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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
February 5, 2004 Housing ordinance just the beginning
Editorial BylineWalnut Creek is one of the most livable cities in the state, but the question that plagues city leaders, residents and residents-to-be is: where to live? The median Walnut Creek household income is $71,683 -- slightly lower than county and state averages. But Walnut Creek has very high housing costs, with a median single family home price of $635,000 and a median condominium or townhouse sales price of $335,000. "It is a quality place to live, and you pay for it," City Manager Mike Parness told the City Council this week. "That has significant implications." To its credit, the city staff worked for months on drafting an "inclusionary" housing ordinance that the council adopted Tuesday night -- with wide support from members of the Greenbelt Alliance, the Nonprofit Housing Association, and the Home Builders Association of Northern California. Walnut Creek joins Brentwood, Danville, Hercules, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, and San Ramon in adopting an inclusionary housing ordinance. Concord is drafting one now. The next question that comes up though, is where to put the housing. Also Tuesday night, the council wisely nixed a proposal for a nearly 200-unit condo and apartment complex on a prime spot in the Shadelands office park, at the corner of Oak Grove and Ygnacio Valley roads. It would have been easy to just say yes in the zeal to provide affordable housing, but as a community, we have to be thoughtful. That location is just plain bad for such a high-density complex. There is no easy answer. Yes, the area around the BART station is great for mixed-use and residential developments, but we also need to build single-family residences. The infill pockets in town are dwindling. And we have to look at consequences to our schools, one of the best assets this community has to offer. This is just the beginning of what promises to a long and contentious
process -- essentially civic growing pains -- as we try and figure out
how to best retain our community's character over the coming months and
years. If you have good ideas, let the city know about it by getting involved
in the General Plan process. Visit the city's Web site at http://www.ci.walnut-creek.ca.us/generalplan
for more information. ### |
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