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Protection of any part of the environment is never complete.

Moraga residents have a long history of community activism for open space, but the protection of the town’s remaining open space still hinges on future leadership.

Twenty-five years ago Moraga voters adopted a then-pioneering initiative to block two approved ridgeline developments and protect several more ridgelines. That 1986 Moraga Open Space Ordinance (MOSO), formally an amendment to the Town’s General Plan, has been a remarkable success at protecting four major ridgelines where it clearly prohibits development: Campolindo Ridge, Mulholland Ridge, Indian Ridge, and Sanders Ridge. In the following decades, though, developers have turned their sights to the remainder of Moraga’s open space not covered by MOSO.

Palos Colorados

The first post-MOSO controversy came in the 1990s with the Palos Colorados development (see May-June 2006, page 13; pasted below). Developers proposed 192 luxury houses plus a golf course, which together would have encompassed roughly 300 acres of open space in the Las Trampas-Lafayette Reservoir wildlife corridor. Community opposition to Palos Colorados was strong and sustained. Twenty years later this pressure resulted in elimination of the golf course altogether, and approval of 123 houses on a development footprint of about 75 acres.

While much less damaging than the original, the final Palos Colorados project will still have a significant impact on wildlife including the threatened California red-legged frog, as well as wetlands and visual resources. Unfortunately, there was nothing in Moraga’s 1990 General Plan to prevent these impacts. Construction is planned to begin next year.

Rancho Laguna

The next major open-space development proposal emerged in 2002. “Rancho Laguna” called for 43 houses along a scenic ridgeline, plus the destruction of over 2,000 feet of creek, on a 180-acre parcel abutting Palos Colorados.

Nine years and over 30 public hearings later, this past January the Moraga Town Council approved a modified version of the project (see March-April Yodeler, page 9). The revised project will preserve most of the creek, but still allows for 27 houses, 19 to be built on the ridge. The development was approved despite the policy of Moraga’s 2002 General Plan to “Protect ridgelines from development.” Because the plan does not define “protect”, two councilmembers, Mayor Karen Mendonca and Howard Harpham, were able to argue that ridgeline development is OK if visual impacts are eliminated from certain public viewpoints. The resulting development will cut up to 30 feet off the top of the ridgeline and attempt to “sink” the houses down into the ridge to be “invisible” from Rheem Boulevard (but prominently visible from elsewhere, in particular from several existing and future public trails.)

Over 150,000 cubic yards of soil are to be graded from the ridge to accommodate these 27 houses. Is this really protection?

No one in Moraga’s open-space community expected Rancho Laguna to be approved this way. Karen Mendonca, the key swing vote, was elected in 2008 on a platform of aggressive open-space and ridgeline protection. While Mendonca did push for preservation of the creek, regarding the ridgeline she seemed most concerned with avoiding a lawsuit from the developer. Councilmember Dave Trotter, who also campaigned on an open-space platform, was steadfast in his commitment to protecting as much of the ridgeline as possible, and voted against the project.

The unfortunate outcome for the Rancho Laguna ridge highlights the limitations of a General Plan that leaves too much to the discretion of councilmembers, rather than providing clear-cut standards.

In 2008, anticipating such problems, Moraga residents drafted a sequel to MOSO that would have amended the General Plan to incorporate unambiguous and very specific prohibitions on open space development.

This Measure K failed for two reasons: the developer most affected spent $750,000 against it, an unprecedented sum in a town with only 10,000 registered voters; and a “moderate” segment of the town argued that Measure K was unnecessary because the General Plan already contained adequate protection for ridgelines. We would hope that they would agree that the Rancho Laguna approval illustrates that they were wrong.

The future
The problem doesn’t end with Rancho Laguna. Two of Moraga’s most precious and pristine remaining open spaces, Bollinger Canyon and Indian Valley—600 acres in all, with very high habitat and scenic values—hang in the balance. Moraga’s current General Plan does not protect them from major residential development.

The plan, however, is nearly due for the standard 10-year “update” recommended by the state. This process is a crucial opportunity to fix the General Plan–but only if the Town Council has the political will to stand up to developers and enact robust and definitive policies that reflect the values of residents.

Three crucial Council seats will be up for re-election in 2012. If voters elect a solid open-space majority, the last of Moraga’s unprotected open spaces may be spared overdevelopment.

[from May-June 2006, page 13]
Palos Colorados developer drops golf course
New proposal will preserve more land, greatly reduce impacts

On March 15 Richfield Investments submitted a new development application for its Palos Colorados project in Moraga—minus the 18-hole golf course that was among the lightning rods for opposition to the 123-home project (see July 2004 Yodeler, page 19). Fortunately the developer has not asked to increase the number of homes. (Richfield is a new developer, not to be confused with Richland Development Corp., the previous developer.)

This is a huge step in the right direction. Elimination of the golf course means that over 80% of the site can be preserved in its natural state. Grading volume and area will likely be cut by more than half, allowing preservation of 450 acres (out of 560) of open hills and wildlife habitat. Gone too will be the golf-course pesticides and herbicides. Under the old plan, over 150 large trees would have been cut down; now that figure is 15. Traffic from the project onto congested Moraga Road will be significantly reduced as well.

The withdrawal of the golf course is surely in response to repeated statements by state and federal agencies—the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Regional Water Quality Control Board, state Department of Fish and Game—that the earlier proposal did not comply with regulations protecting water quality and wildlife.

In turn, the close scrutiny from these agencies is a direct result of the letters you wrote, meetings you attended, and financial support you gave to the Bay Chapter and to Preserve Lamorinda Open Space (PLOS). The Regional Water Quality Control Board and other agencies received hundreds of letters about Palos Colorados. PLOS submitted a vast amount of legal and expert evidence on the project’s environmental impacts. Together we have had a huge impact!

The approval process for Palos Colorados is not over, however. The new application will be reviewed by the Moraga Planning Department and eventually put before the Moraga Planning Commission for a decision. New applications will also have to be filed with the state and federal resource agencies as well.

More needs to be done to minimize impacts from the housing. With the golf course out, there’s more flexibility in the site plan. Homes can be configured to minimize impacts on the endangered California red-legged frog, birds, and other wildlife that depend on the site’s three ponds. Houses can be clustered and set back far from the shorelines. The current plan needs improvement in this regard.

WhatYouCanDo

PLOS has scheduled a community meeting on Sun., May 7, at 4 pm at the Lafayette Community Center (500 St. Mary’s Road) to help address remaining questions about the project. You will be able see the new site plan, hear a report on the status of the application, and give your input on where to go from here. For more information contact Suzanne Jones at (925)878-9682 or plos@robelia.com

Suzanne Jones, steering committee, Preserve Lamorinda Open Space