City of Benicia Consultants guiding us to accept housing plan in Seeno property
Seeno owned property (Google Earth, 2008) with inset of Benicia’s “North Study Area” (2022) – click to enlarge
By Larnie Fox, April 20, 2020
Good Morning all ~
Bodil and I went to the North Study Area (Seeno) “Community Open House” last night at Northgate Church. There is a Zoom equivalent tonight that you may want to attend:
Online Community Open House
April 20, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. Zoom Link
Passcode: 322062
I have to say it was less of an “open house” and more of a consultant-led workshop ~ the consultant leading us towards agreeing to build housing up there.
The elephant in the room was Seeno’s dismal record of not fulfilling promises and constant litigation. The Benindy has an excellent archive HERE.
To make anything happen there, we will have to amend the General Plan. Personally, I like the plan the way it is: the area is currently zoned for light industrial use with a little bit of commercial use on the Eastern end.
What I don’t want to see up there is more automobile-centric suburban sprawl ~ but it feels like that is where we are headed.
By Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007-2020, March 19, 2023
Seeno owned property (Google Earth, 2008) with inset of Benicia’s “North Study Area” (2022) – click to enlarge
Hats off to Steve Golub providing residents and businesses news and information in “Benicia and Beyond”. His first stab at this is a recent interview of Mayor Young.
Council member Tom Campbell has expressed concern about how many years someone needs to live here to fully understand Benicia. He, I believe, is right. For instance, what is the status of the Class I landfill and plume of really bad stuff moving down Paddy Creek? Paddy Creek drains toward Lake Herman watershed. This closed landfill is why in the 80s the City Council adopted a resolution prohibiting residential development on Lake Herman road and East Second street (Seeno). Or what about the 90s when the General Plan was updated and the Benicia Industrial Park Association (BIPA) advocated in large red and black lettering on a poster board “no residential” development – same place. Or in the 2000s when there were two organized groups advocating for denial of Seeno project because there was too much grading, six waterways filled, and traffic was going to be ugly adding to our greenhouse gas emissions. City Council denied the project and then adopted a resolution for specific conditions for any future project.
The Benicia Army’s Arsenal Reservation closure was before there was the federal Base Realignment and Closure Act https://wikipedia.org/wiki/2005. Benicia was on its own. Benicia got zero redevelopment planning help, and there was removal of chemical war weapons and nuclear material, but left unexploded ordinance to be found, lead, tetrachloroethylene, and used infrastructure – in some cases hastily built for the war effort. What part of the Seeno site was used?
Context matters. Historic issues and context is not always easy to find.
The General Plan provides some of this history (at least up to 2000). The General Plan process is explained at the end of the General Plan. We were appointed. We did authentic public engagement. We adopted decisions by consensus. We started with common vision and shared values. We were a committee of citizens representing all sectors of the community (the General Plan Oversight Committee). Until that vision and its goals are changed, it is the law of the land.
And this gets me to the main point which is the following:
At the beginning of this piece I acknowledged Steve Golub’s “Benicia and Beyond”. Steve came to Benicia in 2019 and has the right skills for learning about places and people. His inaugural column addressed questions to Mayor Young, including as follows:
SG: What are your thoughts on whether and how [Seeno property or North Study Area] that should ever be developed for housing? Do you see alternative uses for it.
SY: “I would like to withhold my specific preferences on that in deference to the [North Study] planning/visioning process that is currently underway, and that may eventually come to Council for decision. But I can say, that, as one member of the community, I would hope to see a mixed use development including multifamily and single family housing, in addition to some localized commercial development. Ideally, we would have direct micro transit options to downtown and a few locations in Vallejo. And perhaps some office or R/D uses along the East 2nd St. frontage.”
What is the North Study planning/visioning process? The consultants working for the city and paid for by Seeno conducted an in-person open house at Northgate church and virtual sessions and an online survey. None of these sessions have provided the sixty (60+) relevant goals and policies of the General Plan. Not on a poster board. Not linked to the virtual meetings and nothing in the online survey. Opinions are sought without context or consistency to existing policies in the General Plan.
The 1996 Urban Design Background Report by Mogavero Notestine says this about expanding residential use toward Lake Herman:
“[There] is a lack of connectivity to the rest of the community. Southampton has a sense of isolation from the older parts of Benicia. The sense of isolation [Lake Herman] would be more substantial.
