The San Ramon Planning Commission will meet today (Tuesday, May 16) at 7:00 PM at the City Council chamber at 7000 Bollinger Canyon. This is a public meeting. The Commission is set to talk about an annual report that analyzes the city government’s efforts to implement San Ramon’s General Plan over the past year.

You can find more information–130 pages worth–and the full agenda on the City’s website.

You can find a summary of the meeting’s agenda on the DanvilleSanRamon website.

Local residents will no doubt be overjoyed to see that the screened chain link fencing surrounding the back 9 on the course is coming down.

This is not because the current owner of the course has suddenly developed civic responsibility; the fencing was placed initially when that section of the course was closed to complete some work in connection with the Faria project. The work was completed and the back 9 reopened quite some time ago, but the fencing has remained.

It is not only unsightly but it is a safety hazard. The plastic screening on the fence restricts visibility around the corners.

With this in mind, the City has begun removing the fencing. This will resolve both the safety and the cosmetic issues.

We have no idea what, if any, response the owner of the course will have to this action. What we do know is that the fence was no longer needed and that it was an unpleasant addition to the neighborhoods. It’s good to know that the City has taken the initiative to remedy this eyesore and public safety hazard.

The San Ramon Planning Commission will meet on Tuesday, May 2 at 7:00 P.M. Among items on the agenda is the following:

At this meeting, the Planning Commission will receive a presentation on a proposed 200 unit apartment project at the Morgan’s Masonry Site. This discussion is conceptual only and will provide the applicant the opportunity to hear feedback from the Commission on their idea. In the event the applicant would like to move forward on their idea they will need to submit a formal application at a later date for consideration.

The full agenda, together with the minutes of the April 7 meeting, are on the City of San Ramon’s website

Steering Committee member, Gene Bucciarelli, attended the recent City Council and Planning Commission meeting. This is his report.

Summary of the Tiered Density/Public Benefit Zoning
City Council Informational Session
4/18/17 at 7:00 PM

The meeting was held with the City Council, the Planning Commissioners, the Mayor, and the City Manager. The City Council Chamber was full of residents. About 15 to 20 residents made statements including yours truly.

Background

1. The San Ramon General Plan allows for a density of housing at a range of 30 to 50 units per acre.
2. CA allows for a bonus density at 130% above the maximum if the developer agrees to a public benefit. The public benefit is decided between the developer and the city.  This could be a park a library, a statute or any other agreed upon structure or art work.
3. In the recent past, all developers in San Ramon have asked for the 50 per acre and most have applied for the bonus density. This, of course, increases density in our city beyond what was desired in the General Plan when it was last adapted.

Current status

About two to three years ago The Planning Department and the City Council being concerned that the current conditions allow for more density than desired started discussions of a Tiered Density approach. At this time the idea is to set the maximum at 30 units per acre and allow for increasing public benefits at different tiers above 30 up to the 50 per acre.  It appears that the public benefits would be more expensive for the developers as they reached the different tiers above 30 units per acre.  The general idea being that most developers would not want to incur the additional cost and as a result, the city would have less density than is now occurring. It is important to note that nothing is finalized and as the Tiered Density discussions evolve the City Council indicated that the residents will have input at each stage.

San Ramon Golf Course information

Council members Harry Sachs and Scott Perkins both pledged that they support the current General Plan as to parks and golf courses. This was noted as a result of a couple of residents mentioning the possible impact on the San Ramon Golf Course.

Bay Area Housing

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), under CA law, is tasked with requiring Bay Area cities to build a certain number of affordable housing units. The number of housing units that must be built between 2014 and 2022 in the Bay Area is 189,990. San Ramon’s share of that is 1,417 affordable housing units. These units are built at a 7 to 1 ratio per CA requirements.  As a developer builds 7 units he must build one affordable housing unit. Of course, a development could be just affordable housing.  However, profit motives indicate that most developers will build the more expensive 7 and allow for the affordable unit.

A reader of this site sent me a message asking about the current status of the Escondido Golf Club. Regular readers of this site may remember this as the infamous “chicken manure dump,” a tactic the developer used to intimidate and harass local homeowners. He had already shuttered the course. In response to the many complaints about the land having turned to blight, together with the health hazard presented by the stagnant water, he spread five tons of raw chicken manure on the site.

The owner of the site–who is also one of the owners of the corporation that purchased the San Ramon Golf Club in 2015–was fined $100,000 for this behavior.

There is an aptly-named blog dedicated to the Escondido matter: “War on Escondido.” It’s worth reading.

We’ll continue to post updates on all aspects of this and other golf courses purchased by the same developer as we receive them.

