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The city of San Ramon has begun the process of preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) for the City Center Mixed Use Master Plan, which includes 4,500 housing units proposed in Bishop Ranch.
City officials have opened a 30-day comment period soliciting public input on the scope of the EIR as the environmental work begins, including setting a public meeting next month for residents to share their thoughts on what topics should be covered in the document.
Creating the EIR will enable city staff to see the potential physical and environmental effects of the proposed multifamily project — located in the heart of Bishop Ranch — and how those effects touch on topics outlined in the California Environmental Quality Act, according to a staff report by city planning manager Lauren Barr.
While city staff are in the very early process of forming the EIR, Barr said he anticipates the draft report will be made available to the public sometime in early 2020.
Barr says the EIR will encompass a full range of environmental issues, and analyze how the project will affect the city in the following areas:
* Aesthetics, light and glare
* Hydrology and water quality
* Air quality
* Land use
* Biological resources
* Noise
* Cultural and tribal cultural resources
* Population and housing
* Energy
* Public services and recreation
* Geology, soils and seismicity
* Transportation
* Greenhouse gas emissions
* Utilities and service systems
* Hazards and hazardous materials.
Barr added that conclusions drawn in the EIR will eventually factor into the City Council’s decision to approve or deny the project.
Located within the Bishop Ranch property — which consists of 585 acres of business offices and retail space — off Bollinger Canyon Road near Interstate 680, the Bishop Ranch multi-family home project includes 4,500 new homes in a series of neighborhoods and other amenities covering approximately 135 acres, expected to be phased in over multiple decades.
It would also include a 169-room hotel, an interconnected parks system, new parking structures that will replace existing surface parking lots, an amphitheater with a potential capacity for 1,500 seats and two new community centers.
A key aspect of the review process, residents are invited to share their input on potential areas of interest city staff should focus on while creating the plan. Public comment is open now through Oct. 25, at 5 p.m., and can be sent to the following address:
“Mr. Lauren Barr, Planning Manager
City of San Ramon Community Development Department
2601 Crow Canyon Road San Ramon, CA 94583″
Residents can reach Barr via phone at 973-2567, or email lbarr@sanramon.ca.gov.
Comments can also be shared at the city’s public scoping meeting on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at the San Ramon City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road.
Housing price in San Ramon is already under pressure for a year. The added 4500 will certainly make it worse besides the traffic nightmare it creates. We already have so many people in San Ramon but most of them commute to Silicon Valley and it makes San Ramon a big sleepy commuter town. We need more corporation to move in here, not residential.
What’s the use of building homes that no one can afford. This is why the town is dead and commuter town. No sense of community and places to feel like I want to hang out in San Ramon. They need to work on bringing companies closer to home and not build million dollar homes that no one can afford. Stop this project.
I think there is no point in building more residential homes when there is no scope for jobs in this community
We spend 3 hrs daily on commute, so we need more companies to create tech jobs and improve the traffic congestion
Aslo prices are going to drop, if more homes are built
The residential units proposed are all apartment units. Studio to three bedroom, mostly one and two room units. A percentage of the units will be set at affordable rates designed for local workforce employees (teachers, service workers, first time renters, etc.).
The City created a webpage for more information. Video links to public meetings and all documents related to the proposal are posted at http://bit.ly/srcitycenter
Steven Spedowfski
Deputy City Manager
City of San Ramon
925-322-0031
Funny… I see no mention of the impact on schools.
This zone was originally zoned for business and it should stay that way. 4500 more families onto bollinger are you serious? What about impact on schools and existing infrastructure? You have exposed above ground utility lines in south san ramon how about taking care of those before adding more commuter population to flood the roads and schools??
The whole point of going to yesterday’s meeting was to see the plan. It’s not 4600 new homes. It’s apartments and townhomes. I think people from San Ramon May want to sell their large homes and buy or rent in the new downtown just like what happened in downtown Walnut Creek 10 years ago. It’ll give people that work in San Ramon an opportunity to live where they work instead of driving for hours every day.
Our city is mandated to build new residences by the state so better to build here in BR than on our golf courses or on our hills!
This is simply irresponsible. We need more businesses like Google and Facebook’s coming to San Ramon not build houses. Would you want to live on a super congested and expensive island that does not have much choices in way of earning livelihood on that island? Don’t make San Ramon that congested island.
I came to Danville in 1986.I loved the small town feel. The community based reasoning in the surrounding communities.This area is turning into a corridor San Jose.Where every single plot of land has to be developed.Wall to wall concrete and high rises.Whose getting rich from this? Very few.Build there on the corner of Camino Ramon and Bollinger and you will kill the awesome view of the Las Trampas hill range to the west from the Iron Horse trail. There is no charm in these towns anymore. Just “Big Boy” money and ambitions.
Wow. A number of people are complaining about the effect on home prices, which is strange given that the median house in San Ramon sells for just over a million dollars. Is that not enough? I understand people wanting to look out for their interests, but at some point, it comes across as greedy (particularly as SF housing usually appreciates without lifting a finger). Keeping the gravy training rolling shouldn’t be an excuse for lowering the quality of living for others, particularly younger generations.
The State requires all cities to plan for a certain number of housing units. We must designate areas where housing can be built, the property owners and developers submit applications to build.
Currently, most of San Ramon’s areas designated for future residential development are in commercial or shopping centers. One of the City Council’s goals is to encourage development in the core of the City to minimize impacts to existing neighborhoods and build units near jobs.
This proposal will allow the City to shift the planned units away from shopping centers.
Yes in my back yard. San Ramon, the community where I am a home owner and choose to raise my kids, is an inclusive community. My friends, our greatness will not come from how we exclude, it will come from how we welcome. Don’t fall into the bitter, exhausting, and selfish trap of “kicking the ladder” once you are already over the wall.
Google and Facebook are not coming to San Ramon.
More than 30,000 people already work in Bishop Ranch. Having those and future employees live in San Ramon is great for the environment and vibrancy of our city.
Change is exciting and I’m looking forward to it.
4500 new units and SR traffic on all nearby roads/freeways is already horrendous. Upgrade the roads before allowing another unit.
I agree that this will create more traffic, especially make crow canyon and bellinger canyon even worse. As others said, cities are required by the state to provide more housing. Also, I hate the school overcrowding too as I have three kids in elementary school but cities planning departments are not allowed by the state to use school overcrowding as a reason for disapproving a planned development. Environmental impact can be a disapproval but an impact to our children cannot be. Hmm, priorities
I grew up in San Ramon when my parents bought into the first new housing development in 1970. I’ve seen this town grow from a charming small town to an overcrowded city. Traffic is going to be a nightmare and the added impact on schools not to mention everything else. At what point does San Ramon and Danville stop adding new housing units? I’d also like to comment that this website has blocked the ability to like comments above because I agree with many who are against this project to overpopulate a city that has no capacity to take on additional numbers in schools, etc.