Measure T and Measure KK Lose Big

Voters in two Alameda County cities overwhelmingly said no to development measures that were on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. In Dublin, 83 percent of voters rejected Measure T, which would have allowed the city to annex Doolan Canyon, a 1,650-acre valley, beyond its current urban limit line and allow it to approve future development in the area.

In Union City, Measure KK which would have amended the city’s general plan to permit the building of senior housing and other uses on 63 acres of currently protected land northeast of Mission Boulevard owned by the Masons of California, lost with 65 percent voting against it.

Until recently, Dublin has been one of the Bay Area’s most developer-friendly cities, but in June the City Council voted unanimously to exclude Doolan Canyon from the city’s urban growth limit, leaving it as unincorporated agricultural open space. But former Dublin Mayor Janet Lockhart and others gathered enough signatures to place on the ballot Measure T, which would have overturned the council’s decision and directed the city to annex the canyon.

Supporters, who also included former Vice Mayor Claudia McCormick, said the issue wasn’t whether to build homes in Doolan Canyon but instead was to allow residents to allow whether to develop the canyon in the future. But opponents, which included the entire City Council, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, alleged that the measure was “a developer-sponsored initiative designed to confuse voters” and nullify the Council’s vote in June.

Measure KK in Union City would have allowed the building of senior housing and health care facilities, low-density single-family residences, retail space, parks, open space, trails and a community garden on a property that is adjacent to Mission Boulevard between Whipple Road and O’Connell Lane. The roadside land is below the Masonic Home’s 166-year-old care center, where hundreds of senior citizens live. Measure T was opposed by Save Our Hills, a Tri-City area group that said the property should be spared from development because it is part of 6,100 acres protected by the city’s hillside area plan and Measure II, which both were approved about 20 years ago.

In Oakland, 77 percent of voters approved Measure Z, which extends a parcel tax that mainly funds more police officers and community violence prevention programs. The measure will continue for 10 years a current $100-a-year parcel tax and an 8.5 percent parking tax that raises about $24 million a year.

Eighty-one percent of Oakland voters also approved Measure FF, which will raise the city’s minimum wage to $12.25 an hour for all workers next March 1. The current minimum wage in Oakland and across the state is $9 an hour. Measure FF also includes cost-of-living increases in the minimum wage in following years. The City Council placed the measure on the ballot after Lift Up Oakland, a coalition of community, labor, small business and faith organizations, gathered more than 33,00 signatures in support of it.

Lift Up Oakland President Gary Jiminez said in a statement, “This is a win for all of Oakland -- for low-wage workers and our entire community. The effects of this measure will be felt as soon as it goes into effect and for years to come.”

—By Bay City News

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