Boothbay Park in Foster City is emerging as the leading contender for a site on which to build a proposed new elementary campus.

That seems to be the case from going through a San Mateo-Foster City School District letter to Foster City that outlines the advantages and disadvantages of Boothbay and three other sites.

But stiff opposition to the Boothbay idea is also emerging from residents in that area.

Several people at a recent City Council meeting have expressed their concerns, and here’s what Art Kauffman told me in an e-mail:

“We, who have been enjoying our neighborhood and its park for many years, hope, for a variety of reasons, that it is determined that the current utilization of the land is the uniquely appropriate use for it.

“We think that the presence of a school on that site would significantly disrupt the neighborhood forever. It would have many negative impacts on the atmosphere of the entire neighborhood and our valued recreation area.

“It would inconvenience all who live around the park as it would overcrowd the streets with traffic and parking congestion. And the city would be losing its most popular open-space park forever.”

We’ll likely hear plenty more voices on this issue when the City Council is expected to open up the district letter to public comments during a meeting later this summer.

Soon after that, the city should be making a decision on whether it will make any public land available for the district.

The district hopes the city will and seeks to develop a plan for the new school by Sept. 17.

The three other possible sites for the school are about six acres of the undeveloped 15 acres adjacent to City Hall; Port Royal Park; and the vacant 3.9 acres along Beach Park Boulevard at Halibut Street.

But in its letter, the district listed Boothbay as having the most pros and the least cons as a site on which to build.

The advantages of building a school on about half of the 11-acre Boothbay Park include the fact that it is in the southwestern part of the community where the district is seeing the largest enrollment growth in the city, district Superintendent Pendery Clark said in the letter.

The location would encourage students in the proposed attendance area to walk to school, is served by a major street and features existing infrastructure, she added.

The only disadvantage listed in the letter about Boothbay would be the displacement of some existing park buildings.

But a final decision will involve the entire community and “has to take into account the people who live near the park and” the growing student population, said district board member Mark Hudak.