The fate of Gilroy Gardens seems to change weekly.
The nonprofit theme park's board of directors announced today that it will continue its management contract with Ohio-based Cedar Fair Entertainment Company for another two years. The city owns the land the park sits on and the majority of its physical stock, but the park's board leases the management and marketing of the horticultural venue to Cedar Fair, whose contract was set to expire in February 2009.
"We're excited to continue our relationship with Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park," Jack T. Falfas, chief operating officer of Cedar Fair, said in a statement. "We're confident that our dedication to providing guests with safe, world-class family entertainment will help ensure a bright future for this beautiful, one-of-a-kind park."
Tonight the city council will talk about the future of the park with a much-anticipated chance for public comment. Residents have been eager to tell the council how they feel since a group of Asian investors surprised the council earlier this month with a $35 million offer for the park and the 536 acres of mostly untouched land it sits on, according to people involved in the discussion. The investors from South Korea and Guam have since suspended their offer pending a more precise direction from the council.
Last February, the council voted to buy most of the physical park and all the surrounding land for $13.2 million, and city staff pointed out that the purchase could help the city avoid $41.6 million for a new community park and an additional corporation yard for city vehicles and equipment. The county tax assessor has pegged the overall property value for all the involved parcels at nearly $19 million, and council members hailed the land deal as a "steal" at the time of purchase, as well as an invaluable environmental and bargaining asset for the city.
Councilman Dion Bracco, who sits on the park's board, said the two-year contract with Cedar Fair would not necessarily prevent the council from deciding to sell some of the land, the park, or implementing whatever residents want to see out there. Any land deal would likely take a year to ink out, and the city also leases the 70 acres the park sits on to the board on a yearly basis, giving the council the ultimate say.
The park itself sits on about 70 acres, another 116 acres is zoned for development subject to council approval, and the remaining 350 acres sits as open space. But even before the council entertained the $35 million offer, the body had already directed staff to create a task force of residents to help guide its decision.
Getting $35 million less than a year later is quite a return, Councilman Bob Dillon said, but it's nothing the council would act on until hearing from residents.
The park has also entered into preliminary talks with Parc Management, a Florida-based theme park operator that has expressed interest in adding a water park for children to Michael Bonfante's struggling horticultural dream.
There's also Councilman Perry Woodward idea of selling a roughly 10-acre parking lot to Eagle Ridge. The gated community, which Woodward lives in, borders the expansive and vastly under-used parking lot that serves the park's administrative staff. Woodward suggested selling the lot to raise revenue for sidewalk repair and also to help narrow the city's growing deficit.
Chris Bone Chris Bone covers Gilroy government for South Valley Newspapers. Reach him at 847-7109 or e-mail him.
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