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Press ReleaseDecember 7, 2004 Contact: Greenbelt Alliance
Aims to Establish Vacaville Urban Limit Line with Settlement of Lagoon
Valley Lawsuit Subheading Vacaville—Greenbelt Alliance has reached a precedent-setting legal settlement with the City of Vacaville and Triad Communities that will establish an urban limit line to protect lands around the City of Vacaville. In exchange, Greenbelt Alliance will drop its legal challenge against a proposed development in Vacaville's Lower Lagoon Valley. "Greenbelt Alliance would prefer to see Lagoon Valley as protected open space. However, we could only delay the project, not stop it, so we decided to focus on longer-term planning for land protection," said Brent Schoradt, Solano-Napa Field Representative for Greenbelt Alliance. Lagoon Valley's development was approved in 1991. The referenda on the March 2005 ballot, if passed, would send the developers back to the drawing board on the 2004 project, not stop development entirely. The settlement will reduce the scale and negative impacts of the Lagoon Valley project and establish an urban limit line that will control growth around Vacaville for the next twenty years. Greenbelt Alliance estimates that the urban limit line will protect 30,000 acres of natural areas and working farms. "The urban limit line will help protect the productive farmlands and wildlife habitat in Upper Lagoon Valley, Vaca Valley and Pleasants Valley," said Schoradt. The settlement agreement is expected to generate several million dollars for conservation easements in these valleys. The three valleys are home to prime agricultural land, but they could be the next targets for development once Lower Lagoon Valley is developed. The urban limit line and the conservation easements will help to prevent their development, and will create a permanent greenbelt of protected land on Vacaville's western boundary. ### For 50 years, Greenbelt Alliance has been the San Francisco Bay Area's advocate for open spaces and vibrant places, with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Fairfield, and Santa Rosa. www.greenbelt.org
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