How Fremont and Union City have protected their green and golden hills

As you drive down I-880 through Union City and Fremont, you cannot help but notice the scenic beauty of the undeveloped hills. It's not that way by chance. The citizens of both cities turned to the initiative process to keep the hills an uncluttered respite to the eye and soul.

Fremont

Fremont awoke to the impending problem of development on the hill face and ridgelines in the late '70s. A city-appointed committee recommended strong guidelines to protect the hills, but voters elected a pro-growth City Council that rejected the recommendations. In frustration, members of the Tri-City Ecology Center formed the Committee to Preserve the Hills and placed a hill-protection initiative on the 1981 ballot. It turned to the San Francisco law firm of Shute, Mihaly, & Weinberger to draw up the initiative, one of the first of its kind in California. The measure allowed very limited development on the hill face, none on the ridgelines, and some hidden behind the hills. The action was taken preemptively, before any development had actually been proposed for the area.

Over 100 petitioners collected 8,000 signatures to place Measure A on the ballot. In November 1981, Fremont voted 8,000 - 6,500 for Measure A, demonstrating the potential of land-saving ideas and the eventual popularity of land-saving measures.

In 2000 the Fremont hills faced another challenge. Summerhill Homes proposed a development plan that would have required Fremont to annex over 1,100 acres of unincorporated land. At risk was the undeveloped area known as the Vargas Plateau, which lies behind the hills. Although Summerhill's plans were vetoed by the City Council in 2001, annexation clearly needed to be addressed.

Another community group (Save Fremont Hills, Yes on T) was formed to tighten up Measure A and to deal with annexations. In 2002 enough signatures were gathered to qualify Measure T for the November ballot, and 57% of the voters agreed that the hills were worth preserving.

Even with these initiatives on the books, vigilance is the key. Someone will always try to subvert the law. Recently an individual attempted to get approval at the Fremont Planning Commission to build a megahome that would have violated the hillside ordinances. It took an appeal to the City Council to stop it.

Union City

Union City's struggle to protect the hills began with an actual proposal, in 1987, for a large-scale development in the hill area. Residents responded with an initiative requiring the city to prepare a Hillside Area Plan. Measure B went on the ballot in 1989 along with the competing Measure C backed by developers - and Measure B passed. For the next six years Union City worked, through a series of scoping meetings, work sessions, and an Environmental Impact Report, to develop the plan. The City Council finally adopted the plan in 1995, including 53 restrictive overarching policies to guide all aspects of future development.

Voters then approved this Hillside Plan as Measure II in 1996. Any change to the plan is therefore subject to voter approval. Thanks to public watchfulness, no new structures have been built in the Union City hills since 1996.

Together

In both Fremont and Union City, the hardworking residents who accomplished these amazing deeds are justifiably proud of their work and declare they "would do it again". None of the initiatives has been challenged.

Fremont and Union City are fortunate to be surrounded by green and golden hills on the east and by San Francisco Bay and the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge on the west. Together they provide a unique and permanent natural frame for these two South Bay cities.

Donna Olsen, chair and newsletter editor, Tri-City Ecology Center