Pittsburg's environment - the trees, the hills, and the ugly

Month by month, as Pittsburg's city government seems to struggle to draft a Hillside Protection Ordinance that gives as little protection to the hills as possible, it becomes easy to forget the city's successes.

Waterfront and Old Town

Pittsburg has a splendid green advantage. On the threshold of the Sacramento Delta, it has miles of riverfront with substantial public access. Its alternately green and gold hills shelter residents from the worst winter gales.

Pittsburg's sweeping waterfront is easily its best asset. Old Town's historic huddle, where new coffee shops, restaurants, and retail outlets and a new hotel will soon appear as neighbors to the New Mecca Café, lures visitors from as far as San Francisco. The accessibility of the waterfront has to be seen to be appreciated. It promises a bright future.

The three-year restoration of part of the Old Town, the completed waterfront promenade, and the marina proved to be a good model of how to conduct a cooperative effort between a city and its community. Years of neglect had left downtown residents soured and skeptical about Old Town's prospects. They worried whether anyone responsible would see the potential.

Then the planning began for the Marina Promenade. Residents were kept informed and involved, even to the point of selecting the type of street lights. City officials and the company overseeing the project led a series of interactive consultative meetings.

Trees

Unless you're an old-timer, you wouldn't guess that the hills of Pittsburg used to have oaks scattered all over, right down to the water. These were cut down for firewood and other uses by very early residents before coal was discovered in the area.

Time recently drew attention to the plight of trees in the U.S. saying they "are struggling to survive" and blaming cities, pollution, development, and old age for the loss that "is having significant environmental consequences." Pittsburg has indeed lost its native trees, and is in danger of losing even its street trees. The culprit, alas, is ourselves and our astonishing lack of consciousness about trees.

In Pittsburg's downtown, hundreds of mature trees have been cut down to be replaced by a few spindly adolescents as a result of redevelopment north of Highway 4 in 2006 and 2007.

A new downtown business owner on Railroad Avenue reports being approached by city staff and asked if he wanted two healthy mature trees removed from the sidewalk in front of the premises. Thankfully, he replied that he liked the trees just as they were. The sad part is that the suggestion to cut the trees came from the city itself, which should be a guardian for our trees.

Even in the somewhat exemplary process for the downtown, the city requested that mature trees be cut down from a Home Owners Association property "to improve the view".

Our city is the only one in east Contra Costa with no tree-protection ordinance, except for a street-tree ordinance with big loopholes. As Pittsburg continues to evolve, with a current emphasis on re-creating the historic area of its downtown, green areas are under attack by developers, by special-interest groups, by individual landowners, by housing associations, and by the city itself.

The hills

We have revived our downtown, but seem to be sacrificing our trees. What about the hills, which have been so much in the news lately?

Victoria J. Micu calls Pittsburg's hills "iconic" (in a letter to the East County Times decrying planned hillside development). Rather than seeking to preserve the soft outline of the hills, bright green in winter and tawny suede in summer, developers are pushing to build dwellings on the crests, and despite opposition from residents, Save Our Hills, and the Sierra Club, the city seems intent on granting the developers their wish. Past officials, through inertia, managed to preserve the hills, but now, because of Measure P, which annexed more rural land, the city is chasing tax revenues and seems ready to cover the hills with tax-paying "boxes made of ticky-tacky".

Pittsburg city officials proclaim their devotion to the hills, even as they work towards passing an ordinance that will allow those very hills to be graded and paved over with "estate homes" - what some might call McMansions. Two of the planning commissioners, Jack Garcia and George Harris, have already publicly said that no further ordinance is needed to protect the hills. Without an ordinance, however, developers will have a blank check to develop the hills.

On July 24 the Pittsburg Planning Commission again deferred giving direction to staff about the amount of density allowed and development in the ridgelines. The planning commission is planning on voting on these possible changes on Aug. 28, and the commission's final recommendation on the hillside ordinance is expected in September. The Council's final vote is expected in October.

Right now, the hillside ordinance would allow massive unsafe development - of up to 1,600 houses - on the landslide-prone hills. Just last April Pittsburg experienced landslides caused by inappropriate development. The draft ordinance would do nothing to prevent more; it does not limit development on steep slopes or unstable soils. It also includes no meaningful protections for views or ridgelines. Developers are already planning for major grading that they claim will make these hills safe. However, the truth of the matter is that they are going to simply shear off the tops of the hills to create flat subdivisions.

The impacts will reach far beyond Pittsburg. The hills happen to be in Pittsburg's jurisdiction, but they're an important landmark, visible from much of the county. Development of the hills will affect people in Concord, Walnut Creek, and beyond. These communities are being left out of the decision-making process. Concord is working with its residents to protect the Concord Naval Weapons Station's ridgelines, but those ridgelines will be scarred by Pittsburg's development.

Pittsburg's City Council claims that the city needs more mansions. Even if that were true, there are already hundreds of these hillside "estate homes" in the pipeline. Just last May the Planning Commission and City Council approved the pre-zoning of more than 400 new estate houses as part of a development by Albert Seeno III called Sky Ranch II. Hundreds of houses are also being built in the San Marco and Vista Del Mar developments.

With the declining housing market, it makes little sense for Pittsburg to lock in 1,600 more houses in the hills. A smarter strategy would be to focus on making the city more attractive by revitalizing the downtown and protecting the scenic hills.

Pittsburg has revived its downtown, but we have lost our trees. Which way will we go on our hills?

WhatYouCanDo

Write to the Pittsburg City Council at:

City Hall
65 Civic Ave.
Pittsburg, CA 94565.

Urge the Council to pass a strong Hillside Development Ordinance that actually protects the hills and to actively and conveniently include the public in developing the ordinance.

The Sierra Club Bay Chapter has made saving the Pittsburg hills one of our top current priorities. To join in these efforts, contact conservation organizer or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 306.

The local Pittsburg volunteer organization Save Our Hills has more information on its web site.

June Forsyth, Dennis and Kathleen Linsley, and Christina Wong

Portions of this article appeared previously in the Contra Costa Times.