Richmond general plan to shape future of shoreline

Richmond residents are about to decide the fate of their city for 20 to 30 years: the city is updating its general plan.

This is a great opportunity to secure the protection of the vast open space of the Richmond shoreline. The Sierra Club will be working for a plan that preserves the Bay shoreline as public open space for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Pro-development forces, however, want to change the general plan to allow for high-rise residential towers along the shoreline and for a casino at Point Molate. At Breuner Marsh, these forces want to change the plan and zoning so that the upland portion (the lands not being acquired by the East Bay Regional Park District) can be developed into a gated residential community. They promote the fantasy that high-rise residential development in gated communities on the periphery of Richmond will somehow re-vitalize the inner core.

We need your help to advocate for protecting as much as possible of the shoreline as open space. We need to make sure that all of Breuner Marsh is preserved and protected, and to stop the huge shoreline developments proposed for Point Molate and the old Stauffer Chemical site.

WhatYouCanDo

The West Contra Costa County Group is working with other shoreline groups to participate in the general-plan process and to be the advocates for the birds and native plants that do not have a voice at the table in Richmond. We need your help. To get involved in the Group's efforts to design and build a healthy future for Richmond, contact conservation organizer or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 312

Norman La Force, chair, West Contra Costa Group