CURRENT STATUS OF PROJECT

The applicant has withdrawn the plan that included the golf course, but the new plan has not yet been approved by the City of Orinda, and some of it remains vague. (There can be no doubt that Orinda will approve it.) There will be further City meetings and opportunities for public input on the details. However, there may not be another meeting with the permit issuing federal agency, the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps will decide soon whether to permit the development without a golf course, deny it, or require a new, extensive Environmental Impact Statement before deciding.

The project is also currently being reviewed by the Water Quality Board, which accepts public input, and the Fish and Wildllife Service, which will not.

THE APPLICANT'S PRESENTATION

The project has been changed. As stated in the meeting announcement:
- Grading area reduced from 372 acres in 2001 to the current 296 acres.
- Wetland impacts reduced from 4.7 acres to 2.7 acres.
- Drainage impacts reduced from 20, 722 linear feet (37% of total) to 14,858 linear feet (26% of total).
- Impacts to riparian woodland reduced from 7 acres to 4.8 acres
- Coast live oak forest impacts reduced from 13.3 acres to 11.7 acres and
- Northern coyote brush scrub impacts reduced from 20 acres to 15 acres.

Changes in the proposed plan include: Elimination of the golf course and facilities (and thus, elimination of construction on the Moraga Creek drainage). This reduces the "development footprint" by nearly 40%. However, the project grading area is reduced by less than 30%.

Relocation of the main road through the development (Gateway Boulevard) to a lower elevation as it crosses the valley. (This avoids some sensitive seeps and springs.)

Relocation of power lines to cross the valley at a higher elevation, overlooking the entire development site (in the golf course plan, power lines were to be undergrounded).

Addition of a number of pedestrian paths and/or staircases crossing through the housing areas and providing access to regional trails.

The Indian Valley mitigation area is still included, and the applicant still proposes to "construct" some "compensatory wetlands" there, as well as some in Gateway Valley. The applicant indicated that the open space areas in Gateway and Indian Valley would be turned over to a public agency (probably the Regional Parks, but that was not stated) along with a trust to fund management of them.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Public comments were invited that addressed matters within the jurisdictions of either the Army Corps of Engineers (generally the broader environmental and regional impacts) or the City of Orinda planning office (specifics such as number, type, design of buildings & amenities).

Most of the comments, even by individuals resigned to eventual development, called for further scrutiny of environmental issues, and a number of them specifically requested that a new Environmental Impact Statement be prepared. Several argued that the mitigation measures were unreliable or insufficient. A number spoke of the need for careful scrutiny because of Gateway Valley's importance to the region's wildlife and open space corridor, and several mentioned the upcoming 4th bore of the Caldecott Tunnel as a complicating factor. Canyon residents in particular called for studies of the potential effects - of the mitigation projects in Indian Valley - on Canyon's water supply, and questioned the city of Orinda's authority to approve those parts of an environmental impact report that concern areas outside of its city limits. Several Lamorinda residents requested changes in the plan to incorporate 10 to 25% "affordable housing." Other speakers suggested adjustments such as more access for equestrians and the elimination or reduction of livestock grazing in the preserved open spaces. A number of people also commented on the short notice and awkward timing (during summer vacation) of the meeting and the restricted access to project documents.

Amelia Wilson spoke on behalf of SOS Gateway, the Sierra Club, and the Golden Gate chapter of the Audubon Society, reporting that these groups had met with the developers to work out an agreement that could she could not yet reveal. She asked the Corps to accept comments on the project from those three organizations later in the event that they failed to reach an agreement.

The turn-out was moderate. Only one speaker from the public gave unqualified support to the developer. The Army Corps of Engineers stated that they will take written statements.

Written public comments must be received by Monday August 4.

- notes by Dianne Pitman (with feedback from Gail Williams)

WRITE OR FAX:

Lieutenant Colonel Michael McCormick
US Army Corps of Engineers
Regulatory Branch, attention: Molly Martindale
333 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94105-2197

Fax: 415-977-8343

Letters should reference PERMIT NUMBER: 25907S Gateway/Montanera Project on each page
Questions on submitting comments may go to: 415-977-8448
Email for questions: mmartindale@spd.usace.army.mil

Letters about water quality issues arising from the Gateway/Montanera Project::

Executive Officer
California Regional Water Quality Control Board
1515 Clay Street, Suite 1400
Oakland, California 94612

Fax: 510-622-2460

The Greenbelt Guardians are an information network and coalition of groups and individuals dedicated to effectively preserving
open space in the hills east of Berkeley and Oakland and west of^M Orinda and Moraga. Join us in spreading the word.

Greenbelt Guardians | P.O. Box 14, Canyon CA 94516 info@savegateway.org