On Tuesday, November 6, the Richmond City Council will be asked to select from several alternate development scenarios for the City’s last pristine shoreline, the area lying generally west of the Richmond Parkway between the West County Landfill and Point Pinole Regional Park.

The Richmond Chamber of Commerce, some of whose prominent members own portions of the property in question, is urging its members to turn out in support of cheap industrial tilt-ups and housing sprawl along this undeveloped shoreline. The Chamber pitch is as follows:

The Richmond City Council, on Tuesday, November 6, will be considering which land use alternatives should be the “Preferred Alternatives” for the purpose of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the proposed new General Plan.  For those of you who don’t know what that means, read on.

The Richmond City Council, on Tuesday, November 6, will be considering which land use alternatives should be the “Preferred Alternatives” for the purpose of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the proposed new General Plan.  For those of you who don’t know what that means, a brief primer:

Each city is required to have a General Plan, which is a document setting forth the outline of the City’s future and goals.  Among the elements of a General Plan is a Land Use Element, that sets forth broad categories of different land uses permitted in different areas of the city.  Each City is required to update its General Plan every ten years, and Richmond is in the process of such an update.  The consultant, working with City staff and a committee called the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC), has identified ten areas of the City where there are possibilities of dramatic changes from the land use designations under the prior General Plan. For each of those “Change Areas,” there has been listed three alternative land uses, establishing the universe of alternatives to be studied in the EIR.  Before the EIR process can begin, the City Council must choose among those alternatives a “Preferred Alternative.”  That is before the City council next Tuesday.  The choice of the Preferred Alternative has little legal significance, but it could have profound political significance, because it could be difficult for the City Council to later choose an alternative for the final General Plan different from its earlier choice of the Preferred Alternative for the EIR.

Among those “Change Areas” are several along Richmond’s shoreline.  A coalition of mostly environmental groups has been lobbying hard for the designation of all of those shoreline Change Areas as Open Space.  The Richmond Chamber of Commerce is highly concerned that such a designation would deprive the City of the economic growth opportunities, tax revenues and other advantages from the potential development of many of these sites.  This is not to say that the Chamber is against open space, but it is to say that there is plenty of land along Richmond’s shoreline, much of it unsuitable for development and much of it already dedicated to open space or parkland.  In fact, properly planned development incorporates open spaces into the development, facilitates access to nearby open spaces, and pays for development and maintenance of parks.

Please attend the City Council meeting on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, at 7:00 p.m., and speak out against Open Space as the Preferred Alternative for developable land along Richmond’s shoreline.

Josh Genser

If you have a vision for Richmond that differs from the Chamber of Commerce party line, it is important that you turn out and be heard.