In addition, the sense [of isolation nearer Lake Herman Road] would create a substantially higher demand for automobile trips than, for example, infill.
The present value of the full range of [city] capital and operating public costs created by the development could be $57,000 to $75,000 [adjusted for 2023] per dwelling unit . . .”
World renowned urban economist Joe Minicozzi provided information at the Vets Hall before the Pandemic. We learned that the city would prosper by increasing value of the existing urban footprint. If you are in a hole, stop digging. Benicia is a small town, with limited staff and resources. Smart development avoids a deeper hole– meaning the cost of future maintenance of new infrastructure.
Will the consultants evaluate the economic implications for individual households and broader economic impacts for the community? Computer models should be utilized to comprehensively evaluate the broad fiscal and economic implications of various growth alternatives for the Seeno site, including the impacts for individual households.
The cost to the public depends upon, among other things, the location. Residential infill projects do not require the construction or future maintenance of new infrastructure. It can sometimes provide the resources to repair or replace dilapidated infrastructure. Thus infill provides revenue flow where there was none before without creating new infrastructure cost.
The General Plan goals and policies address the overarching goal of the General Plan. Are you comfortable with the process where staff has the final word on the visioning report that goes to the City Council? Would a seat at the table with stakeholders representing all sectors of Benicia to oversee a report to the City Council be a good idea? Better to be at the table than on the menu, right? Where is the table?
End of Patterson article… More below provided by the BenIndy and City of Benicia
This is a reminder that you have been invited to attend a virtual open house tonight, Tuesday, November 29th for the North Study Area visioning process. Click to join or call 1 (669) 444-9171, Passcode: 781797, for the event, which will begin at 7:00 PM. At the open house residents can learn more about the visioning process and share their ideas for the future of the property.
The City of Benicia is leading this visioning process to solicit public input on potential future land use options for a 527-acre vacant property in the northeast corner of the city. The City wants to partner with the community to envision the future of this area, which is the last remaining large tract of privately-owned undeveloped land in Benicia.
The North Study Area visioning project aims to solicit public input on potential future land use options for the North Study Area property. Community input, together with an economic analysis and evaluation of the property conditions, will be used to develop several mixed-use concepts for further public review. Once completed, the landowner may determine whether to move forward with initiating land use applications which must include a “Master Plan” (i.e., Specific Plan) as required by the Benicia General Plan and Zoning Ordinance.
The study area is a 527-acre undeveloped property in the northeast corner of the city. The property is within the City’s urban growth boundary and fronts on Lake Herman Road and East Second Street. Although a number of site development proposals have been considered over the years, most recently in 2016, none have come to fruition. The property is currently zoned Limited Industrial (IL) and General Commercial (CG).
Visioning Process
The City wants to partner with the community to envision the future of this area, which is the last remaining large tract of privately-owned undeveloped land within Benicia.
There will be a variety of opportunities to learn more about this effort and to provide feedback over the coming year. The City will solicit public input through a series of community meetings, public events, and on-line engagement opportunities. To receive the latest updates, you can sign up for project email notifications here. The City expects to complete the visioning process by late 2023.
The North Study Area Community-Led Visioning Process is divided into the following primary tasks:
Existing Conditions Review: Review of background materials and existing conditions information relevant to the visioning process.
Economic Analysis: Analysis of real estate market conditions, financial feasibility of land use alternatives, and net annual fiscal impacts of land use alternatives.
Issues and Options: Evaluation of key issues and options associated with development options.
Mixed-use Concepts: Consideration of alternative land use concepts for the property.
Summary Report: Summary of public input received and areas of consensus that emerged from the visioning process.
Advisory Group
The City has formed an advisory group for the North Study Area project to help distribute information about the project, provide feedback on project materials, and to bring together diverse community perspectives. The advisory group consists of one representative selected by each of the following City committee/commissions and community organizations. Meetings are open to the public.
City Committees/Commissions:
City Council Subcommittee for the North Study Area (2 members)
What’s wrong with the process – ignoring Benicia’s fundamental constitutional vision
Open space along Lake Herman Road, in Benicia CA
By Elizabeth Patterson, Former Benicia Mayor, November 17, 2022
Last night the city of Benicia began the North Study Area “visioning” process for the 524 acres owned by Seeno. The North Gate Church setting was a perfect metaphor for what the challenges are for the near-by project site. Everyone had to drive to the meeting. And driving is the problem for any residential use of the Seeno property. But these notes should start at the beginning. Let me explain.
