In what they hope will end 4-1/2 years of lawsuits, name-calling, petition drives and general contentiousness, the City of Martinez, a Concord-based homebuilder and a citizens’ group have reached an agreement as to the future of a former golf course.
This past week, the city, developer DeNova Homes, Inc. and the citizens group Friends of Pine Meadow reached a settlement as to the future of the 26.9-acre Pine Meadow Golf Course. That future, pending approval by the courts and the Martinez City Council, would include:
This agreement was announced last week in a joint statement issued by the city, DeNova and Friends of Pine Meadow. They said they hope their statement will be “the definitive statement of the parties involved” about the settlement.
In that statement, Tim Platt of Friends of Pine Meadow said:
“We believe this settlement will be far better for open space advocates and for Martinez and its citizens than enduring more years of litigation.”
The three-way agreement is designed to end an ongoing battle that boiled down to the question of whether a closed golf course could be considered “open space,” and whether the public should be able to help determine the future of such lands.
DeNova originally wanted to build 98 houses on part of the golf course land; the Friends of Pine Meadow wanted no houses there, instead wanting the former golf course declared “open space.”
The Martinez City Council in January 2015 tried to rezone the golf course — which shut down 3-1/2 months later — to host housing. That vote prompted the Friends of Pine Meadow to collect enough petition signatures to require the City Council either to rescind its zoning change (and accompanying general plan amendment) or put the zoning/housing issue to a public vote.
The council opted for a vote, which finally happened in June 2018. The Friends-backed “Measure I,” requiring voter approval for any changes to any open space in Martinez, edged out a similar but slightly more restrictive city-backed measure.
Certain changes to Measure I’s language are part of the new agreement.
Dana Tsubota, DeNova Homes executive vice president, said in the statement that her company is happy to finally move ahead with new houses on the former golf course.
Tsubota said:
“We think the end result — both the new park and the additional housing — will benefit the city and its residents.”
In the same joint statement, Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said:
“With this settlement, we hope to put those disagreements behind us and move forward for the betterment of the city and all its citizens.”
Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. © 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
After a hectic season and offseason, shooting guard Alec Burks could find stability in the 2019-20 season with...
A political consultant who is also a coach at North Salinas High School was arrested last week on rape...
A man was hospitalized early Sunday morning after he walked out a second-story sliding door of a house near...
