Opposition to Cargill erupts in Redwood City

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

Cargill & DMB developed a very big headache at the Planning Commission meeting in Redwood City last Tuesday night. Redwood City asked for their residents' input on the proposed salt pond development, and that is exactly what they got - over three hours of it. The overflow crowd lined the walls, sat on the floors and spilled into the hallway, where a TV and portable speakers had to be set up to accommodate everyone. Not swayed by the developers' slick and expensive presentation, the podium was packed with opponents to the project throughout the night - vastly outnumbering development supporters.

From the neighborhood associations to the mobile home parks and the garden clubs, Redwood City residents made it clear that they're deeply concerned about this destructive development and will be fighting it at every step of the way.

You can watch the meeting here; public comments start with Joel Jensen’s great statement at 01:10 here.

Sadly, despite a September presentation by consultants emphasizing that CEQA was democracy in action, Redwood City actually suggested that “advocacy” would not be tolerated, and that “there shall be no debating the merits of the project.” Residents protested, their city attorney corrected them, and they put out edited slides crossing out the offending provisions.

What the slide seems to suggest is that unless you favor the project, Redwood City doesn’t want to hear from you.

That is unfortunately consistent with the 99-page "Notice of Preparation of Environmental Impact Report for proposed Saltworks Project" released by Redwood City which is reminiscent of the project that it purports to describe: fundamentally evasive about core environmental issues, numbingly large, and preferring to distract attention by emphasizing irrelevant details.

The NOP makes no mention of:

--> the SF Bay Water Board’s recent letter to Redwood City stating the salt ponds to be "an important biological resource” providing “foraging and nesting habitat for a variety of birds." (June 2010)

--> the US EPA’s recent statement that Cargill's Redwood City salt ponds are "critically important aquatic resources that warrant special attention and protection." (Jan. 2010)

The NOP is clearly trying to advance the developers' interest, not the public interest. City Councilmembers insisted in 2009 that the salt ponds be removed from Redwood City's General Plan process at the explicit request of DMB, and their promise that this EIR would evaluate a broad range of visions for the property is now clearly broken.

Dead End Ahead for Cargill

By Josh Sonnenfeld, Campaign Manager

Sign the petition to stop Cargill and help us meet the goal to get 5,000 signatures by spreading the word to your friends!

Things keep getting worse and worse for Cargill and their Arizona-based luxury homes developer in their attempt to fill in 1,436 acres of San Francisco Bay salt ponds.

Not only have more than 140 elected officials from around the region come out against the project, but so have the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. An editorial in today’s San Mateo Daily Journal describing Cargill’s “overambitious plan” warns of “a long and contentious road ahead” if they continue on their current path.

This follows recent statements from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Water Board, and the EPA – three of the agencies Cargill would need permits from for their project to be approved – noting the importance of protecting and restoring the Redwood City salt ponds.

And today Save the Bay is proud to announce our new website – DontPaveMyBay.org – to ratchet up the pressure on Cargill and the Redwood City Council. While the support of elected officials, newspapers, and strong statements from regulatory agencies are big boosts to our work – we know that to beat America’s largest private company, we need everyone in the Bay Area on board. Will you help us?

NOW is the time for you to stand up to stop Cargill from paving our Bay! We need 5,000 signatures by August 16 to show Redwood City Council there is widespread opposition to Cargill's proposed development and convince them to stop this project in its tracks. Please sign the petition and spread the word at www.DontPaveMyBay.org! Please promote this on your Facebook and Twitter pages also.

Cargill’s development is 17 times bigger than any other bay fill project approved in the past 50 years. It is, by far, the largest proposal on the San Francisco Bay since the introduction of environmental regulations in the early ‘60s. Now is the time for the entire region to show that our bay is not for filling – but for the health and enjoyment of all.

Cargill developer "myths" debunked

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

Recent blog and Twitter posts by Cargill's Redwood City developer DMB state, "there’s been a lot of misinformation and half-truths being circulated out there."

No kidding.

Openly concerned about the attention being paid to their unprecedented plans to build a new city in the Bay, the increasingly desperate developer is clumsily attempting to erase many simple and inconvenient facts by claiming that they are "myths."

But the evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary.

Did Cargill not tell their Arizona-based development partner these basic facts about their Bay property? You be the judge:

--> Astonishingly, Cargill’s developer claims it is a "myth" that the site "was diked off from tidal action to create salt evaporation ponds." This property is former tidal marsh, diked off from the Bay to make salt. Is there another way to make a salt pond? Just look at this 1943 aerial photograph.

--> DMB says it is a "myth" that site is located within a FEMA flood plain. Apparently they have not seen Redwood City's General Plan. (Redwood City General Plan Map, page BE-54).

--> Cargill's developer refuses to admit that the Redwood City salt ponds are the largest unprotected stretch of restorable bay shoreline because, they say, the site "is privately owned by Cargill." Yet the fact that these salt ponds remain in private ownership defines why they need protection from development.

