Martinez Open Space Battle: City's Measure F Narrowly Prevails

MARTINEZ, CA — A city-sponsored open space measure on Tuesday's ballot appears to be headed for approval, narrowly edging out a competing citizen initiative measure on the same ballot, according to complete unofficial election results. Both the Martinez City Council's Measure F and the competing Measure I called for a public vote on proposed residential developments or other major changes to areas designated as open space.

Though both measures were approved, Measure F would get the nod based on it receiving 2,762 votes compared to 2,687 for Measure I.

The main difference in the two measures is the definition of "open space." Measure I includes both public land and some 500 privately owned parcels. Measure F identifies only publicly owned land as "open space" that would require a public vote.

At the center of the battle of open space measures is the fate of the former Pine Meadow Golf Course, a 26.9-acre patch of now-unused land in south central Martinez. The family that owned the course, which closed in
April 2015, sold the land to Concord developer DeNova Homes, which plans to build 98 houses there.

But a residents' group, Friends of Pine Meadow, has been fighting those housing plans, contending the parcel should remain undeveloped and kept as "open space." It was the key organizers of the Friends of Pine Meadow who also led the campaign to pass Measure I.

City Council members, meanwhile, said the former golf course's 1973 designation as "open space" in a 1973 city general plan change was a mistake. The golf course, council members have contended, should have been
zoned "residential" all along.

The Friends group successfully sued the city and DeNova in April 2017, contending a zoning change to accommodate DeNova's proposed housing development was illegal.

Some who crafted and support Measure I say the council has been too closely aligned with developers like DeNova, and is doing the developers' bidding by allowing housing projects like Pine Meadow to be approved.
Ninety-eight more houses in that area, they say, will only add to traffic congestion and overcrowding in local schools.

Supporters of the City Council-drafted Measure F said the golf course isn't really "open space," and that Martinez needs to build more houses to help meet regional demand.

Measure I, they say, would affect private landowners in developing or selling their property. Council members have said the city can't afford to maintain a park on the old Pine Meadow land, and would rather the city spend its resources maintaining existing parks and acquiring more conventional open space like the Alhambra Highlands land not far from Briones Regional Park.

By Bay City News Service

Image via Patch