Victory
in Sonoma!
PAGE 1
PROTECTING OPEN SPACE AND PROMOTING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
THE BAY AREA’S LAND CONSERVATION AND URBAN PLANNING NONPROFIT
ANTIOCH CITIZENS ACT
Awash in Developer-Funded
Fake Growth Control Initiatives,
Residents Draw the Line
DAVID REID
EAST BAY FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
A
fter years of preparation
and patience, activists
in the far eastern Contra
Costa County city of Antioch
are drawing the line on sprawl.
Citizens for a Better Antioch, a
long-time partner of Greenbelt
Alliance, has drafted an Urban
Limit Line initiative to improve
traffic conditions, protect natu-
ral areas, and maintain Antioch’s
quality of life. Depending on the
fate of a competing initiative
sponsored by sprawl developers,
the citizen-sponsored initiative
may go before Antioch’s voters
in June or November 2006.
SPRAWL HOTSPOT
Tucked between the San
Joaquin River, the rugged Black
Diamond hills, and the produc-
tive farmland of east Contra Costa
County, the City of Antioch was
once a bucolic town of farmers
and steel workers. Explosive
growth in recent years has gob-
bled up farmland and hillsides
around the city, and transformed
a rural town into a traffic-choked
suburb. The city’s population has
grown over 140 percent in recent
years, from a modest 42,000 resi-
dents in 1980 to over 101,000.
Antioch’s rapid growth has led to
its infamous traffic. Almost half
of Antioch’s workers spend more
than 90 minutes traveling to and
from work; the city’s main artery,
Highway 4, often shows up at the
top of regional worst-traffic lists.
CITY COUNCIL KEEPS
PUSHING
After 20 years of expansion,
the City shows no sign of stop-
ping. Last year, only intense
public pressure kept the City
Council from approving a pro-
posal to build up to 4,000 houses
on the Sand Creek area—2,700
acres of rolling hills south of the
city, also known to developers as
Hail to
Go Greenbelt!
“Future Urban Area One” (FUA-
1). The Council’s resolve didn’t
last long past the November
election, and up to 2,500 houses
are now being considered for
the same area.
The City Council has also
pushed to develop a remote,
hilly area south of the city
called Roddy Ranch. The City’s
relentless efforts to move the
countywide Urban Limit Line,
opening 1,000 acres of this land
to development, were one of the
main reasons the negotiations
on a countywide limit line col-
lapsed earlier this summer.
BUY THE LAND,
BUY THE INITIATIVE
Now, in a baldly specula-
tive move, the sprawl develop-
ers who bought Roddy Ranch
earlier this year are proposing
their own expanded Urban
Limit Line. The City of Antioch
is supporting this expanded
line, which includes so much
land it would encourage rather
than control sprawl. This sprawl
line may go before voters this
November, and Greenbelt Alli-
ance anticipates that it will be
a well-funded campaign.
In neighboring cities, sprawl
developers are mounting
equally blatant attempts to
redraw Urban Limit Lines for
profit. In Brentwood, the Nunn
family of developers has filed
an initiative and begun gather-
ing signatures. The initiative
would create an Urban Limit
Line that would include 1,700
acres of open space, much of
which the Nunns own. In Pitts-
burg, Albert Seeno III, owner
of Discovery Builders, is spon-
soring a similar measure; in an
interview about the initiative,
he told the Contra Costa Times
(6/5/05), “I’ll do anything I can
for my interests.” The initiative
would allow Seeno to build on
continued on page 4
Greenbelt
Alliance
PAGE 2
SAN FRANCISCO ■ FAIRFIELD ■ SAN JOSE
New policies in Sonoma County will help build more affordable homes, reducing pressure on open space. The
affordable housing development pictured is in the city of Rohnert Park, built by the nonprofit Burbank Housing
Development Corporation.
Sonoma County Takes Major Step
To Tackle Housing Crisis
KELLY BROWN
SONOMA-MARIN FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
I
n a major victory for Sonoma County’s com-
munities and environment, on June 7th, the
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted
4–1 to approve a model package of policies to
address the county’s affordable housing crisis.
