Category Archives: Solano County Board of Supervisors

Benicia CA, California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County CA

Nov. 16 public hearing to consider lot line adjustment requested by Flannery Associates

Suisun Marsh Overlook | Wikipedia

After posting Ashton Lyle’s provocative thinkpiece on tech’s utopia obsession earlier today, BenIndy received notice from the Solano County Planning Commission of a public hearing to consider Flannery Associates LLC’s bid to transfer about 18 acres of land between adjacent lots under its ownership.

In the grand scheme of things, the 18-or-so acres to be addressed by this public hearing represent a small chunk of the vast plans Flannery Associates/the California Forever group has for the area. However, this hearing still represents an early chance to take a peek behind the curtain and get a feel for a proposed project that will likely find itself in the subject line of many public hearings for years to come.

If you’re interested in the California Forever project, consider attending either in person or by phone on November 16 (there does not appear to be an option to teleconference).

DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

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Planning Services Division

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING (Planning Commission)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Solano County Planning Commission will hold a PUBLIC HEARING to consider Lot Line Adjustment application No. LLA-23-03 by Flannery Associates LLC to transfer 17.71 acres of land between adjacent lots under their ownership, within the Exclusive Agriculture A-160 zoning district. Both properties are entered into an active Land Conservation Contract (Williamson Act Contract No. 724). Lot line adjustments are ministerial projects; therefore, are not held to the provisions and requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Section 21080 (b)(1). The property is located at 2154 Anderson Road, 2.5 miles southwest of the City of Rio Vista. APN’s: 0090-190-230, 240, 250, and 0048-130-240 (Project Planner: Eric Wilberg, 707-784-6765)

The hearing will be held on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers, County Administration Center, 1st Floor, 675 Texas Street, Fairfield, California.

The County of Solano does not discriminate against persons with disabilities. If you wish to participate in this meeting and you will require assistance in order to do so, please contact the Department of Resource Management at 707-784-6765 at least 24 hours in advance of the event to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

In-Person: You may attend the public hearing at the time and location listed above and provide comments during the public speaking period.

Phone: You may provide comments verbally from your phone by dialing 1-415-655-0001 and entering Access Code 2632 666 6680. Once entered in the meeting, you will be able to hear the meeting and will be called upon to speak during the public speaking period.

Email/Mail: Written comments can be emailed toPlanningCommission@SolanoCounty.com or mailed to Resource Management, Planning Commission, 675 Texas Street, Suite 5500, Fairfield, CA 94533 and must be received by 10:00 a.m. the day of the meeting. Copies of written comments received will be provided to the Planning Commission and will become a part of the official record but will not be read aloud at the meeting.

Staff reports and associated materials will be available to the public approximately one week prior to the meeting at www.solanocounty.com under Departments; Resource Management; Boards, Commissions & Special Districts; Solano County Planning Commission.

If you challenge the proposed consideration in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or prior to, the public hearing.

Monday, November 6, 2023

Ashton Lyle, Benicia CA, California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Housing, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County CA

Ashton Lyle: Flannery Associates and Tech’s Utopia Obsession

Portrait of Ashton Lyle
Ashton Lyle, BenIndy contributor.

By Ashton Lyle, November 6, 2023

Much has been made of the Flannery Associates’ five-year-long, $1 billion purchase of a combined 50,000 acres in Solano County. The audacity of the investors’ stunt seems to have captured the imagination of many paying attention to the intersection of California’s housing problem, the tech barons who dominate California politics, and the convoluted state of America’s local democracy.

To the credit of the small group of “visionaries” who make up the Flannery Associates, they have correctly identified a lack of housing supply as one of the Bay Area’s primary problems. California’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan found that the region needs 187,990 additional affordable units to meet demand, of which only 15.7% are planned. Flannery Associates believe they have the solution, a city planned by elites and constructed from scratch, deep in Solano County’s golden hills.

There is a belief, propagated by Silicon Valley elites, that ingenuity and purposeful design are all that stand between us and a brighter future. The Flannery Associates represent this class of tech utopians whose infamous desire to “move fast and break things” continues to impact the lives of Bay Area residents while denying locals the opportunity to contribute to decision-making. In a state where conservatism has struggled to become a relevant political force in recent decades, this strain of tech-libertarianism has emerged as one of the strongest challenges to local democracy and California’s liberal consensus.

These tech elite seem to believe that Californians cannot choose for themselves how to develop their communities; instead, they will design and build the future for us. Their utopian ambition is increasingly common amongst the tech-baron class and seems to have only intensified as growing wealth inequality transforms the state. Tech and its most prominent advocates promise to bypass political processes, enacting significant change at the expense of voters’ input. This approach of asking forgiveness rather than permission is a tech favorite (used most memorably by ride-sharing companies and AirBnb).

