CONCORD NAVAL WEAPONS STATION
REUSE PLAN

After years of planning and input from Concord residents and the Community Coalition for a Sustainable Concord, of which SMD is a member organization, the City Council voted to move two alternatives forward, including a minimum of 3,200 acres of parks and open space. The plan should protect Mount Diablo creek and the Los Medanos hills in a new regional park bigger than Tilden, while also creating a large network of parks around development centered on the North Concord-Martinez BART Station. Years more work will be needed.

Following close to two years of public outreach and planning, the Concord City Council on January 12 adopted a land use plan for the Concord Naval Weapons Station that will be forwarded to the US Navy and undergo further environmental review locally.
 
The city council adopted the Clustered Villages alternative, which focuses high density, mixed-use development near the North Concord BART station, but also provides a string of three clustered communities to the south of the BART station. Most of the land east of Mount Diablo Creek will be preserved for open space and recreation (64% of the base has been designated park and open space). In addition a widened urban linear park along the neighborhoods and a Cal State campus are included in the plan.
 
The plan is a model of new smart growth concepts, including providing enough density to facilitate transit and encourage affordable housing. It also concentrates high density, mixed-use development near transit and provides a significant number of new jobs for Concord and the region. It is a balanced and financially sustainable plan.
 
The city is to be commended for its extensive public outreach, resulting in a final decision that engendered very little opposition. Throughout the process, Save Mount Diablo participated in a Regional Stakeholder Group that included Contra Costa Council; Home Builders Association of Northern California; Central Labor Council; East Bay Housing Organizations; East Bay Regional Park District; Craft Consulting Group; Carlson, Barbee & Gibson; Gray-Bowen; Contra Costa Community College District and Cal State East Bay. This group developed consensus around key issues and forwarded those ideas to the city's project team.

Save Mount Diablo is also part of the Community Coalition for a Sustainable Concord (Community Coalition). The Coalition is a collection of affordable housing, interfaith, labor, conservation & neighborhood organizations including; Arc Ecology, Carpenters Local Union 152, Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County, Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization, CNWS Neighborhood Alliance, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, East Bay Housing Organizations, Friends of Mount Diablo Creek, Greenbelt Alliance, Habitat for Humanity East Bay, Lutheran Social Services, Mount Diablo Audubon Society, Public Advocates, Inc., Resources for Community Development, Sierra Club, Transportation and Land Use Coalition, which sought a plan that preserved the Weapons Station's natural resources and scenic hillsides. 

Save Mount Diablo will continue to stay involved in the process for the next several years while the environmental review is done and the plan is further refined.