Among the policies the Board passed were
an inclusionary housing ordinance and a jobs-
housing linkage fee. The inclusionary housing
ordinance requires new housing developments
to include homes that families making less than
the median income can afford. The jobs-housing
linkage fee requires new commercial develop-
ments to pay a fee to fund affordable housing,
helping to ensure that the number of homes
in a community will keep up with the number
of jobs.
REDUCING TRAFFIC, REDUCING SPRAWL
How do these policies help communities and
the environment? They help to ensure that local
workers won’t have to move to Lake County
or Mendocino County to find a home they can
afford, so they’ll spend less time in traffic and
more time with family and friends. They also
encourage compact development of housing
within existing towns, instead of on Sonoma’s
scenic open space and farmland.
Goes Global
PAGE 4
■ SANTA ROSA ■ WALNUT CREEK SUMMER 2005
The passage of these policies was not assured;
the jobs-housing linkage fee particularly was the
subject of considerable controversy. Greenbelt
Alliance and the Sonoma County Housing Advo-
cacy Group, with the support of the Non-Profit
Housing Association of Northern California, led
a broad coalition of labor unions, environmental
groups, housing advocates, and developers in
making the case that these policies will keep
Sonoma County a great place to live. We applaud
the Supervisors and County planning staff for
making the right decision.
UP NEXT: SANTA ROSA
Greenbelt Alliance and coalition partners will
use the momentum from this victory to focus
next on Santa Rosa. As Sonoma County’s largest
city by far, Santa Rosa is the largest employment
base in the North Bay. Unfortunately, Santa
Rosa is a very tough place to find an affordable
home, and the city’s roads are often clogged with
commuter traffic from distant areas.
Santa Rosa can now follow the County’s lead
to address these problems by improving on its
own policy situation: a weak inclusionary ordi-
nance and no jobs-housing linkage fee at all.
In the coming months, Greenbelt Alliance will
be urging the Santa Rosa City Council to act to
help local workers, whatever their income, live
in the community they serve. ■
1
 MISSION
A Sweet Ride: Go Greenbelt! Turns 16 To make the nine-county San
Francisco Bay Area a better
STEVE VAN LANDINGHAM
place to live by protecting the
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
region’s greenbelt and improv-

S
ing the livability of its cities and
o where were you when it started to hail?
towns. We work through public
The sixteenth year of Go Greenbelt!, Greenbelt Alliance’s
policy development, advocacy,
annual week-long Bay Area bike tour, had a lot of people
and education, in partnership
asking that question. On Sunday May 8th, the nine-county, 480-mile
with diverse coalitions.
tour had begun, departing from the San Francisco Yacht Club under
cloudy morning skies. As the 50-plus cyclists pedaled their way CENTRAL OFFICE
south, rain gave way to warmer, sunnier weather … until Monday’s
631 Howard Street, Suite 510
sudden hailstorm in Morgan Hill. Fortunately, everyone quickly
San Francisco, CA 94105
found cover. Go Greenbelt! cyclists are very resourceful people: at
(415) 543-6771
that evening’s group meeting, riders shared stories about seeking
info@greenbelt.org
shelter in bars, under signs, on people’s front porches, and even
www.greenbelt.org
in chicken coops!
