Scratch any inconvenient wildlife story and you always find the larger selfishness of a few madcap developers, and a city council with comic book dollar signs on their eyes. Turns out the Acorn Woodpeckers of Rossmoor are no exception. February’s issue of Quail (MDAS Audubon Newsletter) is chock full of updates, but this story by Nancy Wenniger, about the history of Rossmoor, really steals the show.
This conflict is the inevitable result of a series of bad decisions. In 1976 the City of Walnut Creek approved an Environmental Impact Report for a conceptual plan for the completion of the Rossmoor community. The EIR listed a number of “unavoidable” adverse impacts to the environment which would occur if 3,500 additional units were allowed to be built by the developer as proposed. Of special interest is the following ecological impact: “Loss of approximately 300 acres of natural vegetation and wildlife habitat, including approximately 135 acres of oak woodland and riparian woodland, which are the most biologically productive of Tice Valley¹s plant communities. This will substantially reduce the plant and animal habitat value of the Tice Valley.” Despite this very significant environmental impact, the build-out was approved.
Did you get that? Buildout approved despite huge environmental impact.
In 1989 UDC Homes submitted its plan for 330 new condominiums in what would be the next-to-last development in Rossmoor. The plan called for massive grading and the removal of 3,100 trees, mostly blue oak and buckeyes.
3100 trees. Wow that’s alot of new space for condos. What could possibly go wrong?
Rossmoor residents, MDAS, the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society and Friends of Tice Creek all united in their opposition to the destruction of nearly 36 acres of woodland. They requested that the City require a new or amended EIR to address these very significant impacts which had not previously been adequately considered. City staff and the Planning Commission agreed that the environmental impacts were significant and could not be avoided without a substantial reduction in the size of the project. The Planning Commission also determined that the destruction of trees and habitat was inconsistent with city policies, and they denied UDC¹s permit. However, UDC appealed to Walnut Creek’s City Council.
Developers and concerned residents argue before City Council. Hmm, that sounds familiar. I think I know this story. Don’t tell me how it ends, I can guess.
On May 29, 1990, more than 200 Rossmoor residents and environmentalists attended a marathon meeting. According to an account in the Contra Costa Times, ”Senior citizens booed and hissed for a good portion of the seven-hour hearing, and the City Clerk at one point called police officers to guard against any possible senior citizen disturbances.”
Senior Citizen disturbances? You’ve got to be kidding me. Was someone hit with a cane? The clerk called police officers. Ohhh you mean like the dozen police officers “necessary” to be on hand for our November 7th, 2007 meeting about the fate of the Martinez beavers? Yes, as I recall, the Contra Costa Times reached for its fainting couch in reporting that meeting too. Apparently they aren’t used to cities uttering much more than “Wow that’s the best idea, evah!” and “Please tax me more and tear down my grandpa’s house to build a Staples”.
Rossmoor officials argued persuasively that further delay or denial would have an adverse impact on the Golden Rain Foundation¹s capital funding and harm all Rossmoor residents. UDC had threatened to sue the city for as much as $300 million if the project was denied. So, despite impassioned pleas on behalf of the trees, before adjournment at 3 am the council voted 41 in favor of allowing the development to go forward and determined that the environmental impacts had been addressed in the 1976 report. One speaker spoke prophetically when he told the council a decision for the developer would haunt them “for years and years to come.”
That’s some mighty illuminating back story. Puts all those pesky woodpeckers in perspective. The Sierra Club sued and lost, (like us) and the project rolled blindly forward like a tank through a china shop.
The condominiums were built, nestled into the remnants of the oak woodlands. Three-story vertical facades and the poor choice of a foam construction material created an attractive substitute for the granary trees which had been removed. The woodpeckers have responded in an entirely predictable way to the stressors in their environment.
“And that’s why Grandpa needs a shot gun, Timmy.”
Some bedtime story.
Check out the whole newsletter, which is a rollicking good read, especially the part where it tries to mention us and calls us Give A Dam (sheesh!). I wrote Diana and reminded her that despite our sentimentality about beavers, we here in Martinez are a deeply practical people:
We understand our city will never GIVE a dam!
And just in case the nature crowd misses the ad in BN, check out the article in this month’s newsletter for the Mt. Diablo Audubon. The editor kindly allotted me 300 word to convince bird lovers to come to a beaver festival. I am very proud of this particular work. In addition to being one of the most carefully crafted and pithy things I think I ever wrote, it is also exactly 300 words.
There’s a new chapter of meet the characters for the Beaver Believers film, and it’s not me, but it should be someone you know. In case you don’t recognize her right away, this is the beaver magician Mary O’brien who attended our festival in 2010. She has, along the way inspired me, delighted me, encouraged me, exasperated me and terrified me. Not necessarily in that order.
