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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

November 8, 2002

Business park use approved in FUA-1

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The Economic Development Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and several individuals have pushed officials to reserve more than the existing 108 acres within Future Urban Area No. 1 for business parks. But until Wednesday's meeting, the Planning Commission balked at substituting business park land for homes in any of the properties.

By a 5-2 vote, the commission defeated a proposal to leave the Williamson property as a purely residential area for 435 single families. Commissioners Joe Weber and F. Tom Berglund voted for keeping the 93 acres a housing development.

Then, by a 4-3 vote, the commission carved out 35 acres of the Williamson property along Hillcrest Avenue for business and commercial uses. Commissioners Weber, Berglund and Reggie Moore voted against the measure.

Moore has vigorously opposed the development plans for the future urban area and also previously advocated reducing the number of homes and adding business park land to the Williamson property. At the Oct. 16 meeting, Moore and Williamson developer Eric Hasseltine had a heated exchange over making more of the Williamson land a business park.

Moore said Wednesday his vote was a stand for reducing the overall number of homes on the Williamson land to ensure the homes remaining are on lots of at least 7,500 square feet.

"I wasn't in favor of the plan being adopted currently. I decided to stand on my principles and try to strike the best deal for the public," Moore said.

Throughout the hearings on the nearly five square miles in the future urban area, Hasseltine has argued passionately for keeping the Williamson land residential.

Hasseltine, a virtual fixture at meetings on the future urban area, was conspicuously absent at this week's Planning Commission meeting.

Setting aside the business park land at the eastern edge of the Williamson property addressed school district concerns about a planned elementary school there. School officials said putting business park land along Sand Creek Road could force the district to move the school north. That would have put the planned school closer to Diablo Vista Elementary School, which is about a quarter-mile away from the planned school site.

Proposed uses for other landowners' properties passed easily, including keeping the 108-acre the Ginocchio-Nunn property reserved for a business park.

The commission stopped short of recommending that the City Council certify the environmental impact report. Instead, it was forwarded to the council for consideration.

The latest version of the report includes a consultant's responses to the hundreds of pages of public comments on it. Speakers at Wednesday's meeting repeatedly pointed to missing responses to comments on the environmental report. Janette Schue, an attorney representing the East Bay Regional Park District, along with Brad Olson, the district's environmental programs manager, said more than a third of the district's comments have not been answered.

Elinor Buchen, a Greenbelt Alliance representative, also asserted the report is incomplete and should not be certified.

Antioch resident Terry Ramus, co-author of Measure U, the city's growth-management measure, urged the Planning Commission to make its decision based on what the city's residents envision.

He was joined by Measure U co-author Tom McNell, residents Sherry Starks and Kent Bickford who all urged against recommending certifying the report until it is complete. Plans for the 2,700-acre development area will be considered next by the City Council at its Nov. 26 meeting.

Reach Jane Ramsey at 925-779-7169 or jramsey@cctimes.com.

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