After that minor adversity, the rest of the ride—including the SONOMA-MARIN OFFICE
21-mile climb to the summit of Mt. Hamilton the next day—was As a television camera looks on, Go Greenbelt! riders gather near land 50 Santa Rosa Ave., Suite 307
threatened by the misleadingly named “Livermore Trails” development. Santa Rosa, CA 95404
(707) 575-3661
and new subdivisions where orchards once grew. They also experi- kbrown@greenbelt.org
enced the hazards bicyclists face in areas of sprawl development,
where cars are needed to get everywhere and bicycles are rarely SOUTH BAY OFFICE
considered. 1922 The Alameda, Suite 213
Go Greenbelt! riders also participated in press conferences to San Jose, CA 95126
draw attention to threats to the greenbelt—including the devel- (408) 983-0856
oper-sponsored initiative to build outside Livermore’s Urban Growth mbeasley@greenbelt.org
Boundary, and a promising opportunity to revitalize Morgan Hill’s
downtown instead of paving threatened farmland to the city’s EAST BAY OFFICE
south. 1601 North Main St., Suite 105
Many thanks to all of our volunteers and sponsors, who helped Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Photo: Grace Voss

make this year’s tour possible. Thanks too to our erstwhile ride staff (925) 932-7776
for keeping the riders safe and (mostly) dry. dreid@greenbelt.org
Planning is already under way for next year’s Go Green-
Riders Doug Spooner, Dan Hodapp, and Andy Shugart are happy to be belt!. To learn more, visit www.greenbelt.org. For photo and SOLANO-NAPA OFFICE
past the hail. web journals of the 2005 ride, visit www.greenbelt.org/getin 725 Texas Street
volved/events/photogallery/2005/index.html. ■ Fairfield, CA 94533
sunny and pleasant. The late spring rains produced a real bounty (707) 427-2308
of wildflowers to enjoy, and the scenery was extraordinary. Many bschoradt@greenbelt.org
times along the route, riders would stop to catch their breath after
climbing to a ridgeline, then stay for a few minutes to gaze out at BOARD OF DIRECTORS
another of the Bay Area’s incredible landscapes. Officers
Go Greenbelt! riders weren’t just cycling through the region’s Michelle Yesney, President
greenbelt to see its beauty for themselves; they were also rais- Zach Cowan, Vice President
ing funds to protect it. Every year, riders ask friends and family Margaret Spaulding,
to sponsor their ride, providing an important source of support Vice President
for Greenbelt Alliance’s work. The highest fundraisers get prizes Betsy York, Vice President
donated by local businesses, and every rider benefits from the David Azevedo,
donation of terrific food to help fuel them on the 480-mile ride. Secretary-Treasurer
This year, rest-stop offerings included fresh organic strawberries, Nancy Adler • W. Anderson (Andy)
figs, raspberries, and much more from Veritable Vegetable, a local Barnes • Bob Berman • David
organic produce distribution company. Also, thanks to two very Bomberger • Janet Byron • John
Photo: Dave Favello

kind volunteers, we even had fresh-baked cookies at the summit Chapman • Kristen Clements •
of Spring Mountain Road. Peter Cohen • Tina Duong • Volker
The funds riders raise to protect the greenbelt are sorely needed, Eisele • William D. Evers, Jr. • Mort
Fleishhacker • Bud Johns • Robert
as the riders became all too aware as they rode past “for sale” signs Cows and calves: bemused cattle watch Dale Butler speed by.
E. Johnson • Vivian Kahn • Jon
Kannegaard • Duane Kromm • Jake

Go Greenbelt! Sponsors – Thank You! Mackenzie • Jean McCown • Vicki

Moore • Cindy Rubin • Michele
Stratton • Dee Swanhuyser • Laney
Thornton • George D. Tuttle •
Gary Zimmerman

Staff
Tom Steinbach, Executive Director
• Blair Alpert-Sandler, Systems
Coordinator • Michele Beasley, South
Bay Field Representative • Kelly
Brown, Sonoma-Marin Field Represen-
tative • Samantha Brownstein,
Director of Administration • Julie
Cummins, Education Program
Coordinator • Natalie DuMont,
Office Manager • Anita Lalwani,
Membership Assistant • Jeremy
Madsen, Field Director • Kate
O’Hara, Regional Issues Organizer •
Lopamudra Pal, Major Gifts Associate
Almaden Cycle Touring Club Robert and Elissa Millennium Restaurant Southwest Airlines • David Reid, East Bay Field Represen-
Boulange de Cole Hambrecht MV Transportation Sports Basement tative • Brent Schoradt, Solano-Napa
Church of the Incarnation Hawthorn Suites LTD New Belgium Brewing St. Marks Lutheran Curch Field Representative • Cheryl Scott,
Episcopal Inn on Tomales Bay Company Station House Cafe Education and Volunteer Assistant •
City Cycle Insalata’s Oliveto Cafe and Restaurant Sue Johnson Custom Lamps Elizabeth Stampe, Communications
Clif Bar Inc. Judy’s Breadsticks Patagonia San Francisco & Shades Director • Kit Thomas, Bookkeeper •
Costco #146 Karen Carver Graphic Design Peet’s Coffee and Tea Sugar Bowl Steve Van Landingham, Development
Falcon Trading Company Kelty Rainbow Grocery Terry Precision Cycling Director • Melissa Wright,
Farm Fresh To You Lagunitas Brewing Company Ravenswood Winery Timbuk2 Designs Development Associate
Greens Restaurant Laurel Glen Vineyard Sacramento Natural V. Sattui Winery Founder:
Grizzly Peak Cyclists Magnolia Brew Pub Foods Co-op Veritable Vegetable Inc. Dorothy Erskine (1896–1982)
McEvoy Ranch San Francisco Symphony Wilderness Press PRINTED BY UNION LABOR ON RECYCLED PAPER

2
 A R O U N D T H E G R E E N B E LT
Stopping sprawl
and spurring smart
growth throughout
the Bay Area.
