Wait a minute! This project isn't MAGEE RANCH - the REAL Magee Ranch is next door. The two are not related and only share a common boundary and the fact that both were ranches owned by people named Magee. So at a bare minimum, the newbie should stop using the name Magee Ranch which has been in in place for 20 years at an existing development next door. Any time someone interjects confusion or obfuscation into their planning and sales pitch, you have to ask why. And as for the traffic: Look at the traffic jam on Diablo Road every school day morning now. Put another 60 to 120 cars on the road every morning now and you will have a gigantic mess instead of the bad mess that now exists. The proposed traffic light will not increase traffic flow; it will delay that flow and turn a slow 2 mile commute into a disaster.

The additional traffic is enough to immediately stop these plans. But also keep in mind adding several hundred children to (the already pushed to maximum density) Green Valley, Los Cerros, and Monte Vista schools!

The Summerhill project is estimated (by whom I am not sure) to create an additional 700 car trips (that is ROUNDTRIPS) per day. Diablo Road, especially the winding portion contiguous to Diablo, cannot handle ANY additional traffic, let alone that amount. There have been too many accidents on Diablo Road between Green Valley Road and Camino Tassajara already. Danville should consider its liability for the accidents that undoubtedly will happen should this ill-considered project be approved. Moreover, Summerhill is speciously arguing that its plan does not violate Danville's General Plan, which states that the country atmosphere in the Diablo Road area should be preserved. Who ever heard of a country lane where traffic is rountinely backed up for a mile!!

Flooding Hazards: 22.03 New development shall not exceed the Town's primary flood control channel's ability to carry 100 year flood flows.

Fire Hazard: 21.04 Maintain a response time of less than five minutes for emergency fir calls to be met a minimum of 90 part of the time calls and/or a fire station within 1.5 miles of all residential nonresidential development. Where this standard cannot be met, and/or where sever wildland fire hazards exist, require special mitigation measures for fire prevention as necessary.

We have learned from experience that if the Town of Danville wants a development, no public comments will change their minds. These 85 homes and the traffic they will bring should not be allowed on Diablo Rd if Danville truly wants to keep their small town feel. I just don't think they do.

Danville must outlaw bikers on Diablo rd where it's 2 lanes,or divert them thru Diablo.John x a local resident.

At a minimum we must stop bike traffic on Diablo Rd in 2 lane areas

I am a developer. Where you lowly citizens see open space, I see opportunity. Where you gaze at beautiful green lands, I envision a different kind of green. When you complain about the hideous traffic my project will bring about, I just smile since I'll be living far away in my hilltop mansion. Trees? Hey, you folks can pick up the pieces to stoke your fireplaces. Now which Danville public servant do I have to bribe to get things rolling?

There are many issues to consider with the proposed development. The local schools are impacted, the traffic on Diablo is still quite bad even with the buses that have no guarantee of funding into the future, the water pressure at many existing homes barely meets minimum standards even without 100 new homes, and lastly, the new development proposes 3000-4000 sq. foot homes on 1/4 acre lots (they call it clustering...I call it a zoning violation). If Danville wants to follow Bollinger Canyon's lead, this development is ideal, if not, the project must be scaled way back.

what is the current zoning of the property? is a rezone required for the project? What is the minimum lot size currently? Can't anyone provide a map of the project? a picture is worth 1,000 words. Is clustering proposed due to topography? What will the school do with the school mitigation fees?

Yes, Summerhill has a right to develop this area, but needs to build the project to current standards. They should not be allowed to build more than 2 homes per acre, and they should be required to mitigate the traffic impact by financing the busing for at least the next 20 years.

Country atmosphere on Diablo Rd? In the Country, land owners can do whatever they want with their own property. Don't talk about preserving Country roads, if you have no Country values.

I attended a meeting regarding this - I am very surprised that Summerhill thinks they can get this approved - the commute on Diablo Road/Blackhawk Rd is just horrible in the morning - ARE THEY CRAZY to think the additional traffic would not affect the commute? One question I asked was what street in Alamo they had already developed - they could not even tell me the street name! Also, our local schools will be impacted - they are already at cap0acity - my neighbors kids are separated one at Vista Grande, the other at Green Valley. I definitely will vote against any monies going to the schools if this thing gets approved. Let's see if Summerhill puts some money towards our schools.

