Posted by Resident, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 13, 2011 at 3:55 pm

It's good to read council members Rowley and Perkins chimed in with their concerns. Healthy debate on issues has not been a hallmark of this council. I hope through these discussions and offline work with the Planning dept that changes are made to this Measure W clone of a plan. It is the right thing to do for the 71% that voted down W.

Posted by publius, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 13, 2011 at 7:38 pm

71% of voters said no to planing Tassajara valley; they did not vote for the city to stop planning altogether. The healthy debate is good.

Posted by kevin, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 14, 2011 at 11:07 am

The issue is not to do away with City planning, it's what they are planning that is the issue. They are rezoning 295 aches to a mixed use/residential zoning and have given us their vision of what it will look like. A normal sequence of events are that land owners request a zoning change, an environmental impact report is done, public hearings & city meetings are held and a change is worked out that everyone has had input on. In this case the city staff has prepared what the city officials vision is, they want to blanket a new zoning with out a specific plan, environmental impact report, or input from the public or businesses.

Why is this important? For me, it is important because it removes the zoning protection for my business, it adds 1600 more residences in downtown, It seeks to promote "Big Box" stores & 6,000,000 square feet of residential/retail in place of the existing 1,600,000 sf.

Let's plan, but let's plan for what the residents want. The express paraphrased Phil Wong, San Ramon's Planning Services Director, said any development in the plan would be developer driven, not a city project.

Let's make it resident driven.

Posted by friend, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 14, 2011 at 1:24 pm

kevin LIVES in Danville.

Posted by kevin, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 14, 2011 at 2:42 pm

Man, news travels fast! Yes, I did move back temporarily to Danville this week to help with family matters. I still have my business which has been here 20 years and have lived in San Ramon and Danville for a total of 55 years now.

Not too sure what the point is about my move. Maybe my "friend" is sorry to see me go or if he works for the city is happy!

This is a very important issue to those of us that care what San Ramon will be like 20 years from now. I hope people will take the time to read, attend the council meetings and voice their opinions. I would hope my "Friend" has been following more than my living situation. I would like to hear his/her opinion.

Posted by Pubius, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Whether kevin lives in san ramon or not is unimportant; kevin what is your business and what is it currently zoned for and how would this make your business go away? I am confused, is the city is planning to demolish all buildings in this area, that is what it sounds like according to the folks who oppose this? I can't imagine that is the case is it?

Posted by H. Sachs, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 15, 2011 at 10:55 am

The Planning Commission and City Council have come under much criticism, not by many but the Measure W leadership. The Commssion and Council both attend workshops and seminars and receive reports on land use planning from a wide variety of sources.

Here is an article which highlights why San Ramon's professional planning staff are recommending a long term plan for the Camino Ramon area:

Web Link

City Officials Think Regionally to Tackle Transportation, Housing and

Environmental Issues

Hope folks find this helpful.

Posted by Roz Rogoff, the San Ramon Observer, on Apr 15, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Roz Rogoff is a member (registered user) of San Ramon Express

Kevin,

I don't understand why you are so opposed to rezoning North Camino Ramon to Mixed Use. At first you were afraid it would affect your business and you would not be able to renew your lease, but we found out (and I didn't know this either) that the building your business is in was zoned mixed use ten years ago.

Nothing changed. You are still there and so are the other Service Commercial businesses in that building. Nobody is forcing you out and nothing has happened in ten years, so why are you so opposed to it now?

Roz

Posted by kevin, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 18, 2011 at 8:53 pm

The building I am in was rezoned mixed use by the city without the support of the property owner(he and I have talked about this). Why then would the city rezone a owners property when the owner is opposed to it? It is just as simple as this is the City PLAN: they intend to attract land developers and speculators to entice property owners to sell and those that don't put enough pressure on them to push them out. This is so simple that those in the city already have their idea planned out on a map of what they envision. It's pretty simple: They are planning for the result they have invested thousands & hundreds of city staff's hours in developing or they are totally wasting our money and resources knowing this plan will never work. Which is it? You can't have it both ways?

When the city rezones, they are changing their land use conditions and the legal protections a business needs to plan and invest. My business is automotive repair. This rezoning will consummate the end of any legal eligible land in San Ramon I can plan to stay in for the next 20 years. A City must plan and foresee the needs of it's residents, how are we doing that when there are as many cars as residents and we don't consider their local maintenance a resident's need? What if we didn't have a supermarket?

A City exclusively zoned "Mixed Use" is not planning, it's actually the opposite, It's we don't know what to do so let's just carpet zone it and see what happens. "Phil Wong, San Ramon's Planning Services Director, said any development in the plan would be developer driven, not a city project."

What about resident/business driven?

Posted by dave, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 19, 2011 at 10:33 am

The planning comes when you actually do the specific plan not when you give yourself the authority to FOCUS (ABAG program). It has been in the general plan for ten years to do mixed-use and the state has prioritized it since 2006. The state is prioritizing now for infrastructure through the year 2050. The message is clear, "no more business as usual". What exist today is business as usual.

There is not an increase in square footage. It is the beginning of a specific plan to reduce traffic and greenhouse gases while improving circulation and walkability.

Posted by publius, a resident of San Ramon, on Apr 19, 2011 at 2:31 pm

Resident/business driven development? Not sure as a small business owner I want residents who aren't well versed in zoning laws determining zoning. A mixed use zoning actually gives a land owner more flexibility to bring in a wider variety of tenants without having to spend thousands of dollars in getting zoning accomodations to fit every potential tenant type. As a land owner and lease writer I, not the city, determine who my tenants are. San Ramon is widely-known in the Tri-valley to be business friendly. I don't share the view that San Ramon is going to drive out businesses, we had this discussion about 6 years ago, the automotive and small warehouse contractors were worried that rezoning in the Crow Canyon area would drive them out. That has not been the case and the Crow Canyon Specific Plan has actually motivated new businesses to emerge and old ones to improve their properties. Developers build our houses, our shops, our markets.