Benicia’s General Plan
The Benicia General Plan is our “constitution” of land use planning and management. Its goals and policies guide and implement the overarching goal or “vision” for Benicia planning. This plan was created by the General Plan Oversight Committee (GPOC), appointed by the then city council representing all sectors of the community. It adopted consensus decision making procedures and began by identifying shared values. Once those shared values were agreed to, GPOC began an exhaustive assessment of the city’s pattern of land use (residential, commercial, civic, cultural, recreation, manufacturing), its topography of hills, how cars, bicycles, pedestrian traffic moved, water supply, public safety, economics, environmental quality (air and water) and conservation including open space, habitat, and wetlands.
The overarching goal of the General Plan is sustainable development. And there are specific policies addressing future development of the Seeno property and adjacent land uses mindful of sustainability.
The “North Study Area” community meeting on Nov 16, 2022
Nowhere in last night’s presentation on stage or at the “open house” of poster boards was there any mention of the General Plan, our constitution of land use planning and management. Nowhere.
Nor was there mention of the hours of public conversations some of which were recorded, nor mention of the facilitated public gathering to gain community agreement on the highest and best use of the Seeno property. There was nothing said about the citizen study and 51-page report, Green Gateway Business Community. Nothing.
The current North Area Study process is not a stand alone project, but a project that must be consistent with the General Plan or recommend amendments to the General Plan. To do so requires that each mandated and optional element in the General Plan is balanced and consistent. What this means is that there must be measurable criteria for sustainable development, reduced vehicle miles traveled, public safety (meaning air, water, hazardous exposure, fire and police). What is different in 2022 that requires General Plan amendments for these elements?
Significant questions and concerns…
Can the Seeno property be developed consistent with the existing General Plan?
Are there adjustments needed for future development that meet sustainable development?
How is the public to know what the decision making process is if they are not informed about these basics?
Alas, North Area Study is not a “visioning” process that is separate from the General Plan vision. It is a project process. The city and the City’s consultant need to make that clear, and if necessary, highlight what part of the vision of the General Plan should be changed and how those changes will affect sustainability.
Will the city adopt standards and criteria for sustainability? If not, why not?
…and we could go on: there is Seeno and associates to consider.
The North Study Area visioning project aims to solicit public input on potential future land use options for the North Study Area property. Community input, together with an economic analysis and evaluation of the property conditions, will be used to develop several mixed-use concepts for further public review. Once completed, the landowner may determine whether to move forward with initiating land use applications which must include a “Master Plan” (i.e., Specific Plan) as required by the Benicia General Plan and Zoning Ordinance.
The study area is a 527-acre undeveloped property in the northeast corner of the city. The property is within the City’s urban growth boundary and fronts on Lake Herman Road and East Second Street. Although a number of site development proposals have been considered over the years, most recently in 2016, none have come to fruition. The property is currently zoned Limited Industrial (IL) and General Commercial (CG).
Visioning Process
The City wants to partner with the community to envision the future of this area, which is the last remaining large tract of privately-owned undeveloped land within Benicia.
There will be a variety of opportunities to learn more about this effort and to provide feedback over the coming year. The City will solicit public input through a series of community meetings, public events, and on-line engagement opportunities. To receive the latest updates, you can sign up for project email notifications here. The City expects to complete the visioning process by late 2023.
The North Study Area Community-Led Visioning Process is divided into the following primary tasks:
Existing Conditions Review: Review of background materials and existing conditions information relevant to the visioning process.
Economic Analysis: Analysis of real estate market conditions, financial feasibility of land use alternatives, and net annual fiscal impacts of land use alternatives.
Issues and Options: Evaluation of key issues and options associated with development options.
Mixed-use Concepts: Consideration of alternative land use concepts for the property.
Summary Report: Summary of public input received and areas of consensus that emerged from the visioning process.
Advisory Group
The City has formed an advisory group for the North Study Area project to help distribute information about the project, provide feedback on project materials, and to bring together diverse community perspectives. The advisory group consists of one representative selected by each of the following City committee/commissions and community organizations. Meetings are open to the public.
City Committees/Commissions:
City Council Subcommittee for the North Study Area (2 members)
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