More than 600 acres of county open space along the Los Medanos Ridgeline between Concord and Pittsburg are set to become houses, following an annexation decision Wednesday.
In a 5-2 vote with commissioners Charles Lewis and Scott Perkins opposed, the Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission approved a request by the city of Pittsburg and Discovery Builders Inc. — an Albert Seeno-owned developer company — to make 606 acres of undeveloped ridgeline part of the city for the construction of 1,500 market-rate homes.
The Faria/Southwest Hills Annexation Project, as it’s called, has been at the heart of controversy for decades, with housing proponents on one end and environmentalists on the other. Land trust and conservation organization Save Mount Diablo previously brought forward a lawsuit that alleged that the project was approved with an inadequate project-level environmental impact review, which would have provided a deeper analysis of the project’s impacts compared to the broader programmatic EIR that was conducted.
During the meeting, Lewis said the city of Pittsburg had been willfully noncompliant with the orders of LAFCo to provide a project-level EIR.
“I find it both a substantive and procedural failure. It seems to me a failure of due process,” Lewis continued.
Tom Geiger, LAFCo’s legal counsel, responded to say that at that point in the proceedings, LAFCo was required to treat the EIR documents as legally adequate.
Perkins called the project’s lack of affordable homes a disappointment before casting his no vote.
However, commissioners Candace Andersen, Patricia Bristow, Federal Glover, Michael McGill and Gabriel Quinto followed LAFCo’s staff recommendation to vote in favor of the project, citing an urgent need for housing, even if it’s not affordable housing.
“In reality, we still need places for people to live,” said Bristow, noting that Faria won’t solve the problem, but it will help alleviate the housing shortage. “And it looks like a really nice development.”
During public comment ahead of the decision, Winter King, Save Mount Diablo’s attorney, said LAFCo has the authority and obligation to impose conditions on the annexation to address its impacts to open space and agricultural lands.
“The recommended action here completely abdicates that authority,” King said. “It includes no requirements, no conditions, no mitigation measures that would, for example, bring the project into compliance with LAFCo’s own agricultural and open space preservation policies.”
Seth Adams, Save Mount Diablo land conservation director, said he supports sensitive development and open space protection. He called for further adjustments to the project to reduce its impact on existing residents and wildlife alike and he alleged having difficulty in getting Seeno or most members of the Pittsburg Council to meet with his group.
Pittsburg City Manager Garrett Evans said the project is a significant opportunity for the city.
“This is a better project than it was 20 years ago,” he said. “There’s 44% open space in the project; before, it was 21%. Their development will be focused in the valley, will protect the ridgelines, there’s access points to Thurgood Marshall Park, which the city looks forward to working with the park district to enhance.”
Map would be nice, Los Medanos Ridgeline between Concord and Pittsburg doesn’t really bring a location to mind.
Here’s a link to some info with a map of the project. Scroll down for the map.
https://savemountdiablo.org/concord-save-the-ridge/
They (LAFCO Commissioners and Pittsburg City Council members) received over 19,000 emails asking them to preserve the ridgeline. They were asked to do what is environmentally right in 2024. What a disappointment. Seeno had an opportunity to preserve the ridgeline and prove to local residents he will not destroy the environment again. Seeno’s past history of destroying the environment is the reason he was knocked out of the CNWS development. Once again, the “powers that be” cave in to Seeno. No wonder Pittsburg residents are frustrated. Thanks for nothing LAFCO Commissioners.
The government doesn’t care about citizens, and definitely doesn’t represent them. They only care about money and control and power.
Preserving the environment is not a realistic business for a real estate developer
It’s all about the money.
Developers (Seeno) bought off the politicians …….. again
Really? How much did Seeno pay “the politicians?”
Which politicians did Seeno pay?
Casting aspersions and alleging criminal corruption without sharing details smacks of sour grapes.
Seeno? Well no surprise there. It’s all about greed and we all know how crooked and greedy Seeno is.
Disappointed is not strong enough. Seeno and money wins again.
We are turning into LA.
