Bay Area Growth Plan Full of Hot Air, Lawsuit Contends

The plan to build high-density housing near BART stations in Lamorinda and Walnut Creek--approved last month by two regional agencies—violates state environmental law, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday .

A conservative group called Pacific Legal Foundation argues that Plan Bay Area violates the California Environmental Quality Act because it fails to consider “less restrictive” housing requirements.

“Plan Bay Area’s sardine strategy for development — its scheme to squeeze and stack people into high-density dwellings and business complexes — simply isn’t needed to reach government air quality goals,” said Damien Schiff, an attorney for the foundation.

Proponents of the plan, developed over three years by the Association for Bay Area Government and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, say that the anticipated growth in the Bay Area should be accommodated through the development of pedestrian-friendly areas that combine multi-story housing and retail near public transit. Such a plan, they say, will reduce the need for single-car commuting and the sprawl of single-family housing that encourages it.

But groups like Orinda Watch and Bay Area Citizens say the plan is nothing more than social engineering, dictating a kind of urban-based lifestyle that is inappropriate for quiet, upscale communities.

Local elected officials are not unanimous in their support for the plan.
“I think Plan Bay Area is an important next step for our region,” Orinda Mayor Amy Worth told Lamorinda Patch. “We live in one of the most wonderful places on earth. Planning now will ensure that we take the steps needed to keep our towns and our region wonderful for the next generation.” Worth is also the chair of MTA, one of the agencies that developed and approved the plan last month.

Lafayette Mayor Mike Anderson, in a letter to ABAG and MTA, said the level of growth called for in the plan would cause “unmanageable” traffic and parking problems there.

“The insiders have simply been talking to each other,” said Peter Singleton of Bay Area Citizens, another group opposed to the plan. “Not only is this a bad way to make policy, we contend it’s illegal because officials ignored environmental facts that didn’t fit their agenda, and refused to even consider a credible alternative strategy.  Unfortunately, the agencies’ don’t-confuse-us-with-the-facts approach has made it necessary to take them to court.”

Plan Bay Area is a regional response to a state law that requires communities to plan for growth in California through 2040, while reducing the level of greenhouse gases. The plan calls for multi-family housing to be constructed in “priority development areas,” which in Lamorinda means mostly areas downtown near BART stations. In Orinda, there is also a move to increase the number of so-called in-law units in single family homes to accommodate the required mix of housing for moderate, low, and very low income residents.