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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

April 10, 2005

Don't try to prevent the inevitable

Editorial

On Thursday, Friends of Lagoon Valley rallied various news organizations together for a press conference to announce it sued the city of Vacaville to halt the plans to convert much of the lower valley into homes, offices and a golf course.

At the heart of the suit is an effort by the group to force the city to more closely conform to the city's General Plan that was adopted back in 1991. Friends of Lagoon Valley hope to halt the construction of more than 1,000 homes, about 700,000 square feet of office space within an 11-acre town center and 54-acre business park, plus a 240-acre golf course.

Vacaville entered an agreement with Triad Communities of Seattle to develop the property. The city is confident that this latest suit has no merit. A spokesperson was not surprised at the lawsuit, but believes the city followed the General Plan and all pertinent laws during its negotiations with Triad.

The Greenbelt Alliance, one of the more contentious organizations when it comes to development and the environment, talked about suing the city to stop development. But even the Greenbelt Alliance stepped back on this one.

Brent Schoradt, an Alliance representative, admitted that all its legal advice suggested "it couldn't stop the project." The group, instead, decided to work with the city for some concessions, several of which it received.

Under the Lagoon Valley plan, the city agreed with the Greenbelt Alliance to provide additional land for Lagoon Valley Park, 71 acres, plus no-development zones in other rural parts of Vacaville, including Vaca, Pleasants and upper Lagoon valleys.

If the Greenbelt Alliance could find insufficient legal flaws in the development plans offered by the city and Triad, it's hard to believe that the Friends of Lagoon Valley are going to find much success with this latest lawsuit.

Perhaps the best advice is for the Friends to follow the Greenbelt Alliance's lead. Sit down at the table with the city and Triad to fine-tune the Lagoon Valley master plan.

Like it or not, it appears Lagoon Valley will be developed.

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