Letter to the editor:

Patterson Ranch - is an initiative the right way?

Editor,

I read with astonishment the article "Fremonters draft Patterson Ranch measure" [March-April Yodeler, page 15].

The Patterson Ranch is a special place and needs to be protected.

However, let me clarify a few things.

• 1. Local groups had no role in developing the initiative. They were told about it after the initiative was filed.
• 2. Friends of Coyote Hills and Fremont is far from a Fremont group; Newark residents make up a substantial portion of its active members.
• 3. The initiative allows human activity closer to Coyote Hills Regional Park than the proposed plan.
• 4. The environmental process (EIR) has not yet begun.
• 5. There is no developer on this project, only a planner. The red-flag word "developer" was used 5 times.
• 6. The article neglects to mention that a 91-acre Cargill site (Fremont Coyote Tract) is included in the initiative.
• 7. The initiative does not add 225 acres of land to Coyote Hills Regional Park (as does the planner).
• 8. It does not expand wildlife habitat it does not expand the historic willow groves; and it does not allow for enhancement and restoration of the 88 acres of wetlands.
• 9. It does not allow for public access.
• 10. The sports park is a City of Fremont request.
• 11. It does divide up the Patterson Ranch area into five approximately 80-acre parcels with one house on each site plus some commercial possibilities. Building bonuses are allowed if land is given to a public agency. About 95 to 120 DUs will be allowed at the maximum.

Many of us advised that the EIR and political process be allowed to proceed. If the results are not satisfactory, then do a referendum.

Transparency and truth must be the guiding force.

[signed] Donna Olsen

Response from Vin Bacon, member of the Southern Alameda County Group ExComm and author of the original article.

Donna Olsen is a respected member of the Fremont community, but we believe she has sized up the Coyote Hills situation wrongly. Richard Frisbie, whose title is "development planner", has stated that his plan is to break ground next year on a 1,200-unit subdivision. The land is gorgeous wildlife habitat, directly adjacent to the Coyote Hills Regional Park and the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Allowing this plan to proceed through the EIR process and then referending the final product is a poor strategy. It would require collecting 13,000 signatures in 30 days to place a referendum on the ballot, an almost impossible undertaking.

Instead the Friends of Coyote Hills and Fremont, with members in Fremont, Newark, and Union City, has set forth our vision for the land in the form of an initiative for the November ballot. That vision retains the land in large open-space parcels with strong development restrictions. It protects wetlands, riparian corridors, and critical wildlife habitat with strong controls on development and use. It provides incentives to dedicate the land into public ownership in exchange for a much smaller development footprint on the least-sensitive part of the area.

The initiative has been unanimously endorsed by the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Conservation and Executive Committees and by the Southern Alameda County Group Executive Committee. We believe the voters of Fremont should be given a choice between a massive subdivision generating 13,000 car trips per day next to a popular regional park and national wildlife refuge - or a rural landscape of farms and protected wildlife habitat.

We still need help gathering signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. To volunteer, call Mike Daley at (510) 848-0800, ext. 304, or email mdaley -at- sfbaysc.org