Thanks to your help, Greenbelt Alliance and our coalition of partners were able to gather more than 110% of the signatures necessary to qualify the Let Antioch Voters Decide: The Sand Creek Area Protection Initiative for the ballot this November. These signatures will now be taken to the Contra Costa County Elections Department to be examined and confirmed.
By exceeding our goal, we made it far more likely that we’ll have signatures from enough registered Antioch voters to get our measure on the ballot, giving those voters themselves the power to decide the fate of the 1,800 acre Sand Creek area southeast of town in the Mount Diablo Foothills.
As we wait for the Elections Department to review the signatures, we’ll be resting and refocusing for the next stage—telling the story of Sand Creek, and ensuring that voters in Antioch join us in protecting these vital natural lands in the next election. We’ll update this post when we have confirmation from the City Council. Until then, we encourage you to read more about the Sand Creek Focus Area below.
This area of Sand Creek is surrounded by East Bay Regional Parks on three sides and serves as vital habitat for several threatened species, including the San Joaquin Kit Fox, Golden Eagles, and the ultra-rare Diablo Buckwheat.
As part of the Antioch Community to Save Sand Creek, we are working with residents and community organizations to:
- Make Antioch’s urban limit line permanent (which otherwise expires in two years).
- Keep the area east of Black Diamond Mines Regional Park as “rural residential, agricultural, and open space”.
- Require approval from Antioch voters on more intensive development.
Together, we can save this critical land from sprawl development.
Antioch Community to Save Sand Creek is a coalition of Antioch residents and community groups, including Greenbelt Alliance, Save Mount Diablo, California Native Plant Society, and the Sierra Club.
Photo: Michael Amorosa
