Martinez sued again for stalled development
Developer alleges city kept letter disproving concerns about floods
MARTINEZ >> A frustrated local developer that says the city is “dragging its feet” in approving a 65-unit housing project is suing for millions, claiming the dispute could potentially bankrupt Martinez.
Developer DeNova Homes, of Concord, which wants to build 65 houses and a public park at the former Pine Meadow Golf Course, alleges in a lawsuit, filed in November, that the city intentionally withheld an important document and has illegally declined to complete the final steps necessary for the development to move forward, in violation of a 2019 settlement.
The city denies those claims and insists it is justified in holding up the process over concerns that DeNova’s proposed drainage infrastructure at the park would result in a nearby street being flooded for longer periods during heavy storms.
Although city officials say the matter easily could be resolved out of court, DeNova is suing for at least $2.8 million in damages and says it may seek as much as $35 million (including the entire cost of the development) through litigation. That would be enough to bankrupt Martinez; a similar situation plunged Half Moon Bay into financial turmoil during the late 2000s after it lost a lawsuit to a developer.
“The city supports the project, but has no intention of imposing a badly designed project on the community it serves or those who buy homes from DeNova,” said attorney Michael Colantuono, an outside counsel for the city, in an email
After years of heated public debate, multiple lawsuits and successful ballot measures, Martinez, DeNova and openspace advocates joined a 2019 settlement agreement that allowed the developer to build 65 houses, with an additional 9 acres dedicated as a public park.
At the time, all parties said they were satisfied with the resolution. But now, city officials say they won’t approve the project’s
grading permits, as well as a final recorded map of the development, until the issues are resolved.
DeNova, however, believes the city gave up its right to have any discretion over the development when the City Council approved the settlement in 2019. Martinez denies this, saying the drainage concerns fall under conditions that the council attached to its earlier approval.
DeNova general counsel Dana Tsubota blames constant staff turnover, including several different city managers in just a few years’ time, for delaying both the housing development and park construction.
“They keep changing hands, and every time this happens, someone wants to redesign this project,” Tsubota
said in an interview.
One of the city’s main concerns is that as proposed, new drainage infrastructure for the park would risk longer flood times on nearby Vine Hill Way during storms.
That concern was generally supported by a letter from the Contra Costa County Flood Control District sent last August, which found that the park’s drainage basins would lengthen periods of flooding on Vine
Hill Way in a 100-year storm event.
However, the letter also said that the drainage basins would reduce peak flows, which means the street would see less flooding overall.
DeNova maintains that the latter part of the flood control district’s report proves the city’s concerns are “patently false.” It also alleges that Martinez’s city staff “purposely, illegally and falsely” withheld the letter from both the developer and the City Council for months, delaying the process even further.
The city’s attorney, meanwhile, confirmed that the findings were withheld from DeNova, but blames an engineer under contract with the city at the time for not sending the letter to either the developer or city staff, for reasons the attorney said are unknown.
Mayor Rob Schroder referred any questions to the city’s outside counsel.
For years, some residents pushed for the Pine Meadow Golf Course to remain open space after it closed. A residents group, Friends of Pine Meadow, was able to secure 9 acres of parkland dedicated to the city in the 2019 settlement.
Tim Platt, a spokesman for Friends of Pine Meadow, said in an interview he’s eager to see the project finished and disappointed that it again has become “bogged down” in the details.
“Our concern is for the park,” Platt said. “There has not been a new park in Martinez in over 20 years; we’re very frustrated to see this drag out.”
By a slight margin, Martinez voters in 2018 approved a ballot measure that required voter approval for any development on openspace lands, whether public or private. And in 2019, a court sided against DeNova in overturning a 2017 measure that approved a 92-house development.
When the city, DeNova and Friends of Pine Meadow settled on 65 houses across 12 acres in 2019, all sides hailed the agreement as a successful compromise.