South Bay
(Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties)
MICHELE BEASLEY
SOUTH BAY FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
In San Jose, the Coyote Valley
Specific Plan has entered the
Environmental Impact Review
(EIR) phase. Greenbelt Alli-
ance has been urging the City to
study Getting it Right, our smart
growth vision for the Valley, as
an alternative in the EIR, in
Michele Beasley addition to the current sprawl-
ing plan. This spring, Getting it
Right was honored with a Charter Award from the
Congress for the New Urbanism. This is the fourth
major award Getting it Right has received, and it fur-
ther demonstrates why the City should give our vision
serious consideration.
Southern Santa Clara County still retains its rural
charm, acting as a reminder of what “The Valley of
Heart’s Delight” was once like. However, the farmland
surrounding Morgan Hill has been threatened by spec-
ulators’ attempts to enlarge the City’s growth boundary,
opening up 1,650 acres of land to development. In
June, in an important victory, Greenbelt Alliance and
local allies succeeded in persuading the City Council to
bring the line in, protecting 400 acres of hillside lands
east of town. The City Council will also do a study of
developable land within the line before deciding on
the fate of the other 1,250 acres of farmland south of
town. This study is likely to take at least a year, and
the delay will take some of the pres-
sure off the threatened land. In
addition, the willingness of the
City to look at land inside the
line first is a positive step toward
more city-centered growth. Green-
belt Alliance will continue to monitor
the issue and advocate for the protection
of all 1,650 acres.
TAKE ACTION!
Urge the San Jose City Council to support smart growth and
meaningful greenbelt protection in Coyote Valley. Contact info
available at: www.sanjoseca.gov/council.html.
East Bay
(Contra Costa and Alameda Counties)
DAVID REID
EAST BAY FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
Eastern Contra Costa County’s
future is at stake as cities, devel-
opers, and activists debate the fate
of thousands of acres of sensitive
land. Earlier this year, sprawl
developers stymied negotiations
on a consensus countywide Urban
Limit Line (ULL) that would have
David Reid applied to all Contra Costa cities;
now each city must establish its
own ULL. The same sprawl developers are now promoting
initiatives to establish ULLs that would open up thou-
sands of acres of currently protected land to development.
In Antioch, Greenbelt Alliance is supporting an alterna-
tive citizen-driven ULL initiative (see story on page 1).
Voters may begin deciding on these measures as early as
this November.
Elsewhere in Contra Costa County, citizens will
soon have the opportunity to comment on the required
Solano and Napa Counties
BRENT SCHORADT
environmental reviews of several new plans and pro-
posals. These include Concord’s General Plan, which
Greenbelt Alliance believes should keep new growth
SOLANO–NAPA FIELD REPRESENTATIVE
Expanding highways without
within the existing city, as well as Oakley’s ill-con-
ceived proposal to build 3,500 homes on a low-lying
island in the San Joaquin River Delta.
managing growth in the Bay
Area’s fastest-growing county is
a recipe for sprawling develop-
In Alameda County, Greenbelt Alliance continues
to work with two local citizens’ groups to stop sprawl
development of the ranchlands of north Livermore and
ments that will just make traf-
fic worse. That’s why Greenbelt
Alliance is working to include
protect the San Francisco National Wildlife Refuge. growth controls in a transporta-
Brent Schoradt tion sales tax proposal for Solano
TAKE ACTION! County.