--> DMB asserts that the current zoning for the site "anticipates future development proposals." In fact, Redwood City's General Plan states of the Cargill salt ponds: "Due to the sensitive nature of these open space areas, it should be assumed that they will remain as open space forever." These salt ponds have never been zoned for housing.

--> Cargill's developer also calls a "myth" the fact that state and federal laws prohibit filling wetlands when alternatives are available. But nobody contests that fact. The US EPA recently called these salt ponds "a critically important aquatic resource that warrant special attention" (EPA letter, Jan. 5, 2010). And Cargill has filed documents with the US Army Corps calling the site "waters of the US" protected by the Clean Water Act.

--> Cargill is running ads on TV and in newspapers telling the Bay Area public that this site is "a century-old industrial facility." Does this look like an industrial facility to you?

--> The developer threatens that the only choice is to approve their massive development, otherwise Cargill will continue making salt. Nobody is telling them not to keep making salt; it is their legal right to do so. But Cargill has already made clear that salt harvesting is no longer economically viable in Redwood City (Paul Shepherd, Cargill Land Manager, letter to Redwood City residents, 2006).

Just as Redwood City voters prevented Bair Island from being developed a generation ago, Cargill’s development must be stopped so that – like Bair Island – it can be added to the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge and restored to tidal wetlands to benefit people and wildlife.

For more photos and documentation behind the real facts, please visit our Flickr site.

Bay Area leaders step up to save salt ponds

By Amy Ricard, Communications and Policy Associate

Regional opposition to Cargill’s plan to build a new city of up to 30,000 people on 1,436 acres of restorable salt ponds continues to grow dramatically.

Last week more than 90 elected officials from all nine Bay Area counties submitted a letter to the City Council of Redwood City urging them to reject a massive development on Bay salt ponds proposed by Cargill Inc., declaring, "The era of filling San Francisco Bay is over."

You can read about this significant swell of support from Bay Area leaders in the SF Chronicle and the SJ Mercury News.

Dozens of mayors and city council members, county supervisors, and state legislators strongly oppose the project, agreeing that "salt ponds are not land to be paved – they are part of San Francisco Bay to be restored to tidal marsh for wildlife habitat, natural flood protection for our communities, cleaner water, and recreation areas for everyone to enjoy."

In addition to this latest batch of elected officials to come out against the proposed development, the Menlo Park City Council voted to formally oppose the project citing the urgent need to protect and restore San Francisco Bay.

And Peter Drekmeier, former mayor of Palo Alto has said, "It is not 1960, and the Bay is not the place for housing. This is not smart growth like Redwood City's award-winning downtown projects. That's why the City Council should just say 'no' to Cargill now."

The bottom line: we all have a stake in what happens to our Bay. We must come together as a region to stop Cargill from paving over and destroying our great natural resource. If you have not yet signed our petition opposing this project yourself, please sign it today. You can also urge your own state legislators to sign the opposition letter by clicking here.

Cargill facing growing opposition on Peninsula

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

There is a growing rebellion against Cargill's plan to build a city in San Francisco Bay.

In an important opinion piece in the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto City Council member Yoriko Kishimoto calls out Cargill's plan as a grave threat to the Peninsula's future: "A proposed development in Redwood City so breathtaking in its size and misguided in its scope that nothing of its kind has been seen in half a century." She points out that "this is not an infill site and this is not the place for housing."

And the Redwood City Daily News recently reported that the Menlo Park City Council is moving to declare the project an environmental hazard to the region. Menlo Park Council Members Kelly Fergusson and Andrew Cohen agree that "the current Cargill/DMB development proposal seeks to reverse long-standing regional and local policies to protect the Bay and its wetlands."

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece published in the Redwood City Daily News, Redwood City resident Marsha Cohen expressed concern that the city "is stonewalling requests for public records." She points out that the mayor works for business lobbyist SAMCEDA, a strong public supporter of the Cargill development. Ms. Cohen wants to know what advice was given to the mayor about the conflict of interest.

Currently, the Redwood City Council is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to determine whether Cargill’s application should move forward. Clearly, many leaders on the Peninsula have found a much cheaper answer: It should be dead on arrival.

Go to www.savesfbay.org/redwoodcity for more information and to sign our petition, and stay tuned for more interesting updates.

Stand by your plan

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

As our readers know, Cargill and DMB recently submitted an application to Redwood City, proposing to build up to 12,000 housing units on retired salt ponds that should be restored to natural wetlands. Before reviewing Cargill's development proposal, the Redwood City Council is working to finalize a new general plan.

In January, the City Council made a public commitment that there were to be no changes made on Cargill's Redwood City salt ponds in the updated plan.

In fact, Redwood City's current general plan map clearly places the entire salt pond property under the category of "Open Space." And the current general plan, in place since 1990, says this about the salt ponds: "Due to the sensitive nature of these open space areas, it should be assumed that they will remain as open space forever."

But a recently released general plan map would remove the words “Open Space” from hundreds of acres of the Cargill salt ponds. See the map here. City staff told the Planning Commission that the so-called "Urban Reserve" on a section of the Cargill property "really wasn't an open space designation." A proposed new "Open Spaces" map graphically illustrates the result – nearly half of the Cargill salt ponds would be taken out of open space.

