Home > Resource Center > In the News Home > Greenbelt Alliance in the News

Greenbelt Alliance In the News

July 8, 2006

Voters likely to face growth initiative

Subheading

"I don't think the votes are there to adopt it (by the supervisors)," he said at the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce's Business Issues Committee meeting. He also doesn't think there's much reason to send it to a judge.

"The only chance of a court not putting this on the ballot is if there are allegations of irregularities in the way the signatures were gathered," Reagan explained. "I hate to go to the courts unless I think I'm going to win."

Reagan expects a "robust discussion" when supervisors decide whether to adopt the initiative, send it to the November ballot, or send it to a judge. They will choose one of those options July 25, the due-date of a 30-day study examining the initiative's possible impacts.

The 35-some questions posed in the study, however, can't all possibly be answered by staff, Reagan said.

"I don't think the information exists to answer some of those questions," he said, calling on farmers and property owners to make their voices heard.

Don Pippo, a farmer present at the meeting, voiced opinion that some staff members' personal bias could interfere with their willingness or ability to provide answers.

"Your planning department deserves a grand jury investigation over all the obstacles they put in the way of good government," he told Reagan, who didn't disagree.

Growth is a hot-button issue for Solano residents.

The county's history of restricting growth in its unincorporated areas dates back to 1984; in response to the proposal of a new town north of Vacaville, voters narrowly approved Proposition A. That expired in 1994, and county supervisors passed the Orderly Growth Initiative, due to expire in 2010. The revised Orderly Growth Initiative, if passed, would expire in 2036.

Its supporters say it is an extension of the past initiative and will preserve open space and agricultural land, while the maintaining the county's quality of life. Opponents contend it has new components that will infringe upon the rights of farmers and property owners and interfere with the normal planning process.

"This is not the same thing that went to the voters in the '80s," Reagan said.

But Ernest Kimme, chairman of the Solano Orderly Growth Committee, disagrees. The only thing that's changed, he said, is where and how the county can approve low-income housing. "Everything else is really the same," he said.

The revised initiative calls for 50 percent of new development to be devoted to affordable housing - a concerning factor to some property owners interested in building additional homes for relatives. But Kimme said the initiative really aims to prevent farmland from turning into subdivisions.

"People who want to put up houses for their relatives on their property are not precluded from doing that," he said. "I've had somewhat of an issue with county staff who have made it very difficult for people to do some of these things, but that's county staff."

Another point of contention between the two sides is how it would affect the effort under way to update the county's general plan, a blueprint for land use in the unincorporated areas.

"This may in fact limit what we can decide to do in the housing element or land use element of the general plan," said Reagan.

And it leaves open the possibility of a court fight against the general plan by the orderly growth supporters, said Dan Sharp, public affairs consultant for the Vacaville Chamber. That, he said, "would mean we'd go through a three- to four-year general plan (update) process for nothing."

But Kimme said the intent behind the revised initiative was to have something in place before the current initiative expires, and "to lay the foundation for the general plan update."

"The idea that this is some sort of sneaky way to interfere with the general plan - I certainly don't think that's the intention, in any way," said Amanda Brown Stevens, Greenbelt Alliance representative. "There's a lot of land at risk for sprawl development if the current orderly growth initiative expires," she said.

The Chamber's Business Issues Committee voted unanimously to oppose the revised initiative, based upon its 30-year time frame, insertion of changes, and lack of public discussion. The Chamber's board is expected to support the decision.

"Whatever your position on this is, I just encourage that we actively engage in some public debate," said Suisun City Mayor and Supervisor-elect Jim Spering.

A press release issued Friday by the county administrator's office said the revised initiative is available for review at www.solanocounty.com.

Amanda Janis can be reached business@thereporter.com .

###