To: Board of Supervisors
From: Thomas Geiger, County Counsel
Report Title: Introduce Ordinance Nos. 2023-22 and 2023-23.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
INTRODUCE Ordinance No. 2023-22, rescinding an ordinance that approved a development agreement for the Tassajara Parks Project in the Tassajara Valley area; and INTRODUCE Ordinance No. 2023-23, rescinding an ordinance that rezoned land in the Tassajara Valley area for the Tassajara Parks Project; WAIVE readings; and FIX December 5, 2023 for adoption.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None to introduce ordinances.
BACKGROUND:
On July 13, 2021, the Board of Supervisors approved the Tassajara Parks Project and certified a final environmental impact report under CEQA for the project (State Clearinghouse No. 2014052089). The Tassajara Parks Project is a 125-unit single-family residential development in the Tassajara Valley area. The Board approvals included: a 30-acre modification to the Urban Limit Line (“ULL”); General Plan land use designation changes; adoption of an ordinance (Ordinance No. 2021-24) that rezoned land from A-80 (agricultural) to P-1 (planned unit); adoption of an ordinance (Ordinance No. 2021-23) that approved a development agreement; a vesting tentative map; and a development plan for the project. The Board also approved a preservation agreement between the County, the City of San Ramon, and the East Bay Regional Park District providing for the dedication of 727 acres of land outside the ULL from the developer to the park district.
Following the Board’s approval of the project and certification of the EIR, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Sierra Club, and the Town of Danville each filed a lawsuit challenging the approvals (Contra Costa County Superior Court Case Nos. N21-1274, N21-1509, and N21-1525). The cases were consolidated for litigation purposes.
On August 16, 2023, and August 22, 2023, the Superior Court entered judgments in the consolidated cases. The Court granted each petitioner’s petition for writ of mandate, in part, and concluded that the EIR provided inadequate information and analysis regarding the project’s water supply, EBMUD’s annexation policies, and the feasibility of proposed offsite conservation measures on which the availability of the project’s water supply will depend. The Court also held that the EIR should have been recirculated after EBMUD’s Board of Directors adopted a resolution on June 8, 2021, declaring that EBMUD did not have adequate water supplies to serve the project. The Court issued peremptory writs of mandate ordering the County to void the certification of the project EIR and to vacate and set aside all project-related approvals, except for the 30-acre modification to the ULL and the preservation agreement. The Court found that the 30-acre modification to the ULL and the preservation agreement were severable from the remainder of the project and that leaving those approvals in place would not prevent the County from complying with CEQA.
Today’s action introduces two ordinances. Ordinance No. 2023-22 rescinds Ordinance No. 2021-23, which approved the development agreement. Ordinance No. 2023-23 rescinds Ordinance No. 2021-24, which rezoned land from A-80 to P-1. On December 5, 2023, the Board will consider adopting the two ordinances and rescinding the Board’s certification of the EIR and land use approvals for the project.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The County would not be in compliance with three Superior Court writs.