the draft environmental impact report for the CNWS

the draft environmental impact report for the reuse plan of the concord naval weapons station is now online. it is up for a 45-day review period in which people can make comments and ask questions.

it compares both the clustered villages plan and the concentration and conservation plan. the clustered villages plan is the preferred plan by city leaders. the preferred plan has 2387 acres of open space, while the concentration and conservation plan has a better 3044 acres.
the preferred plan has an estimated 28,800 more people living in and commuting through concord. the concentration and conservation plan has 23,241. either way that's a lot of new cars on the already clogged roads.

most of the impacts in the report would be true of both plans, though it's fair to assume that the preferred plan is going to have a higher negative impact on those of us already living in concord (due to the higher amount of people and development in that plan.)

the impacts that report details include:
1) compatibility conflicts by placing higher-intensity uses and nonresidential uses in close proximity to the existing low density residential uses in the Sun Terrace and Holbrook neighborhoods and Coast Guard Housing complex along East Olivera Road. basically, sucks to be the people who live in those neighborhoods and like the way things look without all this new development.

2) traffic. LOTS of new traffic. i'm not going to bother listing all the streets, freeways, freeway on ramps, and intersections. it's all in the report. basically, it's going to put a ton of new cars on all the roads in concord and the surrounding areas. if you think rush hour traffic is bad now.....

3) the views of the locals will be impacted. instead of pretty rolling hills, they will see development.

4) screw up the wetland habitats and the channels of mt. diablo creek and willow pass creek and their aquatic habitat. the report claims this can be mitigated. the report states "the City of Concord shall require project proponents to demonstrate avoidance of wetland fill to the extent practicable and agree to mitigate unavoidable temporary impacts to wetlands by restoration in place following construction." in other words, protect the wetlands if it doesnt cost a lot to do so, otherwise, go ahead and destroy them, as long as you try to restore them later on. habitat restoration is not an easy thing. our area has so little wetland and creek habitat left, it's crazy to allow someone to destroy any part of it, even if they do attempt to rebuild it later on.

5) the area of planned development already has residents living there. they include the california red-legged frog, the california tiger salamander, the western pond turtle, the alameda whipsnake, the coast horned lizard, the golden eagle, the burrowing owl, the loggerhead shrike, the san francisco common yellowthroat, the tricolored blackbird, the white-tailed kite, the northern harrier, bats, and the american badger.

6) destruction of existing plant life.

7) introduction of invasive species.

8) existing archaeological resources could be destroyed or damaged.

9) there might be toxic stuff in the dirt. it was a naval weapons station after all. this could be dangerous to construction workers, but also to locals, including local school children. if toxic dust is kicked up by construction, wind can blow it all over the place.

10) all this new construction and all these cars on the road would exceed the maximum population forecast in the general plan that would be consistent with the current clean air plan. the air quality will be lower than the Bay Area Air Quality Management District quantitative thresholds. expect to get sick more often, expect high rates of lung cancer and expect your children to be more likely to acquire asthma.

11) more people = more water usage. can we really afford to have that many more lawns to water every summer? simple supply and demand tells us, the more people using water, the more expensive water becomes. even if we dont run out of water, expect prices to go up.

this is all from the summary of the report, maybe the rest of it goes into more detail, and if you would like, you can read that. i'm not going to bother. i think it's completely insane to have this much new development in concord. there's so many negative impacts on those of us who already live in concord from this. the traffic and air quality predictions alone are super scary. car accidents and lung cancer are among the leading causes of death in the united states. we dont need this development. it shouldnt happen.

all the land should just be turned into open space. if we wanted to live in a city full of traffic and air pollution we would move to detroit. or maybe oakland.
great. i can see it now. concord is going to become urban, and all the hipsters who gentrified west oakland are now going to start moving here... just shoot me now.