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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

January 9, 2003

Voters may rule on growth boundaries

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FAIRFIELD - Voters in November may be asked to decide whether to lock in the city's newly adopted growth boundaries through 2020.

The City Council set the new boundaries last year when it adopted a new General Plan. No longer are the areas north of Travis Air Force Base targeted for about 7,800 homes and middle Green Valley farmland targeted for about 1,200 homes.

As things stand, a future City Council could change these new growth boundaries by a majority vote. A successful voter initiative would prevent revisions unless approved by voters.

Resident Vern Van Buskirk, a long-time champion of voter-approved city boundaries, filed with the county to circulate the petition to qualify the initiative for the ballot. Proponents have gathered signatures at supermarkets and other locations for weeks.

One goal of the initiative is to keep Travis off base closure lists by guaranteeing subdivisions cannot be built at its boundaries. Another is to preserve farmland in Suisun and Green valleys.

But Van Buskirk's petition is already causing concerns in such quarters as the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce, though the chamber has yet to take a position. Some people fear a successful ballot measure could hurt Fairfield by taking away the City Council's flexibility to deal with new planning issues. Whether the petition touches off another battle in the city's long-running growth wars remains to be seen.

Proponents need about 4,000 signatures from registered Fairfield voters by April 22 to place a measure on the November ballot, Van Buskirk said. They have about 3,400 and the goal is 7,600, to make certain enough are valid, he said.

Van Buskirk said the initiative and General Plan it mirrors are not "no growth."

"The current plan, which is what we are endorsing, calls for another 33,000 people," Van Buskirk said.

"You'll probably still get people who scream, 'That's no growth.' " Fairfield could still build another 11,000 homes, Buskirk said.

Also, the council can put changes to the initiative before voters any time it wishes, Van Buskirk said.
The initiative would do three things: lock in the current urban limit line, keep new housing out of areas where Travis planes cause average of 60 decibels or more of noise and reserve land near the base for future base expansion. All are in the new General Plan. "It's very, very simple," Van Buskirk said.

City Councilman Jack Batson favors locking in the new growth boundaries with the initiative.
He believes most of Fairfield favors the new growth plan, Batson said. Still, he can foresee opposition arising to a ballot measure.

"We have extremely powerful growth advocates," Batson said. "They can inundate the media with information and fight quite effectively." He hopes a successful initiative will end the growth wars, Batson said.

Resident Dale Baumler was a chief spokesman opposing a similar ballot measure in 1997. He also opposes the latest effort. The new General Plan protects Travis, Baumler said. But a successful initiative would take away the City Council's flexibility to respond to changing situations, he said.

For example, the Defense Department might close other bases and decide to put new missions and 3,000 more people at Travis, Baumler said. Under the initiative, the City Council won't be able to expand city boundaries to find room for the extra housing, he said. "They'll be locked in," Baumler said.

The Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying preserving Travis is of paramount importance to the community. But it does have reservations about petitions that mix land use with base protection.

It's uncertain what would happen if the General Plan were to remain dormant for 18 years, the statement said. That limits Fairfield's ability to plan for the future and adjust to planning issues as they change, it said.

The chamber wants to make certain the petition represents the best interest of Travis and the community before taking a position, the statement said.

Fairfield has a history of ballot box growth measure battles.

A 1997 growth boundary initiative narrowly failed at the ballot, getting 49.8 percent of the vote. Some landowners, the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce and other opponents waged a tough campaign against the measure.

In 1999, some opponents of that first initiative launched a measure of their own. They sold it as helping to preserve a greenbelt around Fairfield. Such groups as the Greenbelt Alliance said it actually opened the door to more development.

Voters rejected it by almost a 9-1 margin. They subsequently elected a City Council that favors growth restrictions near Travis and Green Valley.

Having voters lock in growth boundaries around cities is not a new idea. The Greenbelt Alliance promotes the concept. Napa voters overwhelmingly passed a measure for their city in 1999. The building industry has said growth boundaries can increase housing costs by limiting supply.

Proponents are gathering signatures for the initiative in supermarket parking lots and other locations on weekends. People who want to sign can also call Van Buskirk at 422-9399.

Barry Eberling can be contacted at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

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