WITH
A UNANIMOUS VOTE FROM THE RICHMOND PLANNING COMMISSION
TO RETAIN THE "HILLSIDE
ORDINANCE"
THE
CLARK ROAD (RESIDENTIAL) PROJECT SEEMED STILLED
UNTIL NOW (as of 7/2007)
HOWEVER if
Canyon Oaks 2 (CO2) goes through as is, because it discards
restrictions on clear-cutting hundreds
of trees, over-grading steep slopes, and more, it
could negate the Hillside Ordinance by establishing
precedents. The next applicant (Forest Green, Clark
Road, and others) could simply point to CO2, and
say, "You can't say no to us now." A revised
(final) version of the Forest
Green E.I.R. (Environmental
Impact Report) is discussed below which still proposes
putting 120 homes on 80 PLUS stream & forested
acres along the western boundary of Clark Road (trail).
As taxpayers, why oppose this EIR? Even
subdivisions that are built on stable ground become a burden
on municipal
taxpayers. Prop. 13 adjusted tax rates so that subdivisions
actually cause a net loss in municipal revenue because
of fire, police, and other services, expensive infrastructure
repairs and maintenance.
Let's call for a complete financial
analysis of the burden on the tax-paying citizens of
Richmond from this proposal if it were to be built. The
temporary
fix of development and resale fees resembles solving
problems with coffee, alcohol or drugs.
This Forest Green proposal is an over-built,
over-complicated, public-relations cover for land speculation.
They hope to obtain approval in order to sell it to various
developers. This EIR proposal, if certified and then approved,
would carve away most of this beautiful 81 acre site. It
would put in over 7.5 acres of roads, remove, retransport
and replace tons of soil, modifying most of the site and
requiring many seasons of massive earth moving which contributes
to global warming.
There have been no genuine efforts at
compromise with community stakeholders and stewards.
We should be talking sense and mediation.
The EIR has
an
alternate
proposal of 90 homes, a 25% reduction. Cut that in
half to 43 homes (i.e. the bottom two northern segments
of the proposal
map), and allow Muir Heritage Land Trust to purchase
the remainder above, and this authentic compromise
could
gain
public support.
