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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

September 29, 2005

Groups unite against urban-limit measures

Environmentalists oppose initiatives that will expand city limits and allow development

CONCORD — A group of environmental organizations launched a campaign Wednesday to fight two urban-limit measures they dubbed "phony growth control initiatives" in the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg.

Save Mount Diablo and local chapters of the Greenbelt Alliance, Sierra Club, Audubon Society and Native Plant Society banned together to oppose the initiatives they say would increase traffic woes and harm the environment.

"The developers' Measure K in Antioch and Seeno's Measure P in Pittsburg are nothing more than deceptive bait-and-switch initiatives," said David Reid, Greenbelt Alliance's East Bay field representative. "They promise growth control but what they deliver is thousands of new houses."

Measure K in Antioch would annex about 1,050 acres of land, allow 700 homes to be built on the Roddy Ranch development and require the developer to contribute funds toward Highway 4 bypass and Vasco Road improvements, the Antioch Unified School District and the city, according to the city attorneys initiative summary.

Measure K is a thoughtful, forward-looking balanced approach to traffic, growth and our quality of life, states the argument in favor of its passage that is signed by Mayor Don Freitas and others.

Measure P in Pittsburg, backed by developer Albert Seeno III, would expand Pittsburgs urban-limit line by

1,372 acres to allow about 1,700 new homes, while setting aside 821 acres for open space and providing $30 million for the Buchanan Road and San Marco bypasses, said Sam Singer, spokesman for Seeno.

Measure P really is about smart growth that provides limits on development, creates permanent open space, reduces traffic problems and ensures Pittsburg has a say in its own future, he said.

But the environmental representatives contend the new homes identified in the initiatives, along with those already approved by east-county cities but not yet constructed, will spell disaster for roadways.

Thousands of new houses means tens of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of new car trips, said Mike Daley, Sierra Clubs San Francisco Bay chapter conservation director. Traffic congestion is a major environmental problem in Contra Costa County and this exacerbates that problem 10-fold in east Contra Costa County.

Both measures are slated to appear on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. Passage of voter-approved urban-limit lines are required for each city and the county to receive funds under Measure J, a half-cent transportation tax.

Earlier this year, talks between the countys 19 cities and the Board of Supervisors to find a mutually agreeable line fell apart, leaving each entity — or outside agency — free to place its own urban-limit line on the ballot.

The Board of Supervisors is slated to put is own initiative on a ballot in 2006 and other cities might elect to join.

In addition to the initiatives in Antioch and Pittsburg, Brentwood will have Measure L on the November 2005 ballot, although Save Mount Diablo has worked with the backers to reach agreeable terms.

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