Ridgeline Protected, For Now, From 1,650 Housing Units: Save Mount Diablo

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — A Contra Costa County Superior Court ruling last week was a major victory in Save Mount Diablo's legal challenge of a housing development proposed for the highly visible ridgeline between Pittsburg and Concord, the nonprofit said Thursday.

The development would have brought a new residential subdivision to 606 acres of ridgeline and hillside grazing land in what is currently unincorporated Contra Costa County, immediately south of the city of Pittsburg.

According to the Feb. 10 court ruling, the City of Pittsburg's environmental review for the 1,650-unit Faria/Southwest Hills Project was inadequate in numerous ways, Save Mount Diablo said in a news release.

As a result, the city of Pittsburg is required to overturn approvals for the project and correct its environmental review. The city and the project's proponents — Seeno, Discovery Builders and Faria Investors — must also pay Save Mount Diablo's legal fees.

Patch was not immediately able to reach the city of Pittsburg for comment late Thursday.

"It remains to be seen whether the developers, Discovery Builders, Inc. and Faria Land Investors, LLC, or the City of Pittsburg will appeal the decision," said Seth Adams, land conservation director for Save Mount Diablo.

The Pittsburg City Council approved the project in February 2021; the next month, Save Mount Diablo filed a lawsuit challenging the approval.

"The biologically rich site supports sensitive wildlife species and rare plants and is in one of the most visible and most environmentally constrained areas of the county," Adams said. "The Faria project would have fragmented open space and damaged wildlife corridors."

Further, Adams said, the project would have changed the hills forever by annexing the property to the city of Pittsburg and locating 1,650 new residences far from jobs, transit and services.

According to Save Mount Diablo, the Faria project would have also impacted the new East Bay Regional Park District Thurgood Marshall Regional Park, Home of the Port Chicago 50 at the Faria site’s southwestern edge, formerly part of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. The project would have been located directly above the new park.

The court ruled the city's environmental review was inadequate in four major ways:

1. It failed to analyze potential impacts to local traffic, water supply and schools that would result from the 150 accessory dwelling units that were added by the City of Pittsburg at the last minute;
2. It failed to include a baseline description of biological resources that could be impacted by the project, specifically special-status plant species;
3. It failed to consider the water supply impacts of adding 1,650 new housing units in the area, important because of ongoing drought conditions and increasing fire danger; and
4. It failed to adequately disclose or mitigate the project’s air quality impacts, including greenhouse gas impacts, without which development will continue to make the climate crisis much worse.

"The court’s decision says to developers: 'You don’t get to kick the can down the road. You have to do a thorough analysis of your project’s impacts before you lock in project approvals,'" said Winter King, Save Mount Diablo’s attorney from Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. "The court got it right."

The court's ruling made the city's approval of the project null and void.

The court also noted that additional impacts — such as geologic hazards from grading and filling, and how the project could affect streams and agricultural lands— would need to be addressed in more detail.

"Throughout the East Bay, residents have worked hard to protect our ridges and views, flora and fauna, and to defend our parks," said Ted Clement, executive director of Save Mount Diablo. "In this case that was just decided in our favor, Save Mount Diablo had to stand up against some very powerful interests to help further the work of protecting these treasured resources, which add so much to our collective quality of life."

Adams called the court's decision a "major victory for Pittsburg’s hills."

"Open space, habitat for wildlife, and the community’s scenic views have won the day, and poorly planned development will not go forward, for now," Adams said. "We are very happy with the court’s decision."

Adams noted that while the group's victory was costly for the city and Seeno/Discovery Builders in time and money, it did not stop the project forever.

"After correcting environmental documents, the Pittsburg City Council can approve Seeno’s huge project again if they choose," Adams said. "But now they have a second chance to make it better by protecting the ridgeline and neighboring regional park. We don’t have to argue about protecting ridgelines in other cities. The Pittsburg City Council should do the right thing."

Concord resident Juan Pablo Galvan Martinez, who works as Save Mount Diablo's senior land use manager, called on the city of Concord to help protect the open space from the housing project.

"Although I’ve worked for Save Mount Diablo on this issue, I’m also a Concord resident," Martinez said. "This project infuriated me as an open-space lover, a wildlife enthusiast, and someone who is deeply worried and taking action to stop catastrophic climate change. Since this affects both cities, I want both city councils to work together to protect the hills and ridgeline."

An attorney for Discovery Builders and Faria Land Investors, Kristina Lawson, managing partner with Hanson Bridgett, sent the following statement Friday to Patch:

"For the most part, the Court agreed that the City of Pittsburg complied with the California Environmental Quality Act when studying the project’s potential environmental effects. There were four issues where, respectfully, we believe the Court overlooked key evidence in the record. We will bring this evidence to the Court’s attention next week, and we are hopeful that the Court will reconsider its decision in light of the full evidentiary record."