Yes, the population is growing. Where do you suggest the next generation lives?
They can live in all the empty houses.
This is the first year since 2020 that the state has seen a net population increase, or they can be deported.
Oh yeah easy just scrounge up a 500k down payment, make 100k a year and you’re good to go.
Seeno got into the politician’s pocket once again
Welcome to the new Los Angeles.
Pittsburg should be mandated by the county to provide full Bailey road improvements and hwy 4/242 dollars before the shovel hits the dirt. Zero jobs outside of the Seeno network will benefit from this development, and again where are the lasting median wage jobs that help Pittsburg (vapor)?
BFF Out!
Residents of Pittsburg your city council is attempting to fill a very large hole in tax revenue created by US Steel closing their plant. Decision makers often forget every developed parcel has to be provided city services which almost NEVER go down.
antioch experienced what happens when lower cost homes are allowed to be built on postage stamp sized lots. Lower priced homes do not afford a city a tax revenue cushion needed in case of an economic downturn. During last large economic downturn when assessed values were lowered antioch layoffs of employees included Police.
.
Citizens of Pittsburg your city council is starting down possibly a slippery one way slope, BEWARE ! ! !
The new hilltop homes should have great views of the surrounding area including seeing the Private Dead wildlife museum the Seeno’s have built.
https://www.thepress.net/news/regional_and_national/private-wildlife-museum-coming-to-county/article_9b6751fa-a323-11ed-933d-a71594461daa.html
Seeno owns Pittsburg, hook, line and stinkers.
If Seeno’s involved, it will be a disaster.
Why?
Payoff the politicians?
Yeah, it’s called developers fees and building permits. Once sold, there’s property tax revenue. Just like your personal budget, the city too wishes to expand their revenues to make life better. Ok for you but not for the city?
The state is threatening lawsuits against cities that do not actively add homes to meet the state’s housing numbers. Pittsburg may not be Newport Beach or Atherton, but the threat is just as real for places like Pittsburg. You don’t have the funds to fight the state so yes, housing will have to be built.
Let’s be fair, we do need more housing.
And I will say that Seeno builds nice communities. Curious if the address will show as Concord, or Pittsburgh? I can’t really tell from the article.
I believe you mean Pittsburg.
Why does everyone have the problem with “Seeno”? It’s like you’ve created a super villain out of a name. It’s just a business doing business. Who cares if they develop land? Someone is gonna do it and news flash, they all negotiate with the cities.
Maybe if you treated your local politicians like the public servants they are, they would do what the public wants.
“Seeno” ain’t really the person you should be blaming
Here are just some of the reasons why the Seeno’s look bad.
https://savemountdiablo.org/blog/the-seeno-way-why-the-seenos-are-bad-community-partners/
I have nothing bad to say about the Seeno Company, the family, or any other related legitimate businesses.
Sounds like Stoneman park to me, could not imagine Keller canyon (dump)
Some people commenting are missing the point. Save Mount Diablo is not asking Seeno/Pittsburg NOT to build. Everyone is aware there is a housing shortage. SMD and thousands of local residents are asking Seeno, LAFCO and the City of Pittsburg not to build ON the ridgeline which has a negative visual impact and the ridgeline is a natural wildlife corridor from Mount Diablo to the Suisun Bay. Many California cities are opting to build below the ridgeline.
We don’t need more development. We need to save the remaining natural lands of Mount Diablo!
if only the Seeno’s could donate their hilltop land to the Save Mount Diablo non profit org. … that would be the right thing to do. Besides it would help wildlife such as the California Condor.
Just as I suspected, nobody can explain WHY seeno is a bad thing. Everyone just copping everyone else. “Seeno bad” like NPCs. Crazy
are they going to widen kirker pass or ygnacio to accommodate all the extra people that will be living in these homes? didnt think so!
I think we have all discussed the reasons why the Seeno Company is not favorable over and over in past years.. They have a number of local environmental violations and fines for violations such as bulldozing a pond that housed red legged frogs in one development and more. Anyone interested can look it up on the internet.