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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

June 5, 2005

Nunns, Seenos float own limit line

The Nunns, long-time farmers and developers, filed paperwork late Wednesday with Brentwood's city clerk to put an urban limit line initiative on the ballot.

The Seeno family, also developers, filed similar papers Thursday in Pittsburg and environmental groups in Antioch are expected to launch an initiative drive this week.

The flurry of activity comes after a lull in nine months of negotiations over a line all the cities and the county can agree on. Contra Costa's 19 cities have consistently united behind a plan to expand the boundary, beyond which no development would be allowed. Supervisors and environmental groups want the line to stay where it has been since 2000.

The current line expires in 2008, and all the cities and the county must create a new countywide line or approve individual lines in order to receive millions of dollars for transportation improvements from Contra Costa's half-cent sales tax.

By starting the initiative, the Seenos, Nunns and environmentalists are effectively skirting the countywide process, which is widely seen to have failed.

All three groups have a lot to gain: The families could earn millions from housing development proposals and the environmentalists could walk away from a victory with significantly enhanced political clout.

The Nunns' ballot measure would expand the line only around Brentwood; the Seenos' would circle around Pittsburg and the line proposed by the Greenbelt Alliance and Citizens for a Better Antioch would apply only to Antioch.

If Brentwood voters approve, the Nunns' proposal would enlarge the boundary around Brentwood in four places by about 1,700 acres.

The Nunns either own or have an interest in about half of the land they want inside the urban limit line.

"We're the largest single landowner affected by this. We feel a need to protect Brentwood," said Bob Nunn, who runs the family business with his father, Ron.

The land would support more than 2,800 houses in low-density developments, nearly 8,500 jobs in commercially zoned areas and include about 400 acres of open space, according to city documents.

The family has farmed land around Brentwood for more than 100 years and has built several local housing developments.

"I think most people in Brentwood are pretty happy with what we've done," Nunn said. "If the Brentwood citizens decide that this is inappropriate, I think that's wonderful, but I think it's time for them to speak for themselves rather than having the Board of Supervisors dictate to us how we should grow."

To get the initiative on a special election ballot in November -- if one is called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- the Nunns need to collect signatures of about 2,800 city voters by July 7, said interim City Clerk Cindy Garcia.

If they miss the deadline, they can request another special election or wait until the next regularly scheduled contest in 2006.

While Brentwood officials haven't taken an official position on the Nunns' initiative, it closely parallels the urban limit line expansions they've been fighting for since the countywide talks began last October.

The one exception is a roughly 200-acre parcel at the southwest intersection of Marsh Creek and Vasco roads that the city had requested and then retreated from. The Nunns' proposal leaves that land outside the urban limit line.

The expansions would allow developers to build houses and businesses in areas that are now off-limits, but would also result in longed-for improvements of Sand Creek Road and Sellers Avenue, Balfour and Deer Valley roads and the construction of a Hillcrest Avenue extension linking Balfour Road with Lone Tree Way, according to the initiative.

Those improvements are "key selling points," Nunn said.

Seeno's proposal also closely mirrors areas that Pittsburg officials sought during the countywide urban limit line talks. It would add 2,400 acres inside the line in five areas, supporting 1,705 houses.

"I made a choice to move forward on our own initiative ... because we're a majority landowner in the city and I felt a little anxious to get this started," said Albert Seeno III.

The Seenos own 600 acres in the southwestern San Marco Hills area, which they propose to move inside the line. And while the rest of their proposal affects other landowners' properties, the Seeno family is the initiative's only official backer.

"We're just doing it ourselves," Seeno said. "I'll do anything I can for my interests and do anything I can for the city to work with me on this and whoever else wants to come along is welcome to jump on board."

To qualify for a November special election, the Seenos need to collect about 3,500 signatures from registered voters.

The Nunn and the Seeno initiatives are similar in their justifications for expanding development areas and share much of the same language, although Seeno said the two families are not coordinating.

Both proposals state that the residents of each town "know what is best for their city, and the residents of other Contra Costa County cities and unincorporated areas should have no control over the future of our City."

While the Seeno and Nunn proposals parallel city plans to expand the line in Pittsburg and Brentwood, the Greenbelt Alliance and Citizens for a Better Antioch measure would hold in place the current urban limit line around Antioch.

The environmentalist plan is at odds with Antioch's long-running campaign to bring inside the line 500 acres around the Roddy Ranch Golf Course and the Ginochio property south of town.

The initiative would also change zoning in the 2,700-acre Sand Creak area to allow one house per 40 acres. The area is now inside the urban limit line.

"We don't expect to have support from the City Council for our initiative. Most of the people in Antioch already know the City Council position on growth and I think lot of people disagree with it," said David Reid of the Greenbelt Alliance.

"These campaigns will be heavily fought. Nobody will give up easily on this," Reid said.

Indeed, Antioch Mayor Don Freitas angrily condemned the alliance and its ballot proposal.

"David Reid wants to stop all growth in Antioch," Freitas said. "This is a San Francisco group trying to force San Francisco-style high-density development on the people of Antioch."

Freitas described the countywide talks as a "death march" and said the city might sponsor an urban limit line ballot measure of its own to compete with the environmentalists' proposal.

"I think it unfortunate that we don't have a mutually agreed-upon urban limit line that all the voters in the county can vote on.

"We've agreed to disagree, and we'll go to the voters and have the voters make the decisions."

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Kiley Russell covers growth and development. Reach him at 925-952-5027 or krussell@cctimes.com.

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