the Tribune article.

Attorneys for the racetrack, meanwhile, say that the park district has not met legal requirements for eminent domain and that no environmental impact report (EIR) was prepared before EBRPD began the eminent domain process, the article says.

You may read the complete article here.