Although the next City Council meeting doesn’t necessarily involve matters directly affecting Stay The Course, we’re going to begin posting the agenda as soon as we receive it. Community awareness and involvement are at the core of our system of government. Knowing what’s going on in City Hall ultimately affects all of us.

The meeting will begin at 8:00 PM on Tuesday, April 25.

The agenda for the meeting is a quick read, and worth taking a minute or two our of your busy day.

We jumped the gun a bit when we published the letter from the Steering Committee president on Monday. This is the correct version.

Open letter to StayTheCourseSanRamon subscribers.

It has been awhile since there has been an update on what your Steering Committee is doing. So – here is a status report of our activities since the beginning in November 2016.

Following the selection of all 19 people who showed an interest in being part of a Steering Committee, an organization meeting was held in November 2016. John Adams was selected President.

Mr. Ron Richards requested that the Steering Committee meet with him to discuss the status of his plans for the ongoing operation of the golf course.

The Steering Committee and the members of the community quickly became involved in a sometimes heated dialog about the merits of such a meeting. The prevailing commentary seemed to be that nothing good would come from such a meeting. The rhetoric got personal and was directed at Scott Holder and anyone who thought listening was a good way to learn what Mr. Richards would say about where he was headed.

John Adams and Scott, who by then had become Vice President, finally had enough and resigned leaving the Steering Committee without a leader. David Ernest scheduled an organizing meeting on February 2nd. At the same time, David canceled the scheduled meeting with Mr. Richards that had been set for the following week.

On March 2^nd, the Steering Committee, now down to 14 members, nominated Paul Warren, who had been serving as Secretary, and David Ernest to be President. Paul declined because he was about to become a new father and felt the time needed to be President was better spent at home. Pat Tuohy became Vice President who, along with Gene Bucciarelli as Treasurer and Paul Warren as Secretary, make up the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee meets, usually about 2 weeks before the scheduled meeting, to talk about which items will be on the agenda and any other administrative type of things that come up. We don’t keep minutes for this meeting so there is nothing to put on the website.

The results of a survey asking what the public’s opinion was concerning (1) whether the Steering Committee should meet with the developer in March and (2) only members of the SR City Council and Planning Commission should have any communication with the developer showed the following:

1. There were 344 responses.
2. 111 Agree with a meeting.
3. 222 Disagree with a meeting.
4. 8 Not sure.
5. 3 Other.

As to question 2:

1. There were 335 responses.
2. 201 Agree.
3. 120 Disagree.
4. 14 No opinion.

In April, the Steering Committee listened to a presentation by folks who were speaking on behalf of residents concerned with the proposed expansion of the Church of the Valley located on San Ramon Blvd. The Steering Committee listened and the Executive Committee will discuss the merits of becoming involved in their cause and will report back to the Steering Committee in May about any action that should be taken.

A brief discussion was held about the proposed changes involving the Bridges Golf course. No formal action was taken since the subject was not an agenda item. It will be an agenda item for the May meeting.

An excellent flyer was presented to the Steering Committee that was created by one of the Steering Committee members. We are asking all Committee members to download the flyer, print as many copies as necessary, and start getting the word out to other parts of San Ramon about what is facing us here in South San Ramon.

Your Steering Committee is working on establishing a coherent mission statement now that our LLC application has finally been approved.

We have applied to the IRS for nonprofit status as a (501)(c)(4) corporation. Once that is approved, we will establish a banking relationship so that we will be able to accept donations to cover costs that will come up when events warrant a response.

Also in the works is a community survey asking for those who are willing to support us financially when the time comes to indicate their willingness to do so. We will discuss and review the survey at our May meeting.

This is about all there is to report at this time. An update will be posted on the website as events warrant an update but at least once a month.

Respectfully submitted,

David Ernest, President
StayTheCourseSanRamon

Two of our community members have passed on some information that is extremely important.

The San Ramon City Council and Planning Commission are meeting tonight in a joint “workshop” session to talk about the possibility of allowing denser development in some areas of the city in exchange for more developer concessions.

From Sam Richards’ East Bay Times article:

At a joint City Council/Planning Commission workshop Tuesday night, the pros and cons of allowing denser development in certain parts of the city, and whether developer concessions the city could receive in exchange would be worth the price of dealing with more traffic and congestion, are on the agenda.

Read the entire article HERE.

There is more detail on the City of San Ramon website.

The meeting will be in the City Council chamber in City Hall, at 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road.

This would be a good meeting for as many of us as possible to attend.