There is absolutely no way this project should be approved. It is unfathomable that the morning commute traffic on Blackhawk/Diablo Road could get any worse.

I attended a "town" meeting regarding the SummerHill development along Blackhawk and Diablo Roads. They provided a map of the development and you'll be shocked to see what's planned.

Responding to an above question regarding zoning:
The land in question is currently zoned for Agriculture or low density use; small lot cluster housing severely violate this.

Feel free to email Principal Planner - David Crompton [email protected] and voice your objection.

We must stop this development.

How can the city official say they are taking steps to get input (requests for comments, envir impacts) but then say it's already a done deal. Something fishy is going on!!! "Neither the work scope nor the comments would be enough to scuttle the project, according to Gillette, ...Meanwhile, Danville officials are ensuring that the project will be handled fairly, with both environmental and development reviews."

This development cannot proceed -- I've never seen traffic as bad as it is on Blackhawk/Diablo. My kids couldn't even get into the local school when we moved here. Where are these kids going to go?

The "cluster" proposal of cramming in 70 large homes on lot sizes of 0.2 acres is alarming...as is the traffic this will create...and the impact on our local schools.

For those against this development, a petition has been created. If you want to add your support, go to:
Web Link

Good afternoon!

Just a couple points of clarification:

1. The Town hasn’t held any meetings on the Magee Ranch project. Any meetings we hold as part of our review process have to be posted and those involved have to be notified so that you can be a part of the proceedings. We will be holding public hearings as the process continues and we’re working to make a project page on our website so that you can register and put comments in there.

2. By no means is this project a ‘done deal’. When I posted on the other thread regarding this what I said was, “The environmental review process in and of itself does not result in either approval or denial of an application, but provides information necessary to assist the Planning Commission and/or the Town Council in making that decision.” The ultimate arbiter in the matter will always be the Planning Commission and Town Council. Those bodies review the EIR and scoping documents, as well as any other relevant information before making their decision. The entirety of what I posted describing the review process can be found at Web Link

Thanks again for all the discussion and conversation on this issue. As we go through the process, we look forward to getting the input of our residents.

For questions about the project, contact Principal Planner David Crompton at [email protected] and for any general questions feel free to contact me at [email protected]

Have a great day.

Geoff Gillette
Public Information Coordinator
Town of Danville

Casitas = Low income housing.
This project is riddled with surprising nuances such as the aforementioned casitas. The proposal is that the casitas are a workaround for the low income housing requirement, i.e., if they are rented by the owner they need to be rented to a "qualified" "low-income" family. I believe the estimate is that at least 25% of the units will be built with casitas - adding the potential for even more cars and families. Citizens of Danville WAKE UP before it is too late.

At one stage, Danville and Diablo were rated among the best towns of America. These titles will surely have to be revoked as we sell out our natural beauty and wildlife, country roads, rural living, excellent schools, and small time feel for capitalism. What we will then have to look forward to is erosion problems that will eventually drain and pollute the stream, increased water shortage, impacted schools, congested roads, fire hazards, densely populated housing to include low income housing, an increase in pedestrian, motor vehicle, and wildlife casualties. This road is already is impacted with elementary, middle and high school traffic, as well as commuters and bikers. This land isn't zoned for densely populated housing. I can't comprehend the viability of this plan. Our lovely developer Derek must be right, who bribed a public servant?

The City ought to focus on the long term environmental impact such a project would have on the creek and flood/fault planes that lie right in the middle of the proposed project.

Good afternoon,

I just wanted to take a moment and let you know that the Town has put a web page on our site dealing with the Magee Ranch proposal. It details much of the process and allows comment on the project. The page can be found at Web Link

Our hope is to make this as transparent as possible and give residents every opportunity to provide input into the process.

