No Decision on Alhambra Highlands Yet

After four hours of discussion from the applicant, staff, opponents and commissioners, the Planning Commission failed to come to a final decision on what commission chair Donna Allen called "one of the most important decisions I've been asked to make as a commissioner," but it appears there is enough support on the commission for a final approval in April.

The plan is to construct 112 homes on 300 acres of pristine ridgelines studded with old growth oak forests on land that many say is too unstable to contain such development. The project is known as Alhambra Highlands, and its discussion brought a standing-room only crowd of opponents to City Hall on Tuesday night.

The project, which has been in the works since 1990, has gone through several significant changes, including half the proposed homes and more proposed open space. But even the latest iteration, which reduces the number of trees to be destroyed from 625 to 484, relocates the entrance road 400 feet to the north and adds three acres to the recreation area, was not enough to keep residents from pleading for the plan's demise.

"I'm deeply concerned about landslides," said Tamara Schultz, a Valley Glen resident. "I cannot imagine putting a road into a hillside where there are drainage problems already. What happens to our homes? Who’s going to protect our homes?"

"To take the hills away is to take away a lot of what Martinez wants to be," said Chatsworth Drive resident Sandra Leone. "You're taking away the future."

"It's utterly absurd that living in John Muir's home, that we’re even having this discussion," said Bill Nichols. "Many of the trees we’re talking about killing were alive when he was doing his best work."

But a majority of commissioners said they would support the project.

"The developer made a lot of concessions," said commissioner Rachael Ford. "I'm not happy about the trees, but it could be significantly worse. I have an issue with going back and saying we're not going to approve this because the (nearby) residents don't agree with it. That's not a good enough reason."

"This has been approved more than once," said commissioner Paul Kelly, who said he would support the project.

Though commission chair Donna Allen was unsure of how she would vote, saying she needed more information, commissioner Harriett Burt was the only one clearly opposed to the project.

"This project came out of a very different time," Burt said, noting that the list of mitigations for the project was the longest she had seen in her years on the commission. But even with those, Burt said, the risk of landslides to the surrounding neighborhoods of landslides was too great.

The public hearing will continue April 12, when planning staff will return with resolutions of approval for the project. The public will get an opportunity to speak for or against those resolutions at that meeting before the commission votes on the project.