Conservationists Cautiously Optimistic About Byxbee Park Expansion

Palo Altans welcomed an expansion to the existing land of Byxbee Park after a new section of landfill was opened to the public as park land last Friday.

Public reception to the expansion of the park was positive.

“I think it’s a good thing,” jogger Stuart Gannes said.  “I use the park for jogging on the trails, which is an effective workout. I wouldn’t use the trails until once they completely close the dump. I guess it’s a step forward, from a dump to no dump.”

With sections of the park being opened to the public over time, the park is being converted from a dump to park land. Plans for a waste-to-energy plant on a 10-acre section of land are still in the talks, and is a point of contention among conservationists and environmentalists.

While most everyone agrees that the plan to revert the dump to parkland is a positive step, they disagree on the proposed plant’s impact on the environment.

“The opening of the park is, of course, a very happy event,” conservationist Emily Renzel said.  “The proposal to undedicate ten acres of the 61 acres not yet opened to the public is a separate matter. Cutting into 50-foot high sections of landfill for an AD facility and transferring 1,600,000 cubic feet of garbage to the remaining park will, of course, have a major adverse impact.”

Supporters of the plant say that it will be more of a help to the environment than a detriment.

The operation is similar to the adjoining sewage plant, and would pose no additional burden than the present impacts,” according to Bob Wenzlau of the Palo Alto Green Energy Initiative. “We are even bound by the initiative to mitigate impacts. In a long-term view, projects like the proposed biologic energy facility sought for the ten-acres could provide for the health and operations of the existing park.”

Another side effect is the new human activity that will be present with the opening of the park to the public. Renzel believes that the impact will be positive, while Wenzlau questions how much additional impact will happen as a result.

“As plant materials take over the new park, there will be a positive benefit for wildlife,” Renzel said.  “People wandering through will be lots less impact than all the machinery that has been there.”

“An ironic impact of public access is the how people can disturb habitat that otherwise was protected,” Wenzlau said. “Beyond this understanding, the impact of people coupled with a site that is heavily impacted from disposal activities is difficult to quantify.”