Get involved in local efforts to stop sprawl in East Contra Costa The Solano Transportation Improvement Author-
County; contact David Reid, East Bay Field Representative, at 925- ity (STIA) is moving forward with a third attempt
932-7776, or dreid@greenbelt.org. to pass a transportation sales tax. In 2002 and 2004,
Solano County voters rejected sales tax measures that
did not include growth controls or adequate transit
funding. Study after study shows that, without growth
Sonoma and Marin Counties controls, expanding highways just encourages sprawl-
KELLY BROWN ing developments on the working farms and natural
SONOMA-MARIN FIELD REPRESENTATIVE areas that surround our cities. Greenbelt Alliance is
working with a growing coalition of Solano County
The multi-year process of updating elected officials, called Fair and Safe Traffic Solutions,
Sonoma County’s General Plan, to urge the STIA not to move forward with another
the County’s blueprint for growth, flawed tax measure.
is entering the homestretch. In By linking highway improvements to policies that
August, the County Planning direct growth toward downtowns and transit, and away
Commission will begin making from open space, we can preserve Solano County’s
important decisions about what rural character and scenic vistas.
is in the plan.
Kelly Brown One of Greenbelt Alliance’s pri- TAKE ACTION!
orities is ensuring that the Gen- Write a letter to the editor of the Vacaville Reporter or the
eral Plan does as much as possible to focus growth into Fairfield Daily Republic to emphasize that widening roads without
existing cities and away from working farms and natural controlling growth will just mean more traffic. Learn more at:
areas. Currently, many rural areas between cities—often www.greenbelt.org/regions/solanonapa/camp_transport.html.
called community separators—are not protected. With-
out protection, these areas could be lost to development.
If Sonoma County’s community separators are lost, the
County’s towns may lose their unique identities as they Region-Wide
sprawl into each other with new subdivisions and strip KATE O’HARA
malls. Unless community separators are better protected, REGIONAL ISSUES ORGANIZER
Sonoma County could eventually look like Highway 101
south of San Francisco, where seemingly endless auto One key to creating livable com-
malls and sound walls make it impossible to tell one town munities and reducing sprawl
from the next. is providing housing options
The General Plan affordable to all income ranges,
update is the per- so people can afford homes near
fect opportunity to their jobs. That’s why Greenbelt
Alliance is part of a region-wide
inclusionary housing initiative
Kate O’Hara to generate 5,000 affordable
homes in existing cities over the
next two years. Inclusionary housing means requiring
all new residential developments to include some
homes that are affordable to low and moderate-
income families.
Inclusionary housing works best in fast-growing
places – the more homes created, the more affordable
homes included. We have targeted Sonoma, Solano
and Contra Costa Counties for our first efforts. Work-
ing with local allies, Greenbelt Alliance already has
been successful in Sonoma County (see story, page
1). In Solano County, we have begun to build a coali-
protect tion concerned about the lack of housing choice and
rural areas rapidly increasing housing cost in cities like Fairfield
and keep and Vallejo. The coalition hosted Solano County’s
the County’s first Affordable Housing Week in June to raise
towns dis- awareness and celebrate affordable housing
tinct. The Plan- efforts. In Contra Costa County, Greenbelt
ning Commission Alliance is working with environmentalists
should act to and housing advocates to ensure that
make these pro- the County keeps moving forward on
tections a reality. creating an inclusionary ordinance
for its unincorporated towns.
TAKE ACTION!
Urge the Sonoma County Planning Commission to TAKE ACTION!
expand protections for community separators. Contact info is at: Contact Contra Costa County’s Board of Supervisors
www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/b-c/pc/index.htm. and urge them to move forward in adopting an inclusion-
ary housing ordinance. Contact info is available at:
www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/BOS/. ■
All photos except Kelly Brown: Richard Rollins, richardrollinsphoto.com
3
Going From Local to Global for World Environment Day
JULIE CUMMINS
EDUCATION PROGRAM COORDINATOR
I
n over a decade of leading outings in the Bay Area,
Greenbelt Alliance welcomed its most cosmopolitan
audience yet on a June 2nd smart growth tour for World
Environment Day delegates. World Environment Day was
created by the United Nations in 1972 to focus the world’s
attention on the environment. The event, which actually
runs for several days, is hosted by a different city each year.
