Concord Council picks 65% open space for former Weapons Station
The Sierra Club won a partial victory on Jan. 12, when the Concord City Council selected the "Clustered Villages" alternative as the "preferred reuse plan" for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS). The proposal calls for 12,300 housing units with a population of 29,000, and for 65% of the 5,028 acres to be open space and parks.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups favor an alternative with 80% open space, but we know that without our members' intervention, much less open space would have been included. Housing might have been authorized for most of the land, up to the back fences of neighboring properties around the CNWS; some City Council members had strongly advocated for such an option.
A college and a sports complex are included in the plan, along with a park in the central and eastern portions of the property. The most intense development would be concentrated around the North Concord BART station. The hard work of many, including the Concord Naval Weapons Station Neighborhood Alliance, Save Mount Diablo, and Greenbelt Alliance, has led to the creation of a unique, community-driven planning model.
The plan will be studied as the preferred alternative in additional environmental review by both the city of Concord and the U.S. Navy, and is the favorite for adoption as the City's Reuse Plan in the summer of 2009. The city will then amend its General Plan to include the development, enabling the U.S. Navy to sell the CNWS property to the city as early as spring 2010.
The Council could be deciding as early as summer 2009 whether to approve the East Bay Regional Park District's proposal for a regional park on the open space at CNWS.
WhatYouCanDo
Write to the Concord City Council at:
1950 Parkside Drive
Concord, CA 94519.
Urge it to accept East Bay Regional Parks management of the CNWS open space.
The Sierra Club will want your help in speaking out at City Council meetings (see future Yodelers for dates) and in monitoring the Environmental Impact Report and traffic studies. To get involved, contact Bay Chapter conservation organizer or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 306