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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

July 19, 2002

Development near Blackhawk stirs vigorous debate

POINT: Smart growth supervisor

After overwhelming public outcry against a project that is the epitome of dumb growth, the integrity of public participation in the political process was sacrificed as Supervisors Mark DeSaulnier, John Gioia, Gayle Uilkema and Federal Glover moved to give away the public store.

Details and the problems of the behemoth project were ignored by the board in its eagerness to approve the project, with the feeble justification that the developers would pay a fee into an ill-defined "livable communities fund" that could be used in other supervisors' districts.

The fee -- at $8,000 a unit for 1,000 units -- sounds like a lot of money, but it is a pittance in the countywide effort to provide affordable housing, and it is a cheap deal for the developers who will just pass it on to the homebuyer.

This is a billion-dollar project, with homes that will sell from $600,000 to $1.3 million. Just eight of the million-dollar houses will cover the total fee. Does $8 million seem like enough to compensate the public for the overwhelming increase in traffic and all the other negative impacts this project will cause?

Hundreds of residents from all over the county spent countless hours over the past two years studying this project and its impacts. They identified the negative impacts on traffic, water, grading of hillsides as high as 50 feet and "an affordable housing program" that will only deliver about 110 units that will be affordable to people with annual incomes of $35,000 or $67,000.

The remaining 220 "affordable" units will actually rent for market rate due to the formula the Board of Supervisors adopted.

The Danville Town Council and its staff took the time and spent the money to analyze the true traffic impacts and expose the traffic study manipulation. The League of Women Voters, the city of San Ramon, the Danville Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club, Tri-Valley Vision Project Housing Committee, Greenbelt Alliance, Save Mt. Diablo, and countless Realtors, accountants, chief executive officers, school teachers, engineers, seniors and moms and dads all stood up and described the problems with the developers' proposal.

Their comments and suggestions were ignored.

Acknowledging that there would be some development in the area, I asked my fellow board members to consider other designs for the project that would be less devastating to the environment and that would provide a unique, compact, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use "smart growth" project, with more affordable housing integrated into the neighborhoods.

I showed them photos of existing, high-quality developments to demonstrate what is possible. These suggestions also fell upon deaf ears.

Finally, I provided a revised map showing that even the developers' proposal could be improved just by removing about 200 units, moving development off the ridges and doing less harm to traffic, environment and the hillsides.

I showed them how many issues still needed to be addressed, such as the need for photovoltaic solar power to save homeowners' money and conserve energy. The board would not make a single change that I suggested.

Four members of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors opted for litigation instead of cooperation with their cities and citizens; they tore the fabric of public trust. Win or lose, it is one thing to participate in a process where you are empowered; it's another to participate in a process where you are invisible.

The citizens of this county were ignored in this land-use planning process. This is what undermines our democracy. This is what causes citizens to become cynical.

This project had the best public input ever seen in this county, and we had a Board of Supervisors that had publicly proclaimed its commitment to smart growth. By these measures, this project should never have been approved, yet it was. Clearly, developers and politicians who use the land-use process solely for personal gain can abuse the current system. Public input and public policy alone can't trump developer money and political influence.

It's for this reason that I am going to work to change the process by putting public needs up front.The public must be on the front end of land-use planning with experts who work for them, not developers.

Developments that convert agricultural-zoned lands to urban development should be subject to voter approval. Let projects stand the test of public scrutiny. Never again should a sprawl development be adopted that overwhelms the infrastructure. There is a better way; this county's land-use decisions have for too long been dictated by special interests.

Supervisor Donna Gerber represents District 3 in Contra Costa County, which includes the communities of Byron, Danville, Diablo, Discovery Bay, Dougherty Valley, Knightsen, San Ramon, Tassajara and part of Walnut Creek.

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