News Update

Concord Approves Naval Weapons Station Plan

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Twenty-nine people spoke to the council before the vote. Many represented the Coalition for a Sustainable Concord, which includes environmental, labor, housing and neighborhood advocacy groups.

The coalition had submitted a list of additional mitigation measures they wanted the city to include, on such issues as affordable housing, environmental protections and rules to require hiring local workers for construction projects.

Council members said they supported many of the ideas presented and wanted more information on local-hire rules, but that they would consider them later with the general plan amendments. They said they believed they were approving a strong and legally adequate plan and environmental review that could be tweaked later.

It was disappointing that the city did not take the coalition's suggestions, said Samuel Tepperman-Gelfant, an attorney with Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm that is a member of the coalition. The environmental review they passed does not meet legal standards, he said.

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Mangledfont in the news

Planning for the Concord Naval Weapons Station has reached a critical juncture, and my work with the Community Coalition for a Sustainable Concord has really heated up. Here is some recent coverage from the Contra Costa Times.

Your Turn: Advice for the Concord City Council: Don't leap without parachute 02/06/10

Concord stands poised to take an enormous step that will shape the East Bay for generations: creating a community on the long dormant land of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Whether this is a leap to a better tomorrow or a plunge to an uncertain future depends on the environmental and social safeguards built into the project now.

Later this month, the Concord City Council will consider a Reuse Plan and Environmental Impact Report for the Weapons Station, an area larger than Pleasant Hill. The Community Coalition for a Sustainable Concord urges the council to deal with key outstanding issues necessary to create a truly world-class project before approving the plan.

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Concord takes weapons station testimony as plan heads for approval 02/10/10

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Environmental groups said they were glad the city had agreed to make a climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gases, and to work on restoring Mount Diablo Creek sitewide, rather than working on it one parcel at a time.

But environmentalists said more details are needed and that the regulations need more teeth.

"Significant impacts are identified but the actual mitigation is punted," said Samuel Tepperman-Gelfant of the nonprofit law firm Public Advocates, Inc. "Some things should be dealt with at later stages in the process, but (the problem is) it's deferred without guidance in the (environmental report), so basically we're left at this stage with a giant question mark."

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