We’ve seen the Flannery Associates begin to enact these ideas through the 5-year effort to purchase massive amounts of land without public comment or discussion. This land grab was executed through a process so secret that it inspired independent investigations by the FBI, Treasury Department, and Department of Defense. 

A common complaint registered at this point is that our government, with its overly complicated processes and regulations, is simply too inefficient and cumbersome to enact the wishes of any group of citizens. Bold action is needed to fix the housing crisis, and Flannery Associates is certainly a group with the power to do so. 

California faces a number of existential problems, including wealth inequality, the effects of climate change (especially wildfires), and a housing crisis that leaves at least 20% of our Bay Area neighbors in poverty and 30,000 unhoused. The answer, however, is not to be found in the designs of any one group or individual. It is the process of democracy itself which allows the community to make its own decisions, and to build the future we decide together.

While old institutions undoubtedly suffer from bloat and stagnation, new ones, especially those championed by tech elites, are at risk of capture by moneyed interests. The hubris of a few rich men cannot be allowed to outweigh the needs of the Bay Area’s communities. Flannery Associates is just another in a long line of companies that have avoided the input of everyday people, a failure that indicates that they don’t believe they can convince a majority. If the tech barons truly believe they have the best ideas, they should face the judgment of the democratic process.

Tech continues to look for the easy way out, and they should face ridicule for doing so. These CEOs, venture capitalists, and Wall Street investors are not brave disruptors of broken institutions, but dreamers who don’t have the backbone to converse with the people they claim to champion. The democratic process is not an obstacle to progress but how we decide the best path forward, and those who aim to circumnavigate it are only concerned that their vision of the future won’t be realized exactly as they see fit.

MORE FROM ASHTON LYLE:
Gas drilling, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County CA, Suisun Marsh, Sunflower Alliance

‘We have to stop’: Plan for fossil-fuel drilling on the flanks of San Francisco Bay draws protest

[Note from BenIndy Contributor Kathy Kerridge: The Suisun Marsh is the largest brackish marsh on the West Coast. It deserves our protection. It will play an important role in mitigating climate chaos that is only getting worse. The county is working to approve this proposed drilling site with a mitigated negative declaration that does not cover some of the biggest problems with the drilling. The decision to approve this project and the mitigated negative declaration will soon be in front of the county planning commission.  If you want to be kept informed of action on this proposed drilling project please email me at kathykerridge@gmail.com  It would be great to have people write the planning commission and appear at the meeting.]

` A great egret takes flight over Grizzly Island in Suisun Marsh south of Fairfield. A natural gas well has been proposed for the area. | Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle.
SF Chronicle, by Kurtis Alexander, October 29, 2023

Two years after public opposition halted a bid to drill natural gas in Suisun Marsh, next to San Francisco Bay, a Florida energy company is taking another run at it.

Lantos Energy LLC submitted an application with Solano County last month to construct a well and a possible pipeline alongside wetlands about 10 miles east of Benicia, where the bustling East Bay eases into the quiet of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The area historically has been a bastion for natural gas, with many companies, including Pacific Gas and Electric Co., still getting a bulk of their fuel from the region. Hundreds of wells, for nearly a century, were drilled into the area’s rich fossil-fuel deposits to heat homes and generate power — without much fanfare.

Map: Todd Trumbull/The Chronicle • Source: Lantos Energy LLC.

But that was then, and this is now. Anxieties about fossil fuels overheating the planet and a better understanding of their ecological impact and potential for pollution are bringing increased scrutiny to even the most mundane projects. Some who fought the 2021 proposal for a well in Suisun Marsh, which included the state attorney general, have begun mobilizing to resist the new drilling effort.

“Do we really need more gas wells?” said Kathy Kerridge, a Benicia resident who was active in the opposition campaign two years ago. “Can’t we just be building solar panels and wind farms?”

Ducks swim in Suisun Marsh south of Fairfield. A Florida energy company has submitted an application to build a new natural gas well in the area, but it’s meeting resistance. |
Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle.

Solano County’s Department of Resource Management has determined, despite the emerging criticism, that the proposed drilling operation will have no “potentially significant adverse environmental impacts,” clearing the way for the county’s Planning Commission to decide whether the proposal should move forward, likely early next year. Approvals from several state agencies will also be required.

While county documents cite possible problems for plants and wildlife in and around the marsh, including the San Joaquin kit fox and Western burrowing owl, they prescribe measures for reducing disturbances. The proposed well would be in grassy uplands adjacent to wetlands, which like the marsh are subject to some level of protection under the state’s Suisun Marsh Preservation Act.

As far as climate change goes, the county’s evaluation of the project says building a well won’t produce significant greenhouse gases, but it doesn’t address heat-trapping emissions that would result from the production and consumption of newly drilled fossil fuel.

Officials with Lantos Energy did not return calls to discuss the project with the Chronicle.

