COUNCIL INFRASTRUCTURE &
AIRPORT COMMITTEE
MEETING
APRIL 23, 2025
DOCUMENTS RECEIVED AFTER
PUBLISHED AGENDA
PUBLIC COMMENTS
We have questions and concerns about the safety of the currently open Sulfur Creek on Airport property and the intention to extend the runway safety zone even further into the Skywest property. How was the clubhouse allowed to be built supposedly within this current approved minimum runway safety zone? And there were no citations or alarm to correct this error in the first place? Apparently now it's a concern when it wasn't a consideration at the time that the golf course clubhouse was built.
We've spoken with other agencies and supporters who have the same questions. With Skywest as a nature area, we imagine extensive youth and family education opportunities including safe bike and walking trails and paths for all ages and abilities.
We propose to the City of Hayward that you allow for community stewardship and volunteer maintenance of the property through citizen advocacy in coalition with regional parks, HARD, neighborhood associations, community groups, foundations and colleges.
We need open space centered in this most heavily used transit corridor. All humans need places of respite, calm and peace for health and well-being. Allowing for Skywest to be a natural park between the two developed recreational parks and then connected to the Bay Trail would be wise use of the land for the people who live here.
Listing Skywest as a PCA is a step towards protection of this rare open space.
The Executive Airport is for the benefit of a privileged few who use or own private aircraft and get cut-rate rental space in the City of Hayward apparently without contributing back. In the City of San Jose, corporations and individuals with wealth are expected to pay more for privileges especially when these privileges are exclusive, extractive and cause pollution to adjoining areas.
Again, citing the example of the City of San Jose, the neighborhoods near the Reid-Hillview Municipal Airport organized and petitioned to successfully close it down for the same complaints of noise, hazard, noxious fumes and nuisance of air traffic in residential areas. Why does Hayward even need the Executive Airport when either Oakland or San Jose International facilities are near enough to suffice?
The question would be how to purposefully and correctly generate income to support stewardship and maintenance of the grounds if we are able to convert Skywest from abandoned fairways to natural park space. The compromise is to leave the Executive Airport, to not shut it down, and keep Skywest in perpetuity as a natural buffer region.
If the Airport were to be phased out, it is already paved over and can be developed as the industrial park, or better still as affordable and/or transitional housing that is so badly needed at this time. The excuse has always been that there needed to be a safety zone around the airport to keep people away from the hazards of air traffic in residential space. Real estate used for stable and affordable shelter, quiet and clean neighborhoods and proximity to nature is more valuable for future generations who will be living in our part of the Bay Area. Shut down the Hayward Executive Airport and save Skywest!
Respectfully,
Sandra Frost
Resident, South Hayward