A grassroots group of East Bay locals has made headway in the fight to protect the last of the remaining green space in the city of Hayward. Mimi Dean and SOS Skywest are on a mission to protect the endangered species, prevent noise pollution, and guarantee that the citizens of Hayward have more public space free from industrial infrastructure.
Formally known as Skywest Golf Course, the Skywest open space is a 126-acre plot of land that sits slightly north west of the Hayward Executive Airport off Hesperian Avenue. The golf course ceased operations in 2020.
The Hayward Executive Airport has proposed a development plan that would result in a mostly concrete industrial complex, with a small “pocket park” reserved for recreational use. The city claims that this new development will, “benefit Hayward Executive Airport, the surrounding community and the City of Hayward generally.”
The only issue is, Skywest isn’t home to just overgrown greens and moldy sand traps, it’s also a sanctuary for some of California’s most vulnerable wild and plant life. According to the Xerces Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of invertebrate species, the area that makes up Skywest acts as the #1 overwintering site (a place where migratory species settle during the coldest months of the year) for Monarch butterflies in the Bay Area, and is the #5 overwintering site for them in the entire state of California due to the abundance of milkweed – an essential plant for monarch butterfly reproduction.
Additionally, the ponds that used to serve as water hazards are also home to the Western Pond Turtle – California’s only native turtle species. These vulnerable species make up just a fraction of the wildlife present in Skywest that stands to be eradicated should the proposed industrial complex become a reality.
“You know, it’s funny because the city of Hayward had all these meetings and they gathered all this community input. And then they completely ignored everything that we said,“ said Mimi Dean, Oro Loma board member and leader of SOS Skywest. “It was like everybody wanted it to be saved as open space or, you know, a dog park or, a disc golf course. Everybody had all these great ideas. And then the city of Hayward came up with, ‘Well, we’re going to build an industrial complex, and we’re going to put in more hangars for more airplanes.’”
Dean, also a former art teacher, has been leading the charge to keep Skywest “wild” since the preliminary development plans were released in late 2021. In the beginning, it was just her and a handful of like minded activists. “It was Randy and me,” she said. “And we started making Hayward understand that we weren’t going to go away, that we were going to show up. And little by little, people started joining us.”
The ranks of SOS Skywest have grown since the early days and now include dozens of dedicated activists, including members of Chabot’s Revolutionaries Advocating for Greener Ecosystems (RAGE) club. Maria Potts, RAGE club President, spoke about her involvement with SOS Skywest, “[Our club adviser] brought Mimi in and she gave us a presentation about what was going on over at Skywest. She asked if we were interested, and we said yes.” Potts went on to say, ”We go to major events that happen here in Hayward, just kind of pushing the information about Skywest and getting people to sign the petition, especially if they really care about this space. I have people coming up to me going like, ‘hey, I live down there, and we really like this space, we would like to keep it open, how can we help?’”
“The idea of keeping that space for the community was something that really compelled me,” she said. “Just preserving open space in general, because Hayward doesn’t have a lot of that. You see parks and stuff, but you don’t see something like Coyote Hills. You don’t see that.”
At a Hayward City community update meeting on Nov. 13 of this year, council members and Mayor Mark Salinas heard input from representatives of the airport as well as from members of the Hayward community, several of whom spoke publicly at the meeting in support of SOS Skywest both in person and virtually on Zoom. “I just want to ask you to leave Skywest as open space,” said Steve Wiley, a citizen of Hayward. “Open space is precious. Once it’s lost, it’s gone forever. Developing this space is going to increase the effect of the heat island impact. And cutting down the trees that are there and not adding more will create carbon debt. And I just want to let people know that.”
“Our online petition has over 2,000 signatures and a strong group of people of all ages, from youth to adults, fighting for this land to be open space,” began Jade Ocampo, Arroyo High junior and leader of the SOS Skywest youth contingent. “There are professors and college students from Chabot and Cal State East Bay, even teachers and high school students…who want to save this land as open space. And we are going to continue fighting for this land to stay as open space for our community because we feel we have many memories that we cherish in this land, and we want to preserve the wildlife of the area as well.”
Hayward Executive Airport manager, Doug McNeely, offered this reminder in his closing remarks, “The plan that we have, there’s some sort of misunderstanding sometimes that this is a plan that’s in stone. It is not, and we’re welcoming other comments. We want community input. We’ve been having a lot of meetings, and we want more to incorporate your ideas.”
Mayor Mark Salinas echoed this sentiment, “This is a listening session. We’re not starting construction tomorrow. We’re not starting construction next month. What we are doing is listening. There will be more meetings after this one. And so I just really wanted to emphasize that because I have observed some online activity where there is a myth that we’re starting to build something in January. We’re not.”
The “Skywest Update” agenda item closed with some uncharacteristic optimism. Questions were raised about funding the development and where such funds would come from, as well as questions regarding the accuracy of FAA requirements for the preliminary development plan. Council members asked the Airport and Hayward Public Works to come back with a more concrete answer to the true cost of the potential development, as well as an updated draft of the preliminary plan made with community input in mind before any decisions can be made on the project. The council members in attendance also made note of the “spirit of collaboration” that seemed to be present at the meeting that evening.
Mimi Dean feels that this was the first time their voices were truly heard, “I feel like we are moving in the right direction. I feel like we’re all really super excited because in the past, it always felt like we weren’t really listened to, and we were always just made to feel like we were these extremists that were asking for the impossible to save open space. And tonight we felt like, there’s a new spirit of collaboration. They want to work with us. And we hope that’s going to be true.”
The next community update meeting has not been scheduled yet, but things are looking up for the future of Skywest. While the idea of leaving the space completely untouched remains a lofty ambition, the sentiment that Skywest should remain a space for community/citizens first and foremost is beginning to take root in Hayward.