According to county documents, the company’s plan is to first drill to see if there are sufficient reserves of natural gas at the site, and if so, proceed with the construction of a pipeline to an existing pipeline nearby. Where the natural gas will end up is not clear.

The state has enacted an ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector — by 48% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels — and to be carbon neutral by 2045, in an effort to combat climate change. However, with renewable energy facilities still ramping up to meet demand, natural gas and oil wells continue to be developed.

Part of their endurance, says Rob Jordan, an earth scientist at Stanford University with expertise in global warming and energy extraction, is the limited window that fossil-fuel facilities have to operate as California winds down fossil-fuel production.

“California may be getting out of the oil and gas business, so there is some urgency for companies to get wells permits while they can,” he said.

Two years ago, Brentwood’s Sunset Exploration rolled out plans to drill at an abandoned well just west of the site of the current drilling proposal. The project drew a litany of concerns, including the potential for methane leaks that natural gas wells inherently pose and its proximity to low-income communities.

The company withdrew its application shortly after going public with the plan.

“We have to stop extraction,” said Shoshana Wechsler, a founding member of the Sunflower Alliance, an East Bay group that fought the Sunset Exploration project and is now sounding alarm about Lantos Energy. “We’re so far behind where we should be. We’re so heavily periled. We have to stop.”

Opioid Epidemic, Solano County Board of Supervisors

Open Letter – Public voice in Solano under threat

Public voice in Solano policymaking under threat

by Ramón Castellblanch, May 6, 2023

A crowd of people in an auditorium raise their hands.
Ramón Castellblanch: Moving key meetings to business hours will stifle the public’s voice in policymaking. | Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

Over the years, Solano County has set up a number of advisory boards comprised of volunteers from the community. Underlying these boards’ establishment is the fact that County staff and its Board of Supervisors can’t know everything that they need to know to fairly administer County government. To promote sustainable agriculture, an agricultural advisory board was set up; to protect Solano’s unique historical documents, an historical records board was set up; to help plan the County response to its rising drug use disorder crisis, an alcohol and drug board was set up.

. . . the main factor in recommending continuation [of these boards] didn’t appear to be usefulness; it appeared to be whether or not advisory boards were state-mandated. [The supervisors] didn’t seem to consider their value to Solano; but to County administrators.

This year, a committee led by Supervisors John Vasquez and Monica Brown reviewed the value and continuation of these committees. In that review, the main factor in recommending continuation didn’t appear to be usefulness; it appeared to be whether or not advisory boards were state-mandated. They didn’t seem to consider their value to Solano; but to County administrators.

The Brown-Vasquez ad hoc committee met with none of the advisory boards that it was evaluating. Still at the Board of Supervisors’ May 2 meeting they recommended a blanket termination of all those that were not state mandated with one exception: the Nut Tree Airport committee. Why they that committee was spared may be indicated by its agenda: it actively works to help businesses at the airport.

The particular rationale for terminating the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board (ADAB) was that the Mental Health Advisory Board could do its work fighting Solano’s opioid epidemic. But, a check of MHAB minutes over the past months shows nothing in them about fighting the epidemic. Further, the MHAB meets during business hours, cutting down public voice. At the hearing, Supervisor Wanda Williams asked if current ADAB members would then be on the MHAB.  Despite asking several times, she couldn’t get a straight answer to her question, implying that the answer was, “no”.

While discussion of the Brown-Vasquez report implied that there was a state law requiring merger of MHAB and ADAB; there is no such law. State law does mandate counties to have a MHAB which would help explain why the MHAB wasn’t mentioned in Brown-Vasquez report. Another factor in the omission may be that Brown is a MHAB member.

The ADAB and Historical Records Commission were able to muster vigorous political defenses at the May 2 meeting and were given reprieves. A rationale for the ADAB’s retrieve was that it would give it time to merge with the MHAB, even though that merger was not assured nor justified.

The particular rationale for terminating the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board (ADAB) was that the Mental Health Advisory Board could do its work fighting Solano’s opioid epidemic. But, a check of MHAB minutes over the past months shows nothing in them about fighting the epidemic. Further, the MHAB meets during business hours, cutting down public voice.

So, after the County behavioral health director had shut it down citing the recommendation of the ad hoc review committee, the ADAB is back in business. Its next regular meeting will be May 10 at 6 p.m.  As the County has discontinued facilitating online access to advisory board meetings (while maintaining online access to Board of Supervisors meetings), the in-person meeting will be held in Conference Room A of the classic County Events Center, 601 Texas St., Fairfield.  As the room seats over a hundred, there should be ample ventilation and space for attendees, providing some protection against COVID.

The top item on its new business agenda is BOS action re: ADAB.  As the County has also discontinued providing inexpensive meals to dinner-time advisory board meetings, ADAB members will provide them on a one-time basis.

Ramón Castellblanch (he/ him/ él) 
Professor Emeritus, Public Health
San Francisco State
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