|
Opposition remains to
quarry housing plan By Matthew Artz BRISBANE Most residents
want to replace the 600-foot quarry carved into San Bruno Mountain that kicks
up 2,268 pounds of dust into the air every day and acts as a barrier to
native butterflies. They just aren't sure that
a proposed 183-unit housing development is the way to go. Today, the City Council
begins a series of public hearings on the quarry project proposed by Western
Pacific Homes. Should the council certify the Environmental Impact Report and
issue permits, Brisbane voters, under a 2001 ordinance, would then vote on
the project. "There are no easy
answers," Mayor Cy Bologoff said. "This will definitely impact our
community" The 129 single-family
homes and 54 townhouses proposed would bring about 500 new residents to a
town of just under 4,000. It would be the second major mountainside
development in the past two decades. In 1989, the city approved more than 500
housing units atop a ridge, Councilmember Steve Waldo said. "With housing, the
county gets the property taxes and we have to provide more services,"
said Paul Bouscal, a Brisbane resident and member of San Bruno Mountain
Watch. He and other opponents of the plan have dominated public comment at
hearings before the council and the Planning Commission. But opponents face a dilemma:
Their proposed alternative â nature trails and an environmental education
centerâ is for now infeasible and the more viable options, housing, a light
industrial park or renewed quarry operationsâ aren't attractive to them. The
property is currently zoned for light industrial uses. Bouscal, who favors
housing over the light industrial option, said the San Bruno Mountain Watch
hoped to raise an endowment to buy the 144-acre property he said is estimated
at $50 million. Quarry operations have
ceased and the site has most recently been used to recycle concrete, Bologoff
said. He added that the council planned to hold several public hearings on
the issue and didn't expect a ballot vote until 2007. The environmental report,
completed last year, concluded that housing would pose fewer adverse
environmental impacts than a light industrial park or renewed quarrying. Councilmembers, though,
want assurances that the development would be immune from major rockslides
and could withstand a powerful earthquake. "Whether it is safe
or not is a question," Waldo said. In 2001 the council
approved an ordinance giving residents the right to vote on any housing
project approved for the quarry. The housing developers have offered public
amenities to the city and school district, and backed a proposal to re-create
a wetland if the development is approved. Correction: The developers are not officially
supporting the wetlands proposal. |