A long-awaited housing project on Concord’s former Coast Guard property is taking another step forward. The Concord City Council is expected to approve a $356,164 agreement Tuesday with Walnut Creek-based FirstCarbon Solutions to prepare the environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed Concord Townsquare Project, a development that would bring 800 to 900 homes to the 59-acre former Coast Guard property at 3295 Haleakala St, (off E. Olivera). The environmental review is a major milestone in the approval process and is required before the city can consider the project’s land-use entitlements. The proposed development would require a General Plan amendment, rezoning, a development agreement and several other approvals before construction could begin.
City officials said the project is not eligible for streamlined environmental review because it conflicts with the property’s current General Plan and zoning designations. Instead, a full project-level Environmental Impact Report will examine issues including air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, biological and cultural resources, noise, hazardous materials, water supply and other potential environmental impacts. The review will also include public scoping meetings and opportunities for residents to comment before a final EIR is completed. According to the staff report, the environmental review is expected to take about one year to complete. While the contract is valued at $356,164, city taxpayers will not foot the bill. The developer will reimburse the city for the entire cost of the EIR, plus an additional 20% to cover the city’s administrative expenses. The project first came before the City Council during a study session in February, where councilmembers expressed support for continuing the proposal and discussed topics including housing density, unit types and potential community benefits. Tuesday’s vote does not approve the housing development itself. Instead, it authorizes the environmental review process, one of the key steps before the proposed neighborhood can return to the Planning Commission and City Council for future public hearings and final consideration.
So close together can hear neighbor’s toilet flush.
Am i reading that right? – 59 acres to put 800-900 homes? That’s 0.07 acres per home for the house and the yard and that isn’t even considering roads or sidewalks or anything else they want to put in there.
The current proposal is for 940 homes.
That’s the solution, more houses will get us out of our financial hole.
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City council’s develop tunnel vision buying into the almost ponzi like thinking
when contemplating additional high density housing, seeing only dollar signs
of additional revenue. Forgetting they are required to provide city services to
each parcel / housing unit.
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Those services are at an ever increasing cost due to increasing cost of labor,
materials and as some cities have done contracting out costs.
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antioch as example, during economic downturn a few years back, county
Assessor devalued parcel values. If memory serves, antioch ended up
laying off sworn Police officers as well as other city employees.
Not too many years ago, city had sixteen homicides in one year.
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Larger lot sizes gives a city, a tax revenue cushion which a city reliant upon
smaller lot size and high density housing don’t have. Developers SPRINT
away with a hefty profit and city residents are left holding the bag.
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Will this happen to Concord, time will tell . . . . .
City would be far better served if they very actively attempted to attract
manufacturing businesses.
When I was at Mare Island, we lived in WWII era housing that was called “Garbage Gardens” with concrete floors and paper walls. Nobody had any secrets there.
THANK YOU, for your service !
@Cowellian
A little anecdote: I had a brother stationed at Mare Island, and he had MINSY somewhere in his return address. When I wrote to him, I put MINSY, Ca., and he actually received it. I didn’t realize at the time that it stood for Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Cyn,
MINSY is AFA (another freaking acronym) and government loves AFAs.
I love this idea the idea of having my neighbors so close to me they can hear everything they should add more or make them like the low income apartments so more people can fit
Who studies the impact on schools, energy and water, traffic, police and fire and BART?
Guy Bjerke already told us that the traffic study is fixed and will say that existing roadways are sufficient for the added traffic. He actually said this about the 12,500 homes proposed for the former CNWS, so if it’s sufficient for 12,500 homes, thousands of jobs, and a college/university traffic, it’s obviously good enough for the 940 homes currently proposed.for this military housing site.
Wow, the way Willow Pass Rd evening commute is backed up from Lynwood to Parkside is proof enough that Zero studies/ impact reports were done. ANTIOCH 2.0
Those in charge believe that expanding the 2 lane section of Willow Pass Rd. to 4 lanes will be enough to handle all of the new traffic.
Yeah, Guy BJerke and his pocket-pals at Concord City Council have already proven their proficiency in conversion and development of Military land to City expansion paradise. Comedy.
The only study they are concerned about is how much money will be pocketed.
Hear hear
The CCWD already told the city that they have plenty of water to supply this project.
The MDUSD has been complaining about declining enrollment for years. The District believes more students is a good thing.
The state believes requiring new homes to have solar installed will cover electricity needs.
BART is clamoring for more riders and view housing development as a good thing that they need and want.
This is looked at as a boon for fire and police due to increased property tax and/or sales tax revenue to provide these agencies with more funding.
800 to 900 homes on 59-acres … does this fall under “Affordable Housing”?
Only a small percentage of the homes are affordable housing. A couple of apartment buildings and some homes will have ADUs which the developer wants to qualify as meeting the affordable housing requirements.
The current proposal is for:
403 townhomes
409 detached homes
56 accessory dwelling units
72 affordable homes at the site
940 homes in total
The current proposal is for:
403 townhomes – 42.8%
409 detached homes – 43.5%
56 accessory dwelling units – 7.7%
72 affordable homes at the site – 6.0%
940 homes in total – 100%
Using 850 as a midpoint that’s 14.4 residences per acre! Literally on top of each other! Absolutely gross! We need some high powered voices against this….
It appears that the single family homes and the single family homes with ADUs will either have lots of 1700 square feet or 2500 square feet.
…so there will be that many more high densities jammed together in the other areas you described … no thanks!
love the picture… kinda like some upstate New York development with no fences or blight….
The above rendering isn’t what the project will look like. If you go to “conceptual plan” under the link you’ll get a much better idea of the proposed density of this project. The rendering of the 3 story home with 2 front doors is a single family home with an ADU.
https://www.cityofconcord.org/904/Former-Coast-Guard-Property
No one, no one person spoke up, even on Zoom. at the City Council meeting about this tonight. All just talking on this forum.
Where has talking at a Concord City Council meeting ever actually gotten anyone, KAD? If you praise them, they’ll make you feel like their hero. Give them a hard dose of reality, they’ll either ignore you… or glad-hand you right out the door with a “Thanks for dropping by.”
When we only get a few days notice it can make attending difficult. If I hadn’t been traveling I would’ve attended, as I have all of the previous meetings on this matter. Too many residents believe their voice doesn’t matter, that the decisions have already been made, and that public input is just a formality that’s not taken seriously by those making the decisions.