Sonoma County's effort to raise funds for a four-acre park at the site where Andy Lopez was killed hinges on two grant applications and possibly up to $750,000 in community donations, officials said Tuesday.
"I believe we can get there," Supervisor Efren Carrillo, whose district includes the Moorland Avenue neighborhood, said in an interview.
At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting Carrillo called it "a momentous time for the residents of southwest Santa Rosa."
The proposed park would be built on 4.22 acres of undeveloped land at the corner of Moorland and West Robles avenues, including the spot where Lopez, 13, was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy on Oct. 22.
Moorland area residents are already maintaining play equipment and a memorial to Lopez at the site.
The board voted unanimously, with Supervisor Susan Gorin absent, to apply for a $1,125,000 matching grant from the county's taxpayer-supported Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District.
To come up with part of the required match, Sonoma County Regional Parks has applied for a $471,300 grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Three years of park operating costs, totaling $300,000 and paid by the county, can also be used toward the match, along with a potential $100,000 grant from KaBOOM, a national nonprofit that helps fund community parks, said Jim Nantell, Regional Parks deputy director.
If it all materializes, the total of $871,300 would leave the county $253,700 short of equaling the open space grant. The secured funding would add up to $2,250,000 — at the low end of the park project's estimated cost of $2 million to $3 million, Nantell said.
Donations, in-kind contributions and county general fund money would have to cover up to $750,000, he said.
"I believe we have those donors in this community," Carrillo said, referring to the entire county.
The Ratto Group, the county's dominant trash hauler, has discussed a donation to the Moorland park, said Eric Koenigshofer, attorney and spokesman for the group.
"It would be completely consistent with the Ratto family's commitment to Sonoma County to participate in a community-wide effort," he said.
The Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation just received its first contribution to an account set up for the park, said Caryl Hart, Regional Parks director.
The $4,000 donation came from the Ernie Carpenter Fund for the Environment, established by donations when the former county supervisor retired, Hart said.
Neither of the two large grants is assured, Nantell said. The county is "optimistic" about securing the $471,300 state grant, with a decision due in June, he said.
Regional Parks is asking for more than one-third of the $3 million the Open Space District is offering this year to the county, cities, other public agencies and nonprofit groups.
"It's typically pretty competitive," Nantell said, noting that the district could give the county less than its $1.125 million request.
Grant awards are recommended by district staff and the agency's advisory committee, which reviews applications. Final approval rests with supervisors, who make up the district's board of directors.
The county's attempt to buy the 4.22-acre parcel from real estate agent David Poulsen remains unresolved.
Poulsen has submitted a letter expressing his interest in selling the land to the county, but it is not binding, said Herb Williams, a Santa Rosa political consultant who is Poulsen's spokesman.
Both Poulsen and Regional Parks are obtaining appraisals on the property, and once those are in hand — and the county has grant funding — "then we'll sit down and talk," Williams said.
The county is limited to paying no more than the appraised fair-market value of the property.
County officials said they expect to acquire the land this year, followed by design and permitting chores in 2015, with construction starting in 2016 and completion of the park in 2017.
Terri Carrion, an organizer of protests calling attention to Lopez's shooting, said the park project "could go faster."
The park should commemorate Lopez's death and "not just a green space with some swings on it," she told the supervisors.
Poulsen, the landowner, is not tied to any timeline, but is "no less concerned than anyone else" about concluding a deal, Williams said.
Carrillo and other officials assured residents that the Moorland community would be involved in planning the park.
Supervisor Shirlee Zane said the Lopez memorial site "means different things to different people" but there is agreement that "it can never be a vacant lot again, it's long overdue."
In a related action Tuesday, the supervisors approved plans for demolition of the former bowling alley at the old Roseland shopping center, now owned by the county's Community Development Commission and designated for redevelopment.
Officials were also given permission to seek county open space funding for a plaza included in the redevelopment plan.
(You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.)
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