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A pair of regional planning commissions tasked with dealing with development in the unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County will cease to exist, following the decision by the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday not to extend the charter of the bodies.

At issue are the East County and San Ramon Valley Regional Planning Commissions. The two bodies were created to work locally with developments in unincorporated areas. According to Conservation and Development Director Catherine Kutsuris, the workloads of these commissions have decreased as towns became incorporated and began to handle their own planning duties.

The two commissions normally come up for renewal every four years, but last year District 3 Supervisor Mary N. Piepho suggested a one-year renewal. Piepho said her reasoning was that Alamo was in the midst of an incorporation debate and if Alamo became a town, then there would be even less need for the commission.

Incorporation was defeated, however the board did approve the creation of a Municipal Advisory Council for Alamo. A county committee earlier this year had recommended that if a MAC were created, that planning chores for Alamo could be handled by the County Planning Commission. Both commissions faced an Oct. 6 sunset date, unless the board approved an extension.

Kutsuris said that both the County Planning Commission and the East County Regional Planning Commission recommended allowing the sunset to take place for both commissions due to the decreased workload. Several Alamo residents as well as members of the San Ramon Valley Regional Planning Commission requested that it be granted the extension.

Resident Michael Cameron said that with the MAC just being established, it made more sense to keep the commission in order to see just how the two would function together.

“I would move slowly,” Cameron suggested. “I would think you’d want to leave a planning agency in place for an unspecified amount of time.”

Former County Supervisor Eric Hazeltine addressed the board, saying that the time has come to allow the regional commissions to expire. Hazeltine said that there are two San Ramon area representatives on the County Planning Commission so there is local representation. He added that the argument of leaving Alamo as is no longer is effective.

“The community of Alamo has had the chance on more than one occasion to take control and they’ve voted it down,” he stated. “It’s time to let the area planning commissions sunset.”

Supervisors discussed the issue, with the conversation circling around the declining workload coupled with the need to streamline county government in the face of ongoing financial cutbacks.

District 2 Supervisor Gayle Uilkema said she understands how a community may want “their own” planning commission, but the fact remains that the situation in Contra Costa County is changing and so must county government.

“Things change, times change and I think the message we are receiving is that governments need to change,” she said.

Supervisors voted 5-0 not to extend the sunset date for both commissions, with the proviso that they would craft a policy where meetings of the Planning Commission dealing with local area issues would be held in those areas, in order to allow residents a chance to be a part of the process without having to travel to Martinez for the meeting.

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9 Comments

  1. While I agree that over development is definately not in the interest of our community. We need to justify our reasoning instead of bashing groups of people. All types of people deserve to have a nice place to live and raise a family.

  2. Hey Rick, Reviewing your last 3 or 4 comments on various subjects…you tend to stray into a angry mode. No offense, but I think you may need some “Anger Management Classes”.

  3. Let’s sit back and see who Mary Piepho selects for the MAC, and more importantly, who she overlooks. That will tell the story…

  4. Anger is the natural reaction of a man who feels his town is being invaded by criminals and other threats to his family. This is not about taxes or politics. To me, this is about making sure that there’s not another innocent murdered kid in my community. Rylan Fuchs died at the hands of, for lack of a better word, a liberal agenda. This makes me furious. And I’ll tell ya one thing, my anger has served me well.

  5. One final thing. You’re right Kathy that everyone deserves a nice safe place to live. However that is not accomplished by bringing crime into the last bastion of safety in contra costa

  6. Rick…correct me if I’m wrong but I think the weekly removed your comments about the planning commission. If that’s correct, that’s wrong.
    BTW, I hear you and I hope a lot of others wake up and smell the rose’s or they won’t wake up at all.

  7. Actually, anger is considered a secondary emotion. It usually is a result of fear, ignorance, or self-consciousness. Really, look it up!

  8. Reader, where’d you learn that, in the Idiot’s Guide to Psychobabble? Why don’t you just neuter yourself and be done with it

    Leonard, thanks for the pep talk. These libs do a good job of making me feel sometimes like only people I know agree with me. Every time someone I don’t know gets my back, I realize more and more that I’m not crazy. For that, you have my endless appreciation

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