CONCORD'S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Concord sees land of plenty at Navy base

By Ryan Huff
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Sunday, January 8, 2006

Walk around the Concord Naval Weapons Station today and you'll see tule elk prancing along creekbeds and red-tail hawks soaring amid the rolling hills.

This peaceful setting contrasts with the base's past life, when it stored bombs and bullets before they were shipped off to war.

Now a battle is brewing over the future of the 8 square miles of prime real estate, and for good reason: The region may never see a grand development opportunity like this again.

Some want all 5,170 acres of the recently closed base kept as open space. Others are eager to build houses on one of the East Bay's last substantial chunks of developable land -- one that could sell in the neighborhood of $1 billion.

Concord's nonbinding draft general plan calls for construction of up to 13,000 housing units there over the next three decades and preserving as much as half the land for parks and open space.

Building that many homes would essentially create a community equal in population and area to Pleasant Hill, a city of 33,000.

It would surpass the 11,000-home Dougherty Valley development near San Ramon and become the largest single housing project in Alameda or Contra Costa counties.

"It's a planner's dream," said Chris Truebridge, president of Shapell Industries, a large home builder interested in the project.

"Every developer west of Denver would like that opportunity. It's unusual to have 5,000 acres that's totally a blank page that you can design to fit all of your community's needs."

Concord officials in the next few months will start a yearslong planning process -- akin to a Sim City computer project -- that will further expand Contra Costa's largest city.

Ultimately, the Concord City Council's decisions will have vast effects on the economy, transportation and housing throughout the Bay Area.

Meanwhile, Mount Diablo Unified School District must plan for its largest expansion ever, building several new elementary schools and possibly a middle and high school to handle thousands of incoming students.

Fire stations, grocery stores and coffee shops will pop up around the new community.

With new housing near the North Concord BART station, the transit system's least busy terminal could thrive with riders.

"The land has so much potential to serve many people in Concord and the surrounding communities," said Mayor Susan Bonilla. "The one thing out there people are in agreement on is they want to see recreation fields, parks and open space. They see value in letting kids play and walking on trails."

Building consensus

Council members say they want to listen to community input before making decisions, and that includes balancing open space and development needs for this city that already has 124,000 people.

For example, a majority of the five-member council supports a village of condominiums, apartments and retail businesses next to the North Concord BART station. They see development around the station as a golden opportunity to get commuters off gridlocked freeways.

The weapons station straddles the chronically jammed Highway 4. The 7,600 acres to the north that contains the base's Suisun Bay port will remain under military control.

As for how much of the base's inland portion should stay as open space, all council members agree that keeping development away from the eastern hills is a top priority.

The debate will center on how much development happens on thousands of acres between the ridgelines and the city's current homes.

Some environmentalists are already suggesting that Mount Diablo Creek -- which runs through the middle of the oval-shaped base -- be a border separating open space from homes and businesses. That would keep development away from more than 60 percent of the property.

"The creek is absolutely the logical dividing line," said David Reid, the East Bay field representative for the Greenbelt Alliance.

Concord has enough room for housing and job growth within the existing city and on the weapons station property west of the creek, Reid said.

"Every additional house you build will increase sediment in the creek and hurt the fish and wildlife," he said.

Saving space

Reid's ideas are somewhat similar to the surprise plan unveiled by the East Bay Regional Park District in November, just weeks after Congress approved the closure of the base's inland area to save the Pentagon millions of dollars every year.

Local park leaders would like the National Park Service to purchase about 2,500 acres east of the creek through a federal department transfer program. In turn, the park service could then deed the land to the local park district without having to negotiate with the city.

The proposal shocked Concord leaders, who say they have now met with East Bay parks officials on open space ideas.

"We're not in support of carving out half the land for East Bay Regional Parks before we've even had a (public) meeting about this," said Councilman Mark Peterson. "I don't see us building on the hills or the watershed, but we may want to have other open space, such as sports fields, golf courses and hiking and biking trails."

It's extremely rare for such a large military property to become available next to a major metropolitan area, said Tim Ford, a military expert who leads the Association of Defense Communities.

"Concord is one of the highest-valued properties in this round" of base closures, Ford said. "And you're not dealing with (demolishing) that many structures on the base. It's pretty much just land."

Meanwhile, as environmental advocates plead for open space, developers are eagerly awaiting the day they can break ground on houses, business parks and retail shops.

So who's expressed interest?

"The question is: Who hasn't expressed interest?" said Joseph Perkins, president of the Home Builders Association of North California.

"Even if we build 13,000 homes, it still is not going to get us where we need to be in the Bay Area -- matching housing supply with housing demand"
.
Creating jobs

Concord leaders also envision adding up to 13,000 jobs to the inland area, although they have not pinpointed where these new businesses would grow.

One possibility would be to attract a major high-tech company or medical research facility to anchor a business park, Peterson said.

Experts warn, however, that city leaders must provide affordable housing next to these job centers or they'll further clog freeways with commuters.

"If some giant employer establishes here and the pay level is such that their employees can't afford to live in the naval weapons station development, they'll have to live in Brentwood or Tracy and commute in," said Gary Binger, a former planning director for the Association of Bay Area Governments.

"The Bay Area has approved a significant number of jobs but hasn't provided enough housing for workers. That just creates more traffic."

The key to reducing that traffic, analysts said, is to encourage public transportation and establish jobs in Concord to cut down on lengthy commutes -- especially for the burgeoning East County.

"People in Brentwood and Antioch don't want to drive all the way to Oakland or San Francisco for their jobs," said Elizabeth Deakin, a UC Berkeley city and regional planning professor. "There are a lot of possibilities to attract new businesses. People will accept lower pay if they don't have to deal with as long of a commute."

Even so, people should not expect changes in the Concord housing or job market overnight.

Getting through approval after approval to put development on a former base is like running a marathon with hurdles. City officials estimate the ceremonial groundbreaking for base construction will be at least five to seven years away.

Cleaning up

Military cleanups never move expeditiously.

The Navy has slowly cleaned up the weapons station pollution since 1983, but nine contaminated sites in the inland area remain -- including a 530-acre portion across from Concord High School that contains arsenic and possibly petroleum hydrocarbons.

The military doesn't know how long it will take to finish the job or how much that might cost, said base spokesman Gregg Smith.

Often the military will subtract the cleanup costs from the sale price and force developers to get rid of the pollution, allowing the process to move more quickly.

But those steps are years away.

Between now and then, Concord leaders will hold scores of public meetings that will shape the land's future for the next 50 years. And while developers and environmental players now say they want to work together, there no doubt will be great debate.

"For anyone to say there aren't going to be some turf wars, that's crazy," said Councilman Bill Shinn. "But we have to realize the city is grown out and we have to make sure we develop this thing in a thoughtful manner for the future."

Ryan Huff covers Concord and Clayton. Reach him at 925-977-8471 or rhuff@cctimes.com.

A two-part series on redeveloping the Concord Naval Weapons Station

TODAY: The debate begins in Concord.

MONDAY: Lessons learned. Bases in Illinois and Irvine shut down in 1993. One thrives. One decays.

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