Modesto’s proposed land swap with Gallo Winery gets public airing at council committee
Modesto’s proposed land swap with the world’s biggest winery for a river walk along the Tuolumne River will get a public airing Wednesday at a City Council committee meeting.
City staff will ask the three council members who sit on the Safety and Communities Committee to approve the plan and forward it to the full council for approval.
Modesto wants to trade its roughly 12-acre Beard Brook Park — which sits along Dry Creek and south of Yosemite Boulevard, between the E.&J. Gallo Winery and Stanislaus Foods — for a roughly 12-acre strip of land the winery and Gallo Glass own along the river.
A city report states both properties are appraised at about $240,000 each.
The land swap would allow the city to build a pedestrian bridge over Dry Creek and is part of creating a continuous trail along the entire length of the Tuolumne River Regional Park.
The park is more than 500 acres and runs for about seven miles along the river, from Mitchell to Carpenter roads. It includes Mancini, Legion and Bellenita parks, as well as the 87-acre Gateway Parcel, which is in the center of the regional park and near Beard Brook and downtown.
The park is a partnership among Modesto, Ceres and Stanislaus County. Modesto manages it.
City officials in March 2022 provided an estimate of $6.3 million for the pedestrian bridge project. Officials said then that included the bridge across Dry Creek, three-quarters of a mile of paved trail, a picnic pavilion, restroom, lighting, security cameras, concrete benches and tables, and other features.
Officials said then the city had the money for the project’s design work. Modesto has paid for many of the regional park’s improvements through grants.
The city report states Modesto acquired Beard Brook Park in 1919.
Beard Brook once had a been a star among the city’s parks. It had been home to the Modesto Children’s Park, which opened in 1960 to great fanfare, drawing 3,000 children to its groundbreaking, according to Bee archives.
In its heyday, the park featured a steam engine (now at Modesto’s Amtrak station), jet plane, firetruck and wading pool. But in recent years, it has been a popular site for homeless people. The city report states that despite attempts to improve the park, it has continued to attract unwanted uses, including illegal dumping, vandalism and drug use.
The report states Modesto would keep a narrow strip of Beard Brook along South Morton Drive for a paved trail the city expects will one day be part of a connection between its Dry Creek Trail and the Tuolumne River Regional Park river walk.
It states the city has been working on the land swap since 2018. That includes talking with the state because the city used a roughly $39,000 state grant in 2000 for a new playground at Beard Brook, working with former Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, for legislation that allows the city to dispose of the park, and talks with Gallo.
“Gallo recognizes the mutual benefit that the exchange would bring,” according to the the report, “and has agreed to exchange their property ... .”
The Safety and Communities Committee meeting is being held over Zoom and starts at 4 p.m. The public can attend the meeting and participate. The meeting ID is 869 4597 0570, and the passcode is 84326.
Members of the public without a smartphone or computer can participate by phone by calling 877-853-5257 or 888-475-4499 and then entering the meeting ID and passcode.
