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As Contra Costa County officials look at preliminary plans for a large scale development in the Tassajara Valley, leaders from San Ramon and Danville met recently with District 3 County Supervisor Mary N. Piepho to discuss what they each believe should be the future of the land between the two jurisdictions.
At a Nov. 6 meeting, Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich and Town Manager Joe Calabrigo met with San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson and Vice Mayor David Hudson to lay out what each municipality believes their sphere of influence should include and how that could affect the Tassajara Valley.
Supervisor Piepho said that the county is involved at two levels. First, the Board of Supervisors has approved a general plan amendment study in regards to the 771-acre New Farm proposal that has been discussed over the past few years. New Farm would reportedly be a mix of agricultural and residential development that would adhere to the low density requirements for properties outside the Urban Limit Line.
“We want to see the area preserved and protected as the rural environment that it is,” said Piepho. “Large lots. If you look at an overview there’s a lot of horse property out there.”
Piepho said that the county is keeping a wary eye on encroaching development from Alameda County and officials are very interested in how development, if any, will occur in that area.
The other involvement by the county is through the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). LAFCO will be the arbiter in regards to how the Danville’s and San Ramon’s Spheres of Influence are decided. Both towns have asked that their SOI be expanded to include portions of the Tassajara Valley.
In order to get a read on where the towns stand, Piepho said the meeting was held for both towns to discuss the issue.
“It was just a first meeting,” she explained. “We didn’t expect any outcomes of it. The parties putting down what their jurisdiction’s interests were.”
Danville Town Manager Joe Calabrigo said that he was pleased with the session, and the opportunity to get to know more of where San Ramon stood on the issue.
“We sat there and sort of talked about each others’ respective processes that are coming up with regard to general plan updates and the like,” Calabrigo stated. “Everyone now understands fairly clearly what each other’s positions are.”
For Danville, the issue comes down to maintaining the Urban Limit Line and controlling growth and the attendant traffic it would generate coming up Camino Tassajara and into Danville.
“The position that our council has taken,” Calabrigo said, “is they support the countywide urban limit line. At the same time, we’re intrigued by the New Farm proposal because what we understand is they are looking at the existing general plan and types of uses that can occur out there.”
He added that if the project could be achieved in the manner described, it could become an agricultural buffer between Danville and the suburbanized towns to the east.
San Ramon Vice Mayor David Hudson said he felt the meeting was a good one, as it allowed them the opportunity to set the record straight on what plans, if any, there are regarding that area.
“It was never our intention to change anything or build anything,” he asserted. “It was just to connect the dots. You don’t take a vote on an urban growth boundary if it’s not in your SOI.”
In 2010, San Ramon will be going to the voters to update its general plan, and current planning expands the growth boundary to the Tassajara Valley. Hudson said that their request for a change in the SOI is predicated on what the voters approved for the general plan and what the city needs to have done in order to meet with the voters’ wishes.
“The Sphere of Influence doesn’t mean a thing,” he stated. “Dougherty Valley is in our SOI and we haven’t built a thing out there.”
Hudson said that San Ramon has no connection with the New Farm proposal, and does not know if such a development would be given the green light were it within their sphere of influence.
“The city does not propose any development in the Tassajara Valley. We don’t have anything in our general plan that says go out to Tassajara and build,” he said. He added, “The city’s Urban Limit Line is more restrictive than the county’s.”
Hudson said they are hopeful that a decision from LAFCO will resolve the SOI issue. If it doesn’t? “We’ll have to ask our voters if they want to accept a plan for an area not within our planning area.”
No consensus was reached between the two municipalities with regards to spheres of influence, but Piepho said she felt the meeting was good and gave some hope of compromise.
“I think there’s definitely room for middle ground,” she said. “Danville is looking to protect its voters interests, as is San Ramon.”
She agreed that the New Farm proposal did add to the discussion, but she felt that both towns were in agreement over the planned development.
Calabrigo said they will continue to meet and look to find some agreement over the issue.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” he said. “If we go back and meet again, whether that’s in December or January, I would anticipate it would be for the purpose of exploring any and all options.”
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Danville and San Ramon both have interest in the Tassajara Valley. Photo by Geoff Gillette. -
New Farm in the Tassajara Valley would reportedly be a mix of agricultural and residential development that would adhere to the low density requirements for properties outside the Urban Limit Line. Photo by Geoff Gillette.
Dear Dolores,
You have a story based on a political release by district 3 that will significantly impact our corridor and the nature of development. There is no comment by any reader? There is no comment by the handful of pseudonyms that predominate this forum?
What issues are important enough for commentary? What political activities deserve consideration? What future reality is important enough to create willingness to comment?
More importantly, what does deserve the depth of study by readers to fully comment on a very important reality concerning growth and local political control?
Is it possible the commentary can be more than complaints about other authors?
Hal
We don’t need to develop anything more in this area. We especially don’t need to build any low income housing to import a bunch of workers (illegals). If this development is developed, it should not include housing. We should be having our local boys working the farm. Are we not in a recession? Do normal people in this area not need jobs? Youths should be tilling those fields. Local adults like my uncle who just lost his job can daylabor there to make it through tougher times. But no. They want to import in a bunch of workers, namely illegal immigrants. Because the government’s a b****
Dave Hudson for President.
I don’t get the Dave Hudson for President comment. Is it because he already has the obfuscation and dissembling skills needed to be President? Because after reading his quotes in the article, I was left with the distinct impression that he was hiding San Ramon’s true intentions. (That said, I don’t know the man, so perhaps that’s an incorrect impression.)