Camino Tassajara settlement

One more chapter in the ongoing battle to save Tassajara Valley from the ravages of sprawl development has come to a close. Twin lawsuits, one by the Sierra Club and Save Our Danville Creeks, the other by the Town of Danville, have reached settlements. The lawsuits challenged Contra Costa County's approvals for the 1,400-unit 600-acre Alamo Creek/Intervening Properties development at the northern end of Tassajara Valley. As always in a settlement, compromises were necessary, but important benefits have been gained, some of which might not have resulted even from "winning" the suit. The gains include:

permanent protection for several acres of rare wetlands and the red-legged frog on the Wendt property segment of "Alamo Creek". This goes back to earlier challenges that compelled the Army Corps of Engineers to finally intervene to protect these areas.
significant traffic mitigation and incentives for use of public transit. These will help alleviate what could have been a nightmare of sprawl traffic for local residents.
additional protection for migration corridors for red-legged frogs to a key pond and adjacent creeks.
agreement that the developers involved (Shapell Industries, Ponderosa Homes, and Braddock & Logan) won't try to push beyond Contra Costa County's current Urban Limit Line into the remaining 4,500 acres of Tassajara Valley - at least through the 2010 expiration of the county's current General Plan for the area.

Left unresolved, however, is the long-term future of Tassajara Valley. The current projects, while significantly improved over what the county had approved, will still be built, and it remains to be seen whether the county will move forward with approving a November ballot measure to permanently protect the rest of the valley, as well as other open-space areas of the county.

Also still in the future is whether funding will be found for meaningful open-space protection, and whether that funding, if found, will suffice to lure Tassajara Valley property owners away from the seductive enticement of sprawl dollars.

Clearly, we have much left to do to protect what remains of Tassajara Valley from the further ravages of sprawl.

Jim Blickenstaff and Stuart Flashman