DUBLIN — Environmentalists are fighting hard to block a “land grab” ballot measure in Dublin on next week’s ballot — and the price tag for both sides is getting steeper.
Now, supporters and opponents have raised $250,000 total for their campaigns — a remarkable amount for what would normally be considered a small ballot measure. The opposition, a group called Save Dublin Open Space, has raised $136,304.42 in contributions as of the most recent filing deadline. They spent $75,375.75 and have $60,928.67 remaining.
If approved, Measure II would allow the city to develop 80 acres for commercial use along the Dublin Boulevard extension up to North Canyons Parkway. But the city maintains that it wants to reduce traffic, protect open space and preserve clean air in the Tri-Valley region. Upon approval after the Nov. 5 election, the city could study commercial development up to 1,200 feet north of Interstate 580.
The issue is drawing massive donations on both sides. For comparison, a first-in-history half-cent sales tax measure in neighboring Pleasanton — Measure PP, which would raise $100 million for the city over the next 10 years — has seen less than $11,000 raised by supporters and opponents combined at the Oct. 19 filing deadline.
In Dublin, the opposition claims the title of the measure, called the “Dublin Traffic Relief, Clean Air/Open Space Preservation Measure,” is “deceptive” and that it would do nothing to calm traffic, preserve open space or clean up air quality. Instead, they say the city will do the exact opposite if the measure passes — by breaking a previously established urban limit line that protects 3,282 acres in the surrounding Doolan and Collier Canyons from commercial development.
Seth Adams, land conservation director for Save Mount Diablo, which opposes Measure II, said in an interview that its campaign “is nothing but lies.”
A decade ago, the City Council passed the Dublin Open Space Initiative that slowed the city from developing about 2,000 homes on 1,450 acres in the Doolan Canyon area. Adams said the city now is attempting to go back on its word.
Adams pointed to an Alameda County Civil Grand Jury report on the measure, which scored 2.1 out of 5 total points. The report says the measure scored lower “because of the lack of clarity as to what the measure would accomplish and why the measure was needed.”
“There is an implication that a new road, bike lanes and pedestrian access may occur, but no statement as to whether the city or a developer would pay for those improvements. There also is no explanation as to whether there would be financial impacts from the change, and what those impacts might cost,” the report says. “The title is misleading. From what is proposed the title should say: ‘Amend the existing open space initiative to allow 80 acres of open space land to be developed’ since that is what is proposed.”
Adams’ group earlier this summer also sued in Alameda County Superior Court, requesting a judge block the measure from reaching the Nov. 5 …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
