Letter: Dublin Resident Supports Referendum Effort

A letter to the editor from Dublin resident Norm Lewandowski:

On 12/7/21 City Council approved the recent Trumark Development Project for 573 homes where the City Staff and Lawyer used a 28-year-old Environmental Impact Report and dismissed the Dublin City School District’s legal objections to this project.

Residents are tired of the City rubber stamping housing development projects. The pattern is the same for almost every project. Our Planning Commission, City Staff, City Lawyer and City Council allow for 20-30 yr. old Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) to be used with supplemental documentation. These documents are provided by companies that use unchallenged assumptions and averaged specs to show there is little to no significant impact on residents and the environment. When there are legal challenges from the public the City Lawyer overrules them. Our City Staff then provides developer friendly reports to our Council for review with little to no consideration or mitigations for residents’ concerns. Our Planning Commission and City Council do not have the technical expertise to be able to challenge the Staff’s and developers’ reports and therefore rubber stamp the project for approval. Developers are lined up with projects in Dublin because our city makes it so easy for developers. Dublin residents don’t see our system of City government advocating at all for our concerns.

A group of residents organized under a PAC called Dubliners Against Overdevelopment filed a referendum. The referendum is to stop the Zoning Ordinance passed by the City to approve a parcel of protected land to be rezoned for the Trumark project. If enough signatures are collected, the Referendum will require the City to rescind the project or put the project on election ballot for vote by Dublin residents. Maybe the City will get the message that “Enough is enough” and residents are tired of being ignored. Please visit the website to see how your voice can be heard.

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