This year, World Environment Day came to San Francisco
for its first appearance ever in the United States.
The theme for this year’s event was “Cities: The Path
to a Sustainable Future,” and Greenbelt Alliance was
chosen to lead an official tour for visiting mayors and
other dignitaries from major cities around the world. The
tour, titled “Smart Growth in San Francisco: Designing
Cities for People and the Environment,” took participants
by bus and by foot to see how cities can accommodate
growth, enhance quality of life, and preserve open space
through smart urban planning.
Next to a hybrid-electric bus, World Environment Day volunteers
sign in outing participants, including mayors from cities around
the globe.
631 Howard Street, Suite 510
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-543-6771
info@greenbelt.org
www.greenbelt.org
Change service requested
Are you a
Greenbelt Guardian?
Safeguard the greenbelt – join our monthly donor club,
the Greenbelt Guardians. Your steady support will help
preserve the Bay Area’s quality of life for future gen-
erations. Visit www.greenbelt.org or call 415-543-6771
to sign up.
Cranes signal new growth in Mission Bay, where the San
Francisco Redevelopment Agency’s Amy Neches talks to attendees
on Greenbelt Alliance’s World Environment Day outing.
On the day of the outing, more than 20 international
delegates—from as far away as Denmark, Argentina,
Spain, and Ukraine—and about 40 locals showed up,
eager for the tour. Apparently our outing was even more
popular than World Environment Day organizers had
realized, and they had to call in a second hybrid-electric
bus! Once that was taken care of, we had city planners,
neighborhood activists, and business owners guide every-
one through Mission Bay, a brand-new neighborhood still
being created, and Hayes Valley, a classic San Francisco
neighborhood transformed by the removal of the Central
Freeway. During the outing, a delegate from Copenhagen
told KCBS radio that his city’s work to create a cleaner
environment has really paid off. He added that he was
impressed with San Francisco’s efforts to do the same.
In honor of World Environment Day, the international
delegation drafted and adopted Urban Environmen-
tal Accords on energy, waste reduction, urban design,
transportation, and more (see www.wed2005.org). The
way cities approach these issues is even more important
now that the majority of the world’s population is urban.
Greenbelt Alliance hopes that the “Smart Growth in San
Francisco” tour helped to illustrate how cities can indeed
become the path to a sustainable future. ■
Antioch Citizens Act
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
approximately 2,000 acres currently outside the line.
By the time you read this, it is likely that these devel-
oper-backed sprawl initiatives will also have qualified
for this November’s ballot.
PLANNED GROWTH, LESS TRAFFIC
Antioch, Brentwood, and Pittsburg, like all Contra
Costa cities, are required to have a voter-approved
Urban Limit Line by 2009. This requirement stems
from Measure J, a countywide transportation sales
tax passed last November. Measure J requires cities
to have limit lines in order to get millions of dollars in
transportation funding. County voters passed Measure
J because they knew that sprawl development wors-
ens traffic, and so they wanted to require cities to do
better planning in order to get transportation funds.
The developer-sponsored initiatives draw meaningless
lines that do nothing to improve planning, and will
just worsen traffic.
Citizens for a Better Antioch’s initiative to create
an Antioch voter-approved Urban Limit Line would
actually control growth. The line would prevent the
City Council from annexing new land, and would pro-
tect the open space in the Sand Creek area (FUA-1)
from premature development. Only open space and
agricultural uses would be permitted outside the city,
and development in the Sand Creek reserve would be
highly restricted. The initiative would expire in 2028,
when the city’s General Plan expires.
VOTERS WILL STILL DECIDE
Speculators seem to think they can do whatever
they want in eastern Contra Costa County—buy land,
buy the process to make the land developable, then
laugh all the way to the bank. Maybe they think East
County residents spend so much time commuting
they’ll have no time to object. But Greenbelt Alliance
has helped those citizens get active—now they’re
telling sprawl developers: It doesn’t pay to underes-
timate us. ■
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