Dixon Ranch - DENIED 2/14/17

Dixon Ranch - The 605-unit Dixon Ranch project was denied on a 3-2 vote 2/14/17. 
Thank you to all who attended 2/14/17 to help oppose this project.  It was a team effort with help from many friends 'up the hill', and we are deeply appreciative. 

(We'll leave this link open so folks may check out the meeting details & public comments)

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The Dixon Ranch project is a proposal for a General Plan Amendment and Rezone to convert 280 acres (4 parcels) of low density land currently used for grazing, into high density housing. The site is adjacent to the existing strawberry stand on Green Valley Rd near Malcolm-Dixon Rd.
  • Maximum number of parcels per current RE10 zoning (10-ac min): 28 parcels*
  • Maximum number of parcels allowed per current General Plan with a rezone only to 5-ac min parcel size: 56 parcels
  • As proposed, with General Plan Amendment to higher density, and rezone:  605 units
  • This is not housing that is needed for the County's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), per the General Plan Housing Element.
Link to GVA slide show .
Link to BOS video (item #34) for slides as presented at the 3/8/2016 hearing:

Click for link to County info page and documents for Dixon Ranch . The Final Response To Comments document is posted with the meeting details, and not accessible until the Mar 8 agenda comes out, unless requested from the Clerk of the Board(edc.cob@edcgov.us) Some basic facts from the draft EIR are listed below the map here (scroll down..). 



A few items residents and Commissioners and Supervisors should all be aware of:
  1. The elementary and middle schools serving the project area have zero capacity to accommodate students from Dixon Ranch. (draft EIR page 331)
  2. While only 10% oak tree removal is allowed for this site, the project proposes the removal of 44% of the healthy trees (draft EIR page 226)
  3. The safety hazard of the direct access driveways as discussed in the Green Valley corridor traffic study, was not addressed in the Draft EIR.  The Final EIR denies there's a safety problem at all, in spite of line of sight issues identified in 25 locations, and 4,931 daily vehicle trips to be added by the project.
  4. The distance between the western project access and the existing West Green Springs Rd does not meet the County's current standards (General Plan Table TC-1)
  5. The conversion of this project site from rolling hills of grass and oaks into high density residential is erroneously said to be "visually compatible" and have no significant impact (draft EIR page 349). 
  6. The minimum lot size proposed is 4,725 square feet, that's about 9 units per acre (draft EIR page 73) on a site adjacent to rural zoning of minimum 5-ac parcels on three sides.
  7. The project does not comply with state air quality standards (draft EIR page 177)
  8. Testing shows asbestos on site (draft EIR appendices Vol.2 page 489, Table 1)
(We are not making this stuff up, thus the referenced pages.)

*The "current zoning" listed above as RE10 was a zone change approved by the Board of Supervisors in Dec 2015, along with over 37,000 other parcels that were changed without notice to adjacent neighbors and sometimes without notice to the property owner.  Rural Communities United is working to overturn that approval, in which case the Dixon Ranch zoning would revert to the pre-Dec 2015 zoning of AE, or Agricultural Estate with minimum 20 acre parcel size.   Visit the RCU website. GVA supports this lawsuit.  (RuralCommunitiesUnited.org)