21 Acres of Sign Hill Saved Thanks To Liberty Family Donation: Welcome To The Liberty Park!

South San Francisco, CA    June 19, 2018

This map which indicates in yellow the purchase/donation of land. Blue indicates what the City currently owns. The area bordered in red identifies the remaining parcels that are privately held for potential development and needs to be preserved.
Source: City of SSF

With deep appreciation to the Liberty family for their generous donation and with help from taxpayers coffers from County made available by the SMC Board of Supervisors ($690,000) and by the City of South San Francisco ($82,500) we will finally have this amazing 21 acre parcel on Sign Hill preserved for all time after years of resident’s lobbying for this area to remain as open space and not developed.

“The purchase of this land ensures permanent preservation of the open space, which is something Council has, for years, wanted to do,” Mayor Liza Normandy is quoted as saying in a press release by the City. “We know how much our residents value and appreciate Sign Hill, so we are excited to be able to offer more open space in our City.”

Cheryl * and Ross Liberty have been the stewards of this beautiful acreage for over a decade and in recent times were seeking to sell to potential developers. Long time advocates of preserving open space San Bruno Mountain Watch and Friends of Sign Hill were ecstatic to learn this news. “This is a long time coming as a project of Mountain Watch and Friends of Sign Hill in partnership with the City of South San Francisco and shows what can be accomplished by neighborhood groups” San Bruno Mountain Watch Boardmember Del Shembari said “We cannot express enough our appreciation to the Liberty family for their generous donation coupled with taxpayer funds from both the County and the City. ”

For decades City officials have expressed the desire to see this parcel added to the 45 acres already owned and preserved by the City of South San Francisco yet the timing never worked out due to the recession and other financial concerns. This addition to our preserved Sign Hill will fondly be known as ‘The Liberty Park’ in honor of the gift from the Liberty family. New trails will be created and maintained by the City’s Park and Recreation Department under the direction of Sharon Ranals who has also worked tirelessly on this endeavor.

“We look forward to working with Sharon Ranals and the SSF Parks and Recreation” Shembari said “And we still need to remember the remaining 20 acres on the western parcel currently owned by the Syme Estate. We cannot rest until our mission is completed: to preserve ALL of Sign Hill for future generations to enjoy.”

Over 60 nature lovers showed up at the Butterfly Hike on Sign Hill organized by Loretta and Chuck and led by award winning Liam O’Brian
Photo: L. O’Brian

This past month Loretta Brooks and Chuck Heimstadt organized another wonderful butterfly hike with Liam O’Brien, a San Francisco’s well-known lepidopterist, artist, illustrator, and Bay Nature’s award-winning environmental educator and had over 60 participants in their group out enjoying the beautiful flora, fauna and magnificent views. Loretta and Chuck are the founders of the SSF Weed Warriors who maintain and preserve the southwestern slope that has large areas of grasslands that are critical to our resident endangered butterflies. They focus on the removal of invasive non-native plants and ask the public to join them on the .4th Friday of each month and the following Saturday. More info CLICK HERE.

Parcel 012 351 050 is now PUBLIC Land. We must secure the other 2 GREEN parcels (012 351 020/ 030)

EDIT: Mrs Liberty’s name corrected.Note this property was also co-owned with the Ronald McAgehee & EA Trust to whom we also offer thanks and appreciation.