In what they hope will end 4-1/2 years of lawsuits, name-calling, petition drives and general contentiousness, the City of Martinez, a Concord-based homebuilder and a citizens’ group have reached an agreement as to the future of a former golf course.
This past week, the city, developer DeNova Homes, Inc. and the citizens group Friends of Pine Meadow reached a settlement regarding the former 26.9-acre Pine Meadow Golf Course.
That future, pending approval by the courts and the Martinez City Council, would include:
- Development of 65 houses on about 12 acres.
- Development of a public park on nine acres of the former golf course lands, to be deeded to the city or “another appropriate entity” not specified.
- DeNova providing $1 million in improvements for the park area and associated open space, including pedestrian paths.
- Declaring all existing lawsuits surrounding the Pine Meadow property, including those filed by Friends of Pine Meadow, to be resolved.
This agreement was announced in a joint statement.
The three-way agreement is designed to end an ongoing battle that boiled down to the question of whether a closed golf course could be considered “open space,” and whether the public should be able to help determine the future of such lands.
DeNova originally wanted to build 98 houses on part of the golf course land; the Friends of Pine Meadow wanted no houses there, instead wanting the former golf course declared “open space.”
The Martinez City Council in January 2015 tried to rezone the golf course — which shut down 3-1/2 months later — to host housing. That vote prompted the Friends of Pine Meadow to collect enough petition signatures to require the City Council either to rescind its zoning change (and accompanying general plan amendment) or put the zoning/housing issue to a public vote.
The council opted for a vote, which finally happened in June 2018.
Martinez = No Vacant Space left behind!
“Friends of Pine Meadow” are nothing but a group of people that go around and bully people. They are an extreme group that make up anything they want so property owners can’t do what they want with their land. This is a win for extremest groups and that it.
The family that owned that land had a golf course there for decades and when they started loosing money every month they tried everything they could to keep it open. They wanted to keep it open but had no other choice. Water prices around 15k a month in the summer time made it impossible.
The family went on a search for a developer that did things the right way and would make a beautiful property out of it with homes anyone would enjoy. They didn’t want some huge Seeno mess of homes. Two of the family members live across from the property and wanted to see it stay nice. They found DeNova homes and they came up with plans for lots of open areas and trees, more than any other developer interested. The family liked the project so much they hoped to name one of the streets their family name.
This group said they wanted to save “open Space” well a golf course isn’t open space and it’s private land. They tied the family and the developer up in court for years, cost thousands of dollars and smeared their good name. I get when people don’t want housing projects built irresponsibly but this was not the case.
If they wanted “Open Space” there’s lots of it around here they could purchase and turn into open space. The group had no interest in buying the property even at a loss to the family, it was offered. It’s a shame what they did to this family.
Oh, really. 90 homes in that small a space? There is no way for that to be nice. Sure it is their private land, but they cannot do whatever they want with it since it was a golf course. I am guessing that needing to have it rezoned made it open for discussion. When people keep trying to shove these crowded areas full of even more housing in an area not zoned for it then everyone gets a say.
Right. Only extremists want open space and to keep congestion under control. Sure thing.
Actually, value for those home owners will be greater for having the park there.
I used to live close to this spot. I cannot imagine 65 homes in that space – going to be a tight squeeze.
65 homes on 12 acres comes out to a little over 8,000 sq/ft per lot, which is a pretty decent sized lot considering how most homes are built stacked on top of each other these days.
Hopefully they’re Nothing like the stack packs at Ladybug, Katydid, Falling Star Dr, N Park Ct developments that we’ve seen in the last 10 years.
The property is much larger it’s going to have parks and trails throughout. They are only building on 12 of the acres and 8k plus lots is huge these days.
Yeah, you are not taking into account the streets they are putting in. That won;t end up being an 8k lot. More like 5-6k if they are lucky.
Oh, Please Clearly you are very out of touch in how they build homes these days. Seeno would put close to 200 homes in 29 acres.
Time for me to file my own lawsuit. Join me at “Friends of NIMBY”
Coming soon to the shuttered Grayson Woods Golf Course in Pleasant Hill?
Don’t give the city council any ideas! They’ll have a developer in there tomorrow.
A lot of that course is land that can’t be built on. The slopes, flood area, protected land. But yeah pretty similar fate, just less land that can be built on, well unless you are Seeno. Somehow he gets houses built on red legged frog habitats.
Great! More houses, more people, more cars! Lets keep filling in every space that doesn’t have some sort of building on it.
I miss all of the small & miniature golf courses, go-kart/mini-bike tracks, kiddie-lands, ice skating rinks, bowling alleys, independent movie theaters, live theaters, shooting ranges, small airports, & playlands that used to exist in my youth….and I have a lot of respect for the remaining businesses. They face ever increasing costs, predatory lawyers, corrupt unions/politicians and pressure from developers.
SHOOTING RANGES!??? I need a Safe Space… 😉
I miss all those old school fun things to do also, wish more of those type things would open around here for recreation. Especially shooting ranges, I need to get out and target shoot more…..
@Bubbles
Agree with you 1000% The family that owned the property have been excellent neighbors and more than fair in their dealings when it came to redevelopment. They could have called the Seenos. Good ‘ol Seeno would have proposed 120 shoddy units and then, ‘mysteriously’, 150 shoddy units would be in there at the end of the project. And God help anyone who went up against them. Because, uhhhhh…. well…. y’know….
I rarely feel bad for property developers but I do for DeNova. They’ve been trying to be good neighbors as they planned the development. A lot of their profit has been sucked out of this project in having to deal the with FoPM busy-bodies for so long. We’re lucky that they stuck with the project through all the BS.
Would I have preferred the golf course to remain? Well, sure, but I understand the realities of the world and I respect the rights of other peoples property.
@Bubbles I know the family personally and it’s been a horrible experience for them. They ran that Golf Course for a few years at a major loss and tried everything they could to keep it open. You can only lose money for so long. It was very hard for them to close it.
My point of the post was to point out how hard the family tried to do what’s right and so many beat them down. They still love Martinez and will continue to be great citizens of the community.
High density housing is the fad,gotta be like san fransisco,including needles and poop in the streets coming soon to a city you live in!!
This is one of the reasons there is a housing shortage and expensive housing. People who file frivilous lawsuits to try to destroy property rights. Now the costs of the law suit are part of the cost of building homes. The people who file these lawsuits are only interested in the selves.