800-home plan stirs opposition
SOME WANT TO PRESERVE OPEN SPACE DESPITE GOAL FOR MORE HOUSING
By Anna Tong
Mercury News
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A battle is re-igniting in Fremont about what to do with one of the last open areas of flat land in the Bay Area.Peninsula developer Richard Frisbie, who has been working on a development plan for about 10 years, envisions a community of 800 homes, along with an elementary school, a church, even a cricket field.
Environmentalists are horrified by the thought of an artificial lake that they believe will attract house pets and new animals to the fragile ecosystem such as sea gulls. They also fear ``McMansions,'' destroying the view from Coyote Hills Regional Park, a wetlands habitat that is home to 170 bird species. The Frisbie Planning Group, based in San Mateo, has been working on developing Patterson Ranch since the 1990s, a 428-acre swath of land by the Dumbarton Bridge.
Conflicts within the Patterson family about the development have led to delays in Frisbie filing the plan with the Fremont City Council. Frisbie said he hopes to file soon and to begin construction in 2008.
But a local group of environmentalists is trying to curtail the development. Friends of Coyote Hills and Fremont has collected more than 13,000 signatures for a November ballot initiative that would re-designate the Patterson Ranch land as agricultural. That would allow farming but limit development to one house per 80 acres.
``If we developed this area, it would just look like the rest of Fremont,'' said Jana Sokale, a Newark resident and volunteer with the group.
The city council will hear a report on the initiative Tuesday. It then has 10 days to decide whether to change the ranch's zoning to agricultural or put the issue on the November ballot for voters to decide.
Frisbie, owner of the Frisbie Planning Group, said he thinks his project would be an asset to Fremont. The plan calls for less than half the number of homes that were proposed in the past. Additionally, the Patterson family plans to donate the land nearest to Coyote Hills Regional Park, which equals more than half the total acreage, to the East Bay Regional Park District. On the other half, Frisbie wants to build his project, which includes homes that are powered by solar energy and have ``edible landscaping'' -- fruit and nut trees.
``What we're doing with the housing -- people will come to see it,'' Frisbie said.
The habitat at Coyote Hills Regional Park harks back to a Fremont of 150 years ago. The park is lushly vegetated and the only sounds are of chirping birds and the occasional bicyclist. Visitors can often catch glimpses of wildlife, such as the black-crowned night heron, one of many birds that nest in the willows on the Patterson Ranch property and fish in the creeks. Once inhabited by the Ohlone Indians, the park draws visitors and schoolchildren from all over the Bay Area. Patterson Ranch stretches out in front of the park, with acres of flat soil and an occasional farmhouse.
Sokale said the development would bring domestic noise and pets that she believes would harm native animals. ``You would get a different sense of place,'' Sokale said. ``Right now, you feel like it's open and you can relax and it's quieter.''
Still, not everyone thinks the group's initiative is a good idea.
``The farms would be in private ownership, and those individuals could pretty much do what they wanted to,'' said Donna Olsen, chair of the Tri-City Ecology Center, an all-purpose environmental center that serves Newark, Fremont and Union City. ``There wouldn't be any public access. Farming on small plots like that is not really economically feasible; even at 400 acres or so, it's iffy.''
Councilwoman Anu Natarajan said she hasn't seen Frisbie's development plan, but she doesn't think the city has enough time to study the alternatives before the November ballot initiative.
The last time Frisbie filed a plan for Patterson Ranch was in 1993, and his plan for 1,800 homes was stopped because it was unpopular with the council and residents. Because of disagreements within the Patterson family about development, work on the plans was put on hold and not resumed until 1999, when Frisbie considered designing a golf course. The plans have gone through several revisions since.
Mayor Bob Wasserman said he believes the council would be inclined to approve a plan that provided more housing. ``We're always under pressure to provide more housing,'' Wasserman said. ``As a city council, we have committed ourselves to providing more affordable housing.''
Vice Mayor Steve Cho said he believes that the Patterson family should be allowed the freedom to develop land they own.
``If all things were equal, I don't mind keeping it open, because, of course, keeping it in its natural state is best,'' he said. ``But I also believe that you cannot come in and tell an owner that this is what we want you to do with your land. If it's so important for the entire region for the ecosystem, why doesn't the group entertain the idea of purchasing the land?''
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