On Tuesday May 17, the City council approved the Oak Valley development, which is located between Highway 32 and Old Humboldt Rd. from Bruce Rd. up to the upper electrical transmission lines.  Many of you may know this as the Tom Fogarty/Burn Dump project.

Altacal appealed the Planning Commission's acceptance of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) based on the fact that Chico's viewshed would be ruined and that the oak woodlands along Humboldt Rd would eventually be lost. We asked the council to adopt Alternative 3 in the EIR which places all of the housing units on the lower portion of the property. The Chico General Plan clearly states that development is not to encroach into the oak woodlands and specifically mentions this property as a place where housing units should be clustered at the lower end (so much for planning).  If this project ultimately goes through, (A) Old Humboldt Road's historic resources will be obscured by traffic and feeder roads, (B) The oak woodlands will eventually die out, (C) 80 homes will be up on the hill looking back at Chico forever.  There are also issues surrounding a remediated toxic dump cleanup site, and traffic issues that (by the city's own admission) will not be addressed.

A small group of people is discussing a referendum and/or a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit that would force the city to address these concerns.  If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Phil Johnson pjohnsonhardwood@sunset.net  for more information.  We will need a big volunteer effort.