Resident Concerned About Outdated Environmental Impact Reports

Dear Editor:

Concerned residents of Dublin have determined there is a pattern whereby development
projects presented to City Planning and City Council in the past have been approved with
outdated Environmental Impact Reports. Below are two recent development projects that got
approved despite residents’ objections the EIR for those projects were outdated and not
reflective of our City’s current environmental conditions.

IKEA – approved on Nov. 2018 with a 1993 EIR
Valley Christian Center Expansion – approved on Feb 2019 with a 2003 EIR

The City uses Supplemental Mitigated Negative Declarations as bandages to justify old EIRs
and have adopted Statement of Overriding Considerations for various unavoidable and
significant environmental impacts. These methods are not proven prior to any construction to
ensure there will be no significant impact to the environment.

These decisions continue to negatively impact and erode residents’ quality of life and residents are left with no relief for resolution after the fact.

Why did our City’s mission statement “to preserve residents’ quality of life” get drowned out with
the flood and enticement of developer money? This is our city and City Management and City
Council should be working for us not the developers.

We want residents’ quality of life restored as promised by the City’s mission and vision
statements. We want smart development growth with proper infrastructure and schools in
place before another shovel hits the dirt.

Residents will continue to work towards electing city government officials and promote hiring city management personnel who understand and commit to smart development, genuinely act to resolve residents’ concerns (no lip service!) and definitely conduct and utilize more current Environmental Impact Reports.

Respectfully submitted,
Shirley Lewandowski
A member of West Dublin Alliance