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

Greenbelt Alliance In the News

November 19, 2002

Vaca planners consider reports that urge compact strategy

Subheading

Two land-use reports urging the city to meet future housing needs without developing huge tracts of surrounding open space will be the topic of discussion tonight among city planning leaders.
Both reports push alternatives to the Vacaville's proposed visioning plan, which calls for the annexation of 4,000 acres during the next two decades to meet state-mandated housing goals of 12,400 additional units.

Ron Rowland, community development director, will discuss how the reports relate to the city's planning documents that are in front of the Planning Commission - which meets at 7:30 p.m. at the City Council Chamber, 650 Merchant St.

Since 1990, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has been considering how the Bay Area can best accommodate an anticipated increase in residents - estimates say more than million people - and jobs by the year 2020. ABAG's report, titled "Smart Growth Strategy: Regional Livability Project," was released in October.

The report, Rowland explained in documents for the commission, urges communities to become more compact - with jobs and housing in proximity - allowing residents to work near where they live. As an example of its "smart growth" strategy, ABAG encouraged development of three- and four-story commercial and mixed-use buildings along portions of the Interstate 80 corridor that bisect Vacaville.
To implement its vision, ABAG has agreed to legislative incentives and regulatory changes at the federal, state, and local levels - such as changes in the property tax system and infrastructure funding.

The other report, created by the Greenbelt Alliance, a Bay Area-based conservation group, also suggests the city focus growth inward instead of outward, sparing what they consider valuable farm lands and open space.

The report - "Vacaville at a Crossroad: The path to smart growth or the highway to sprawl?" - was released last week. Its vision for Vacaville says the city should develop vacant or underutilized land within existing city limits.

The report pushes high-density housing, such as apartments and townhouses on unused plots. The report also suggests redeveloping commercial areas, such as the Factory Stores, as mixed-use projects with residential on the upper floors.

Open space advocates hope to sway the City Council when the five-member group resumes visioning plan talks early next year.

Rowland said the city is not adverse to infill development, but argued that annexation of unincorporated lands is needed to satisfy the mandated housing burden.

"While Greenbelt Alliance has characterized this annexation component as 'sprawl,' we see the potential for new, vibrant residential neighborhoods," Rowland explained.

In the city's vision statement, about 1,500 acres west of town along Pleasants Valley Road near I-80 would be annexed to build a golf course, corporate offices and 1,300 luxury homes. Another 1,400 acres east of the city at Leisure Town Road along I-80 would be annexed for a similar project.

The vision statement also proposes building a loop road system around the city to serve the projects that would be built on the annexed land.

Kevin Clerici can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.

###