Concord leaders disappointed that Pittsburg ordinance isn't moving forward
By Tanya Rose
Contra Costa Times
May 31, 2008
Concord leaders say they're disappointed in the city of Pittsburg's decision last week to shelve long-awaited rules on building houses on hillsides and ridgelines.
Members of the Concord City Council had worked for more than a year with their neighbor to the east on coming up with hillside development restrictions that would satisfy everyone — maintaining Pittsburg's desire to continue building within its sphere of influence and Concord's desire that the Los Medanos Hills stay beautiful.
"For us, we'd like to see the views remain clear so we're seeing hills and not rooftops," said Concord Mayor Bill Shinn. "We've seen that happen in other areas. Obviously, we'd like to see this move forward."
"At the same time, we can't tell Pittsburg what to do. We have to be respectful when interfacing with other cities."
After two years of examination, Pittsburg leaders announced May 19 that the city could not afford the $250,000 it would take to put together an environmental impact report on the ordinance. So, everything is on hold. That doesn't mean the ordinance can't be resurrected, they said, but that in these lean economic times it would be too tough to squeeze the money out of the city's general fund.
The ordinance would determine how many homes should be allowed at certain heights on the hills and which areas of land should be included. The city's municipal code already has some rules about building on the hills, and the ordinance is an attempt to make those rules more clear and precise.
Though the hills lie within Pittsburg's sphere of influence, the Los Medanos Hills are a backdrop of sorts to the entire city of Concord. What's more, environmentalists worry that building on the hills would mean even more people driving on the already-congested Highway 4, and they argue that wildlife living in the hills would lose an important corridor.
And then there's the Concord Naval Weapons Station, the 5,028-acre former military base that Concord is planning to develop, right next to those hills.
"What will that whole area be like 10 or 20 years from now?" said Kathy Gleason of the Concord Naval Weapons Station Neighborhood Alliance.
Her organization is advocating for 80 percent open space at the military base and has been fighting development on the Pittsburg hillsides as well.
"That's the question you have to ask," she said. "We're fighting development on the hillsides, but it's not like we're saying Concord gets to keep its views and then gets off the hook. We're asking for open space at the weapons station, too."
Concord Councilwoman Laura Hoffmeister, who served on the Los Medanos Hills Working Group with Shinn and Pittsburg representatives, said she understands why Pittsburg had to suspend the effort.
"Of course, we're all in the same boat with our budgets," she said. "I also think there's been a lot of progress, and we've agreed on a lot of things, so if we ever start working on this again, we'll just pick up where we left off."
She also pointed out that there are no development applications pending for the hills and that if one does come up, Concord would make its views known on the specific project.
More than a decade ago, Pittsburg approved a Discovery Builders application for San Marco, a residential development spilling up onto the hillsides.
The California Department of Fish & Game began investigating in January possible environmental infractions, and grading on the project stopped. City Engineer Joe Sbranti told the Times in April that the only permit for the project his office could find had expired at least five years ago.
Aside from that controversy, Hoffmeister said that as far as Concord is concerned, San Marco is an approved subdivision.
"It's completely separate," she said. "It's not part of our area, and we can't do anything. People sometimes forget that that project had approvals a long time ago."
Concord Councilman Guy Bjerke said while he'd like to see the ordinance pass eventually, he's loathe to attack Pittsburg for adding more cars to the freeways through development.
"I'm hesitant to criticize on that issue because we're going to do it," he said, referring to the weapons station development, which could begin as early as 2011 or 2012.
"But aesthetically, whatever's built there will be visible for the rest of our lives," he said. "Traffic can be taken care of; we can mitigate that with new roads. The actual physical buildings on the hills are what I'm more worried about.
"We want to maintain good relationships with Pittsburg," he added. "We want to resolve this to everyone's satisfaction. But that doesn't mean our bottom line may not clash with theirs."
Reporter Paul Burgarino contributed to this report. Reach Tanya Rose at 925-943-8345 or trose@bayareanewsgroup.com.