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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

July 1, 2004

Antioch rethinks expansion, chucks Sand Creek blueprint

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The City Council on Tuesday night agreed to discard the Sand Creek Specific Plan, a blueprint to guide development of the area, which has been in the works for years. The swath, called Future Urban Area No. 1, is essentially the city's last frontier for development, extending over two valleys and stretching south to grassy sloping hills.

The plan called for up to 4,000 houses, about half of which would have been for seniors, and about 100 acres of office space and light manufacturing.

"I am trying to be reflective of the community's sentiment, and they are angry and upset and they want change," Mayor Donald Freitas said Wednesday. "They equate any new house to another car on Highway 4."

Plans for developing FUA-1 have encountered steadfast opposition from environmentalists and some residents for more than two years.

But city leaders said their change of heart was spurred by a June referendum that rescinded a council-approved project for 240 apartments and a business center in southeastern Antioch. The vote persuaded them that plans for FUA-1 would also be overturned.

Residents opposing the apartment complex complained that more units would add to their grueling commutes and crowded schools. Residents resisting the FUA-1 development plans have cited many of the same concerns.

Hans Ho, one of the organizers of the apartment project referendum, said he was shocked by how far-reaching its implications have been.

"The council is finally listening to the people who think that they ought to drastically put the brakes on development," Ho said.

Skeptics contend that the council's sudden about-face is nothing but a ploy to ensure that the two councilmen whose terms expire this year and the mayor are re-elected in November.

"Our concern is that they are basically putting this back up on the shelf until after the November election, in which case they will take it off and hope that citizens have drifted off into other things," said David Reid of the Greenbelt Alliance.

The council seats for members Arne Simonsen, Brian Kalinowski and Mayor Donald Freitas expire in December. Kalinowski was the only council member to state opposition to FUA-1 before this week. He has argued that Highway 4 improvements should come first.

Simonsen said this week that the city had no other option but to scratch the plan with residents' frustrations over growth running so high. But he added that the city would benefit more if there was a plan guiding FUA-1's development.

"Obviously, it's better to have a master plan than to piecemeal things, but it's become such a political hot potato," Simonsen said.

Councilman Jim Conley raised the topic of FUA-1 during a discussion about the city's finances at the council meeting Tuesday. He instructed city staff members not to spend any more time working on the FUA-1 plan or its environmental review. The matter was not on the agenda, so the council didn't take a vote.

Dave Walters of Citizens for a Better Antioch, a group that formed two years ago to oppose FUA-1, was elated by the council's decision.

"I think it's absolutely marvelous," Walters said. "It will allow people with much greater vision to come forth and make proposals."

To raise awareness about FUA-1, Walters has guided hiking tours of the area, pointing out the environmentally sensitive parts that have underground mines and uncommon wildlife.

The shift in course delays development in FUA-1 but doesn't mean that building will not occur there.

Construction of a Kaiser hospital, which was approved separately, is under way.

Freitas and Conley maintain, though, that no housing, other than possibly senior homes, would be approved in FUA-1 until Highway 4 is widened.

"Before anyone in FUA-1 is going to get a building permit, they are going to have to have some pretty strong public support," Conley said. "That could be years.

Reach Sarah Krupp at 925-779-7166 or skrupp@cctimes.com.

DISCARDED PLAN

The draft master plan for Future Urban Area No. 1 included:

* Up to 4,000 houses (2,188 of those for seniors)

* 242 acres of commercial and retail space

* A 33-acre sports park

* A 185-acre golf course

* A 218-acre trail system

* 486 acres of open space

Source: City of Antioch

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