Any questions about Magee Ranch can be addressed to Principal Planner David Crompton at (925)314-3349 or [email protected]

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Geoff Gillette
Public Information Coordinator
Town of Danville

A word of caution to all of you. I don't know what a "casitas" really is but I can tell you that I live in San Ramon where Section 8 housing has been built. (Our homes were over $1 million) We were told it was to make this area more affordable for teachers, firefighters and the elderly. Maybe those nice folks have moved in, but it has also brought individuals who normally would not be in this area. They are sending kids to the schools who cause fights, do not participate in class and who generally disrespect each other, the teachers and our area. If this project includes Section 8 housing wording, be wary.

I've been a resident of Danville for 22 years. This is horrible. What we do not need more of in Danville are new homes. I am a resident of Hidden Valley and greatly affected by the traffic going to work every morning. McCauley Road gets greatly congested as does Diablo Road. Diablo Road can get backed up for a couple of miles when parents are dropping their children off or picking them up at Green Valley School let alone the other schools in the area. It is NOT SAFE to add ANY more traffic to these areas! And to top it off, we've got such a small amount of natural beauty left. There is so much wildlife in this area! Leave it alone!

Marnie really sums up the controversy in a nutshell.....she lives in Hidden Valley, the Hidden Valley kids greatly impacted the situation to make it how bad it is now, and so let her have her open space and no one else can build here anymore. Hidden Valley is a developer's oxymoron hon....

For those interested, a group of concerned residents have created their own website: www.save-our-creek.com with more information about this project.
There is also an online petition that folks can sign. More than 270 folks have signed since its creation on November 3, 2010. Web Link

Many of you may have lived in Danville for a long time, therefore may not know how bad this project is.

We moved here 3 years ago because of the problem created by new residences in Dublin (where we moved from). Dublin built a lot of homes and condos, which in turn required Section 8 residences. The value of my home plunged because of the density of the surrounding areas.

I hope it doesn’t happen here because we will move again, and the value of my home and yours will plunge. I want Danville to keep its charm and small town atmosphere. We need to be more proactive and fight this hard. From my experiences, you have to drive this hard for the Mayor and City Council to get the message. Trust me, the Dublin Mayor and City council knew my name when I lived there.

The Town of Danville issued a press release at 5:00 pm on Monday, December 13 as an alert to inform residents that it will hold a public meeting on December 15 to discuss updates to the Town of Danville's General Plan. Not sure why residents are only being given 2 days notice...but, if you are concerned about the SummerHill Homes Magee Ranch project please try to make this meeting. Web Link

Good afternoon!

While we certainly encourage our residents to come out to tonight’s Joint Session of the Town Council and Planning Commission, I just want to clarify that this is a meeting to talk about the process of updating the Town’s General Plan. There won’t be any direct discussion of the Magee Ranch property as that is not part of the scope of this evening’s meeting.

It will be strictly informational, with no public hearing, no decisions made or actions taken.

To get a more in-depth look at what is on tonight’s agenda, there is a short article posted on the Town’s website at Web Link

If you are interested in the long range future of the Town and how the General Plan will be adjusted to take us to that future, then this is the meeting for you!

For further clarification, this is a special meeting of the two bodies which was announced two weeks ago and has been on the Town’s calendar. Additionally, the agenda was sent out to those who subscribe to the Town’s E-News alert service on December 10, 2010. The press release Monday was to remind the press and the E-News subscribers that the meeting was taking place this week.

For those interested in E-News, go to the Town’s website www.danville.ca.gov and at the bottom click on E-News.

Hope this helps. Have a great night!

Geoff


Geoff Gillette
Public Information Coordinator
Town of Danville
(925) 314-3336
[email protected]

Danville doesn't need any more new homes. Look at how many are for sale in your neighborhoods. If someone wants to move to Danville, they already have lots of choices. These new houses are fairly large. I thought people are tending towards smaller more efficient homes. Besides the traffic impacts,what about water? Look how far these homes are from public transportation. After reading all the comments, I think there needs to be a lot more planning done. Think about the big picture and the future!!!!

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