Development would add to climate crisis

An editorial recently lamented that “Valley’s Edge developer Bill Brouhard followed every law and every regulation.” He followed the General Plan. What could be the objection?

Well, the Environmental Impact Report of the General Plan adopted in 2011 revealed that build-out of the plan “would result in a net increase in GHG emissions,” with impacts “considerable and significant and unavoidable.” So, to legally pass the plan, the City Council had to issue a “Statement of Overriding Considerations.” Many people objected at the time, but we were told it was OK because reports would be issued every year to track improvement.

In every subsequent Sustainability Indicators Report, climate was an “area in need of improvement,” until the reports stopped in 2016. Furthermore, most of the measures in Climate Action Plan were never fully implemented. In other words, every project based on the City’s General Plan has made climate change worse.

Valley’s Edge needed its own EIR because a development the size of Gridley was not part of the “compact urban form” of the 2011 Plan. The EIR concluded that Valley’s Edge would make the climate crisis even ghastlier, so the City Council once again issued a “Statement of Overriding Considerations” that economic benefits of the project outweigh the significant effects on the climate for future generations.

The operational “plan” of the development industry in this town will wreck the climate for our children. And you wonder why people don’t want to follow their plans?