Redwood City must honor its commitment to "take the Cargill site out of the General Plan Process." The city should renew its vision of saving the salt ponds "as open space forever," just like they are in the current general plan.

We have been told that the City is working to resolve this issue and intends to stand by their word by continuing to describe the "urban reserve" as open space on the land-use map. Exactly what they will do with other existing Cargill-related language from the current general plan – that it should "remain as open space forever" – remains unclear.

Save The Bay is committed to urging the City to renew their vision of saving the salt ponds as open space, which will benefit both people and wildlife.

Learn more at http://www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

DMB plan should be DOA

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

Yesterday, DMB Associates unveiled their massive development plan for the Cargill site in Redwood City.

As our Executive Director David Lewis says in this San Jose Mercury News article, this project "should be dead on arrival."

Save The Bay opposes Cargill and DMB’s Bay salt pond development project in Redwood City. We therefore urge Redwood City, state and federal agencies to reject the project and promote full restoration and protection of habitat and open space on the site.

The project would destroy Bay shoreline open space that should be restored. It would put new development in the path of flood waters and rising sea level.

This site is not infill and it is not the place for housing and commercial development. Redwood City should continue its smart growth redevelopment downtown. These salt ponds should be permanently protected for restoration that benefits people and wildlife.

Once again, it is up to residents to make their voices heard and stop this destructive project.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

In the zone

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

You might have heard about the Pacific Institute’s recent report, "The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast," which states that a half a million current California residents and $100 billion of the state’s infrastructure will be in the inundation zone by 2100.

If you haven't heard – read all about it. Check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle and this story from NPR.

Over two thirds of that "at risk" infrastructure is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

What's more, California's number one, most threatened municipality is San Mateo County, both in terms of population and infrastructure. San Mateo County has $24 billion in infrastructure at risk – almost one quarter of the entire statewide projected impact from sea level rise. Check out the maps from the report.

The Bay Area faces an enormous challenge to protect existing infrastructure around our Bay, including San Francisco Airport, Highway 101 and many thousands of residences. In the face of this growing threat, one thing is clear: Redwood City should not approve Cargill’s plan to place billions of dollars of new housing infrastructure out on Redwood City’s bayfront salt ponds.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

The fight goes on

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

Originally posted on November 5, 2008

Because Cargill’s developer DMB spent nearly $2 million in just three months (or more than $150 for every vote in their favor) in a community of 75,000 residents, we are disappointed, but not surprised that Redwood City’s Measure W did not pass yesterday.

Measure W is the Charter Amendment that would have guaranteed Redwood City voters the final say on any development of open space in the city – including Cargill’s 1,433 acres of retired salt ponds.

In dozens of mailers and ads, the developers’ campaign confused and misled voters about supposed impacts on individual homeowners and painted Save The Bay as "Oakland-based outsiders," never mentioning our name! This is interesting coming from an Arizona-based luxury housing developer representing Minnesota-based Cargill.

Because the vote against W rests on that foundation, it does not reflect support for Cargill’s massive and controversial development. Even many opponents of Measure W publicly stated they are opposed to development on these salt ponds.

Cargill faces many more hurdles to development on this site. Save The Bay has protected and restored the Bay since 1961, and we will continue to fight against any development on Cargill’s salt ponds on the Redwood City shoreline. These ponds were once thriving wetlands and they can be again. The fight goes on.

To learn more, get involved and/or tell Cargill not to pave our Bay, go to www.savesfbay.org/redwoodcity.

Yes on W--Yes on Open Space

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

Originally posted on October 24, 2008

Save The Bay was founded almost 50 years ago to ... well, save the Bay, from Bay fill. And it was saved--back then; but somehow it never seems to stop needing to be saved again. With seven million of us living all around it, the pressures on the Bay will always be enormous, no matter how much we love it and realize how important it is to our quality of life and economy.

We'd like to think that in the 21st century, any further massive Bay fill would be off the table. Not so.

At the top of Save The Bay's agenda right now is passing a ballot measure—Measure W—in Redwood City. Measure W gives Redwood City voters the final say if the City Council approves development on open space, parks and baylands. The largest threatened open space left along the Bay shoreline is a 1,430-acre salt pond site owned by Cargill Inc., where current zoning does not permit the truly massive development planned by Cargill developers.

In their campaign against Measure W the Cargill developers are spending around $20,000 a day to confuse voters by claiming that Measure W will somehow hurt homeowners, leave seniors hungry, and even burn down houses! Redwood City residents should reject these baseless claims, get the facts and send the developers a message by voting Yes on W.

Redwood City’s quality of life and economy benefit directly from the smart decisions made to preserve open space. Because citizens acted, Bair Island is now a wildlife refuge instead of an office park, and Marina Shores’ massive high rises were stopped.

This November, Redwood City voters should make another smart decision for open space by voting Yes on W.

Watch our Yes on W video on YouTube