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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

April 20, 2007

Hillside plan blasted

Environmental groups, residents and homebuilders have criticized Pittsburg’s proposed hillside development ordinance, calling it too weak, arbitrary, lacking critical elements, and in contravention of city policy.

The ordinance seeks to control development and improve aesthetics in the city’s elevated areas while preserving views and avoiding a repeat of last summer’s landslide that damaged seven homes in the San Marco subdivision.

Everything from roof and building colors (darker earth tones for roofs, “terrain neutral” tone for homes and the less white the better) to grading standards is covered in the draft ordinance that the Pittsburg City Council will consider in June.

The proposal will undergo a 30-day environmental review followed by a May 8 hearing before the Planning Commission, and another one June 4 before the council. Full drafts of the proposed new standards are available online at www.ci.pittsburg.ca.us/Pittsburg/General/Public+Review/HillsideDevStnd.htm .

Last summer’s landslides are a reminder that things can go wrong when developers take to the hills. In the wake of that slide, groups of residents have attempted unsuccessfully to get the council to back off on approving more development in the hills.

The city issued a report last month detailing the causes of the slide that forced the evacuation of seven homes and emergency repairs to a high-pressure water line that was threatening even more homes. No injuries occurred and all the homeowners have since returned to their homes.

The report concluded that flawed assumptions, lengthy delays in making repairs after the first slide and failure by contractors to follow their own guidelines were most likely the causes of the slides.

The proposed ordinance covers density, ridge preservation, structure and site development standards, visibility, grading contours, vegetation, setbacks and a host of other issues associated with hillside building.

After last month’s workshop to discuss and get feedback on the ordinance, Councilwoman Nancy Parent remarked that cows once grazed where the homes of many of the speakers now stand and that they wouldn’t be living in Pittsburg if earlier city leaders had not approved hillside development.

“It’s not fair to say I got mine; goodbye to the rest of you,” Parent said.

A majority of the speakers represented conservation groups such as the Native Plant Society, Greenbelt Alliance, and Save Mt. Diablo.

Seth Adams of Save Mt. Diablo praised the city’s intent, but said the proposed law needs a slope-density element. “The steeper the slope, the less density (of houses per acre),” he said.

Tim Donahue of the Sierra Club said that growth needs to be economically beneficial for the city, not just for the developers. He asked for a soil analysis to determine if the hills in southwest Pittsburg are stable enough to support development.

Gus Kramer, county assessor and owner of the rental home most severely damaged in last summer’s slide, accused the city of “throwing caution to the wind” by approving the grading that he claimed caused the slide. “There’s no teeth in the ordinance,” he said. “Show what you’re going to do if history repeats itself with another slide.”

Louis Parsons of Discovery Builders said many of the concerns his firm submitted about the ordinance were not addressed in the draft proposal.

“It does not provide for practical development of the hills,” he said. “We feel some of the language in the ordinance is contrary to the city’s General Plan. More revision is needed.”

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