News & Events

San Mateo County Studies Sharp Park Partnership with City of San Francisco

Nov 12, 2015

Sharp Park -- the historic, much loved, Alister MacKenzie designed, seaside municipal golf course in Pacifica -- is owned by the City of San Francisco, managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, but resides in San Mateo County.

Since the diverse students, retirees, and blue collar golfers who patronize the popular and affordable course are primarily San Francisco and San Mateo County residents, common sense dictates a regional partnership to manage the course would benefit all concerned. Jane Northrup, writing for the Pacifica Tribune, reports that the first steps to forging just such civic partnership may be underway:

County studies options to take over Sharp Park Golf Course

"San Mateo County may be one step closer to taking over the Sharp Park Golf Course from San Francisco. The county of San Mateo engaged a consultant to study the options. Supervisor Don Horsley said he eventually hopes to try and work out a long-term lease. “We don’t want it closed. We think it’s important for Pacifica and for people who want to play golf. The course is affordable,” he said...

San Francisco and San Mateo County have long realized the benefits of working together to ensure the future of the historic Sharp Park Golf Course. In Dec. 2011, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee wrote that the SF Recreation and Park Dept. and the County of San Mateo had for some time now been discussing ways “to create a mutually beneficial partnership for the long-term management of the golf course that could help fund the needed habitat restoration, and continue to support an affordable and popular recreational activity.”

In Jan. 2012, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution seeking negotiations with San Francisco on a cooperative management agreement at Sharp Park. Discussions delayed when, between 2012 and 2015, anti-golf environmental litigants brought three separate lawsuits in an effort to close the course. All three suits were eventually dismissed."

On November 3, San Mateo County Manager John Maltbie reported to San Mateo County Supervisors that he had assigned a consultant to conduct a financial study of the matter. This will not be the only public report to consider the San Francisco / San Mateo County Partnership.

The Pacifica Tribune article reports that completion of the San Mateo County study is still months away. We think that at least a preliminary report is likely by mid-December. In any event, it is at this point premature to speculate about the final form any potential San Francisco / San Mateo County Sharp Park partnership might take. The San Francisco Public Golf Alliance believes a mutually beneficial arrangement that improves golf operations, renovates the course, and enhances the habitat for the species that reside there is in the best interest of the City, the County and public golfers.