Home > Resource Center > In the News Home > Greenbelt Alliance in the News

Greenbelt Alliance In the News

June 26, 2002

Foes of growth pack meeting on Tassajara plans

Contra Costa project vote in 2 weeks

Opponents of plans for 1,400 new homes in the East Bay's rural Tassajara Valley jammed a public hearing Tuesday, telling Contra Costa County officials the development would crowd nearby streets and schools and strain water supplies.

At a sometimes emotional hearing, county supervisors were debating the largest housing plan in years -- for 4,000 new residents to the rolling hills east of Danville and San Ramon.

Supervisor John Gioia, who chairs the board, said supervisors would vote on the matter in two weeks.
Many of the 120 people who filled the board chambers wore green patches and carried signs calling the plan "dumb growth."

"We have yet to know the impact of 11,000 homes planned for (nearby) Dougherty Valley," said San Ramon Mayor Nancy Tatarka, referring to a project approved a decade ago that is expected to be home to 30,000 people by 2015.

San Ramon City Councilwoman Donna Dickey urged supervisors to maintain her city's "quality of life" by voting down the development plan.

The separate but related proposals -- known as Alamo Creek and the Intervening Properties -- are in unincorporated Contra Costa County south of Mount Diablo. The developers are Braddock & Logan, Ponderosa Homes and Shapell Industries of Northern California.

The two sites, which are just inside the county's urban growth line, surround the Wendt Ranch Property, which was approved for a 323-unit subdivision in 1996 but has not been built.

Developers originally wanted to build 5,330 homes in the Tassajara Valley but withdrew plans in 1998 amid opposition from elected officials, environmentalists and residents.

Supporters of the project said it would help alleviate the region's housing crunch. More than 20 percent of the homes would be affordable to low- and moderate-income families, backers claim.

"You have an opportunity tonight to alleviate the county's housing shortage, " said Guy Bjerke of the Home Builders Association of Northern California.

Jim Peterson of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 302 said the project would provide jobs for current and future Contra Costa residents.

"I feel its imperative that the projects being built in Contra Costa County be done by those living in the county," he said.

But critics argued that construction would destroy pristine hillsides, cause traffic nightmares and put a strain on water supplies.

"Let's be careful about how we change things," said Danville resident Tom Flood.

San Ramon's Planning Commission voted against the current development proposal, saying it would overload area traffic. Other elected officials said the development would be too big.

Supervisor Donna Gerber questioned assertions by supporters that it would provide enough affordable housing units and not contribute to traffic congestion in the region.

"It's a classic sprawl subdivision and not smart growth," Gerber said.

Tom Koch of Shapell Industries said thousands of acres of land would be preserved as open space outside the county's urban limit line.

"We've established there's a serious demand for housing," said Koch. "The housing shortage is very real and its effects are tangible."

Koch dismissed the concerns raised by Gerber and other critics as scare tactics.

"There is a sky-is-falling statement from the opposition," said Koch. "It's easy to play politics with water, with traffic with schools."

E-mail Jason B. Johnson at jbjohnson@sfchronicle.com.

###