I hate going negative again, but I really think the council missed a golden opportunity with this agreement. The planned development is a terrible solution for the Wallis Ranch property and for Dublin. It may be the worst example so far of Dublin's haphazard and illogical density concentrations away from the city core and transit centers. It violates almost every principle of smart urban design. The medium and medium-high density housing planned for Wallis Ranch exemplifies the very definition of sprawl, being located far from jobs, transit, shopping, the civic center and public schools. Every time Wallis Ranch residents want to do just about anything, they are going to have to get in their cars and take a sizable trip. The concomitant pollution, energy consumption, expense, safety risk and wasted time will be multiplied by the density factor.

Future observers are going to shake their heads in utter disbelief when they ponder the abysmal effect on the environment and quality of life for everyone as a result of developments like Wallis Ranch, while at the same time they agonize over the astronomical cost of fixing the damage wrought by the planning commissions and city councils of the past. This is something our great grandchildren are going to have to live with. When are we going to learn!

Because of decisions about Wallis Ranch made by previous planning commissions and city councils, this was very likely the current council's only chance to undo the damage before it is permanently in place. They should have denied the agreement until the developer came back with a low-density housing plan that makes sense for a project so far away from everything. Because the council chose to accept the $1M, the golden opportunity to right a grievous wrong is now lost.

Dublin apparently is locked into development agreements on almost all of the developable land remaining in the city. The only way to fix glaring problems like this one is to hope the developers have to re-negotiate their agreements because of the recession. Then the city can put a stop to higher density developments going in where they don't belong, and at the same time gain some desperately-needed housing options for families with children. I'm talking about detached single family homes with yards that kids can actually play in, on safe streets, preferably with cul-de-sacs. Families, especially on the east side, need homes they can grow into, instead of having to move to other communities as their kids get older. As a huge dividend, the re-negotiation of expiring development agreements would allow the city to ensure that land gets set aside for a high school on the east side. (There I go again!)

If I had known about the re-negotiation ahead of time, and if I had stayed at the council meeting until this item came up for discussion, I would have spoken on these very points. Still, I doubt I would have changed any minds on the council, as all they seemed to care about was the size of the Benefit Payment. But this is all a moot point, since I was still too disgusted by Kevin Hart's despicable behavior to hang around after the speech I gave during the Public Commentary portion of the meeting.

Tim Hall
Dublin, CA
tiger650@comcast.net