Unanimous Council Decision Had Strong Support among City Residents and Comes as New Poll Shows Solid Backing for the Project Regionally
The Redwood City City Council voted unanimously Monday to proceed with the formal environmental review of the Saltworks 50/50 Balance Plan, a move strongly backed by local voters and in line with a new public opinion survey that shows regional support for the development plan.
The 7-0 vote by the council was a victory for supporters of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the 1970 law passed by the California Legislature that conservation and environmental leaders frequently cite as one of the most important pieces of legislation ever adopted to protect the environment.
The vote reflected public opinion in Redwood City, where a survey conducted in April for developer DMB Associates found that 68 percent of Redwood City voters support city officials conducting a full environmental and public review of the Saltworks 50/50 Balanced Plan. It also is in line with Redwood City voters' sound rejection of Measure W in 2008, which sought to circumvent city leadership with a charter amendment.
It also is in line with the findings of new regional poll showing 63 percent of voters across eight Bay Area counties back the proposal for a transit-oriented, environmentally designed community of 12,000 homes on the 1,436-acre salt-harvesting facility.
"We are heartened by this indication that the Bay Area embraces the form of sustainable reuse and restoration we have in mind for the Redwood City Saltworks," said John Bruno, DMB Redwood City Saltworks General Manager.
"As the Bay Area learns more through the environmental review process," Bruno added, "we are confident voters and elected leaders will see that we have an opportunity in Redwood City to do something truly special and set a new standard for smart growth and stewardship of the natural and human environments."
Under the Saltworks 50/50 Balanced Plan, DMB will restore and bring back to life—at private expense and at no cost to taxpayers—1,436 acres on the edge of San Francisco Bay where levels of salinity and concentrations of other substances resulting from industrial salt production are so extreme the property is uninhabitable.
The restoration plan proposes to use 50 percent of the site for active recreation, open space and tidal marsh recreation and the remaining 50 percent for a walkable, transit-oriented community that would reduce the massive jobs/housing imbalance in the area and help reduce long distance commutes and greenhouse-gas emissions across the region.
The community will be constructed to meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED ND standards and generate enough solar energy on-site to fulfill most power needs. It will have a new independent source of drinking water that will not compete for supplies relied on by the rest of the region.
The regional support for the 50/50 Balanced Plan is particularly gratifying because it registered across the Bay Area despite a months-long effort by one project foe to undermine environmental review by mischaracterizing the project as taking place in the Bay and entailing the filling of Bay waters.
In reality, the project would take place on private property owned by Cargill that hasn't been part of San Francisco Bay since it was diked, graded and filled for industrial salt-production between 70 and 100 years ago. Developer DMB intends to pull the Bay onto the site through recreation of 440 acres of wetlands, tidal marsh and natural habitat, which would amount to one of the largest privately funded restoration projects of its type in San Francisco Bay history.
"The more light the environmental review process sheds on the Saltworks 50/50 Balanced plan, the more the Bay Area will appreciate its environmental values," Bruno predicted.
The regional survey of Bay Area public opinion was conducted for DMB by the research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates between April 29 and May 6. A total of 1,220 voters across the eight Bay Area counties outside San Mateo County were randomly selected for telephone interviews. The margin of error for the sample is +/- 2.9 percent.
Respondents were read the following description:
Let me tell you more about the Redwood City Saltworks plan, which would be built along the Bay in Redwood City. In case you are not familiar, Redwood City is about 15 miles south of San Francisco along the Peninsula. The plan would redevelop about 1,400 acres of land that is currently used for industrial salt production in Redwood City. The plan would clean up all of the property and restore 50 percent of the land, or about 700 acres, and dedicate it for active recreation, parks, open space and protected wetlands, tidal marsh, and habitat areas. The other half of the land would be a transit-oriented and environmentally designed community and include 12,000 homes, as well as schools, businesses, and parks, all located near public transit facilities. The plan would be completely paid for by the developer and at no cost to the public.
Question:
Based on what you just heard, do you think the Redwood City Saltworks plan is something you would support or oppose?
Result:
- Total support: 62 percent
- Total oppose: 25 percent
- Undecided: 12 percent
Contacts:
for Redwood City Saltworks
Pete Hillan, 415-318-4111
C:
831-252-1512
