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Danville’s Planning Commission will hold another public hearing to receive input on the draft 2030 General Plan and draft Sustainability Action Plan at its Dec. 11 meeting. The update, which was contested by nearly two dozen speakers in November, was under a public review period until Dec. 5.
On Tuesday, Commissioners will receive public testimony on the draft environmental impact report (EIR), which provides a programmatic review of the potential environmental impacts that could arise from implementation of the proposed General Plan Update. Some topics to be addressed at the hearings are as follows:
*Update of baseline conditions in Danville to the year 2010.
* Extension of the horizon year used for the Danville General Plan to year 2030.
* Addition of new goals and policies about sustainability, greenhouse gas reduction, a proposed priority development area (PDA) and emergency preparedness
* Recalibration of the multifamily land use designation density ranges contained in the 2010 plan and the addition of a new residential – multifamily – high (25-35 dwelling units per acre) land use designation.
* Adjustment of the Town’s Sphere of Influence to include additional areas on Danville’s eastern area and to exclude undeveloped hillside lands to the west of the town, reflective of the current adopted county urban limit line.
* Amendment of the land use designation on select sites, involving up to 35 aggregate acres, mostly located within the downtown. The changes proposed would enable the town to meet its regional housing needs allocation shortfall, as identified in the adopted Danville 2007-2014 housing element.
Residents expressed concern about changes to the plan that will increase high-density, low-income housing as required by state mandate. Officially, Danville only needs to identify 9.6 acres where low-income housing could be, and all construction would be done by private developers.
A protest is planned for 6:30 p.m. outside the Danville Library. The Planning Commission meeting will be held at 7:30 at the community center (420 Front Street).
A very important topic to be discussed tonight and not mentioned above is Danville’s proposed opening of all Agricultural Open Space to dense residential development without the voter approval mandated by Ballot Measure S, passed with 75% voter approval in 2000. PLEASE COME TO THE MEETING TO SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO THE DRAFT 2030 GENERAL PLAN’S AGRICULTURAL AND RELATED SECTIONS. SOS-Danville’s attorney will be speaking to explain why those sections violate Measure S and state planning and zoning law.
SOS-Danville representatives will have the Danville Open Space Preservation Initiative petition available for registered Town of Danville voters to sign. The Initiative is intended to preserve and strengthen Danville voters’ existing Measure S rights to decide by ballot measure whether land designated in the General Plan for Agricultural, General Open Space, and Parks and Recreation use can be converted to another use, such as Residential.
Danville is planning to redesignate much land to high-density residential use. Please protect the precious remaining Open Space by signing the initiative petition. We need 4000 registered voters to sign it in order to require Danville’s government to place it on the ballot.
It is a sad day when our leaders in Danville circumvent the law and can pass measures to suit their political and economic agendas. Of course, they would want more growth, it means more dollars in the towns coffers and ultimately more money and benefits for them. We have already been subjected to urban sprawl on the eastside and now the want more? The traffic during commute times is out of control as it is and so is the traffic in downtown Danville. Try to find parking on Saturdays and during peak travel times. It’s not getting better and will only get worse once they’ve stacked them and packed high density into the town.