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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

October 19, 2004

Triad scales back development plan

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Triad Communities submitted a tentative map to the Vacaville Planning Department late last week which proposes building 730 houses and a combination of highway commercial and office business park uses covering up to 5 million square feet.

This fits the specific plan that the Vacaville City Council approved in 1991 and throws a new twist into the struggle over Triad's original plans to build more than 1,300 homes in the valley.

Triad Communities did not return calls for comment on the matter Monday.

Triad had proposed building 1,325 homes, a golf course, offices and shops in Lagoon Valley. Its supporters, which included the Vacaville City Council, said this would provide the city with needed executive housing.

Opponents, who want to keep the semi-rural valley undeveloped or at least get more of a say in the development, fought the plan by pushing two petitions before the Vacaville City Council.

The first petition put a city council decision to change the city's specific plan on the ballot. The council had changed the plan so it conformed with Triad's Lagoon Valley project.

The second petition put the council's decision to allow the development to go forward on the March 8 ballot.

City planners are presently reviewing the tentative map to see if it's complete. They are also looking at how a lawsuit by the Greenbelt Alliance will affect this map.

The lawsuit is asking for a judge to overturn the City Council's June 22 decision to approve zoning changes and a development agreement with Triad to build the 1,300-home subdivision.

"We would not expect to go to hearings before the new year," City Planner Scott Sexton said.

The new proposal also includes a request for a density bonus, which would allow them to build more houses as long as they are restricted to low-income, moderate-income or senior housing.

Opponents of Triad's original plans for Lagoon Valley were surprised by the move.

"They are trying to wiggle their way out of what is on the ballot," said Brent Schoradt, Solano representative for Greenbelt Alliance. "The project as proposed is not palatable to the public."

The change "is a little suspicious," Marion Conning of Friends of Lagoon Valley said.

"I hope that everything about this is open and above board," Conning said.

According to Conning, Triad officials stated earlier that building a development following the 1991 plan doesn't fiscally pencil out because of the high costs of putting in the needed sewer, water and other infrastructure.

"They said they couldn't do anything smaller," Conning said of the 1,300-home plan. "The plan was not economically viable then and it's not viable now. Maybe something else is going on."

The 1991 plan was dependent on both Kaiser and the Bank of America building large facilities there. When that didn't happen, the development fell through and the developer went bankrupt.

Schoradt would like to see Triad "reach out more to the public" to find out what Vacaville residents want from development in Lagoon Valley.

Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.

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