San Ramon Senior Center 7:00 PM
Alcosta Blvd. and Stagecoach Rd. April 6, 2017

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL

David Ernest
Pat Tuohy
Gene Bucciarelli
Paul Warren
Geoff Ho
Becky Kolberg
Jeff Bowlsby
Joe Weyandt
Joe Parsons
Lucille Evans
Michelle Hemenway

3. COMMENT OR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

At this time, those in the audience are encouraged to address the Staythecoursesanramon Steering Committee on any item not already included on today’s agenda. If possible, comments should not exceed five minutes. If this is not considered sufficient time to address the issue, please arrange with the Secretary to have that item placed on the agenda for a future Committee meeting.

As a reminder, Steering Committee members do not respond to questions raised during public comment but may ask questions to clarify information presented

• A local Community Action Group (henceforth known as CAG1) presented to the Committee

4. REPORTS

• Treasurer
  • LLC Status; LLC Status has been filed and approved.  We have also submitted for 501(c)4 with the IRS
  • Pat Tuohy proposed a motion to allow the Treasurer to sign cheques up to $500 above which a second signature of an officer of the company is required.
    • Motion, Seconded, Passed (MSP)
    • In favor: 10, Against: 0, Abstained: 1 (Jeff Bowlsby)
  • Second Motion ???  Once the non profit status is granted by the IRS, the Treasurer will open a non profit checking account.  Approval minutes will be provided to the bank.  Proposed by Gene Bucciarelli.
    • MSP
    • In favor: 10, Against: 0, Abstained: 1 (Jeff Bowlsby)
  • It was noted that several members has already made donations in the form of required payments.  Action was taken to create receipts to record all of these transactions.
  • It was noted that should investigate Square (or Paypal’s) equivalent in order to more easily accept donations.
• Secretary
  • Report by social media contacts
    • Twitter; 50 followers so far – most from SR – also in contact with Las Vegas Course
    • Blog (JP);
      • 500 subscribers
      • RR contacted JP on the blog
    • FB (MH); still to assume responsibility.  MH took an action to achieve this.
    • Nextdoor (DE); Has been in contact with the community group rallying against the Escondido GC development.
  • Slide presentation about Google usage
    • Not provided.  PW took an action to email out to the group.
• Vice President
  • Gave an update on his view of the state of Richards development efforts.  Noted that development has not (officially) begun anywhere.
• President
  • City Attorney is retiring
  • Gave the group an overview of what it will take to get a plan approved through the city and also to put a measure on the ballot.  The two possible approaches Richards has open to him.

5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

• DE proposed a motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting.
  • In favor: 10, Against: 0, Abstained: 1 (Jeff Bowlsby)

6. COMMITTEE BUSINESS

6 – 1 Flyer and landing page

• General approval for the flyer.
• Group decided on the landing page url to be www.staythecoursesanramon.com/info
• JP took an action to notify MH when landing page is ready
• MH will print, batch up and distribute to whomever wants them.  Contact MH if you would like a batch to distribute.
• PW noted we need to deconflict distribution and took an action to put a spreadsheet in place on the drive for everyone to update.
• GB asked when to distribute?
  • General feeling was to distribute now as it takes time to build the “database”
  • However mass media (TV/Radio) will be kept for mobilization

6 – 2 Mission statement

• GH: Emphasized the need for a mission statement
• BK: Stated that we need two; an Operating Statement and a Marketing Statement
• GH took an action to collect existing mission statements and make a proposal

6 – 3 Survey

• Will be reviewed at next committee meeting.

6 – 4 Discussion of Bridges course changes

• Owner has gone to a planning permission with a “concept plan”
• 2 story building; hotel and conference center
• Replacing an existing building
• That area zoned as park, not golf course (not clear why)
• There is a Bridges opposition group
• Discussion on what, if any, position we have on this
• General agreement that we are opposed to this plan
• BK will contact their opposition group and invite them to committee meeting

7. COMMITTEE MEMBER ITEMS

At this time, each committee member is encouraged to bring items of interest to the Steering Committee. No vote will be taken on any item discussed but the item can be scheduled for a subsequent Steering Committee meeting.

• JB: Requested an agenda item to discuss the status of the Faria Project improvements
• JB: Requested an agenda item to develop a strategic plan
• JW: n/a
• LE: n/a
• BK: Requested an agenda item to decide whether we will support CAG1
• BK: Requested an agenda item to hear from the Bridges Golf Course Development Opposition group
• GH: n/a
• GB: n/a

ACTIONS RECORDED

• GB; Create receipts to record the existing donations in the form of payments required to keep the group functioning.
• MH: Assume responsibility of the facebook page
• PW: Email out the google slidedeck
• JP: Notify MH when landing page is ready
• PW: Create a spreadsheet on the drive to deconflict flyer distribution
• GH: Propose Operating and Marketing statements for the committee
• BK: Invite Bridges opposition group to Committee meeting