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Vol. 20, No. 12
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Residents ordered to stay home by Aly Brown Staff Writer
Contra Costa County was among six counties mandated to shelter in place this week in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). In a press conference held Monday, March 16, health officers from Contra Costa, Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties issued the health order for residents within the region to remain in their homes for a three-week period beginning St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. “I want to thank our federal partners and state partners, our firefighters, our elected officials, our municipal partners, our nonprofit partners,” said Dr. Ori Tzvieli, acting health officer for Contra Costa County. “This is a time where we as a community all have to come together and all of us have to work together to get through it. We know this is not the nor-
mal way of doing business; it’s going to take some sacrifice on all of our parts, but we’re doing this for all of the right reasons. We’re doing this to help prevent unnecessary death.” As of March 15, there were 273 cases of COVID-19 across the jurisdictions, with Santa Clara County being the epicenter for the Bay Area’s outbreak of the disease, which is spreading rapidly. “Shelter in place” means people may only leave their residences for essential activities and government functions. Unless a business is deemed essential, it must also shutter its doors during this time. Essential businesses include those that provide medical, food, utilities, media information, financial services, among others. Review the county’s health order, section 10, F, for a complete list of exempt businesses at https://bit.ly/3a5ExP2. Those who fail to comply with the see Ordered page 26A
Staff Writer
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) took a step toward improving its funding and service to residents of the district, when fire board members approved a new impact fee schedule during their March 11 board meeting. “This is part of our strategic planning initiative to try to address and reinforce financial sustainability for the district,” said ECCFPD Fire Chief Brian Helmick. “One of the things we knew is that our impact fees were antiquated. When I came in in 2017, we knew that the fees had to be updated.” Impact fees are assessed to developers to offset the strain development will add to the fire district when new residential or commercial projects are constructed. The fees collected must be spent on capital projects, like the construction of new stations
necessitated by the added population, structures and traffic resulting from development. The purchase of equipment required to operate a new station can also be paid for by impact fees. Those fees cannot subsidize operational expenses like salaries that support the ongoing functioning of a station. According to Helmick, the current impact fee schedules for Oakley and Contra Costa County were established in the 1980s. Brentwood fees have been updated more regularly, but are still insufficient to offset the impact of development on fire services, Helmick explained. Because the district is not a land-use agency, it lacks the authority to implement changes to impact fees. That responsibility falls on the land-use agencies: the cities of Brentwood and Oakley, and Contra Costa County. “The fire district cannot implement or update these fees inde-
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REAL ID, Real Deadlines Photo by Tony Kukulich
Following the shelter-in-place order issued by Contra Costa Health Services, the City of Oakley closed city hall and all parks Tuesday, March 17.
pendent of the land-use agencies,” Helmick said. “Because they are in our interest and we know what we need, we are the ones that established and did the study that the cities, in turn, can adopt and utilize, and through resolution and ordinance, get the fees updated in their communities.” Under normal circumstances, getting the appropriate agencies to adopt the new fees might take only a reasonable amount of political wrangling. But as Brentwood City Manager Tim Ogden points out, the high degree of economic uncertainty wrought by the recent coronavirus pandemic could bring added scrutiny to the district’s request. “From me now, my primary question is about the timing of having the city council consider them with so much uncertainty from COVID-19 and its economic impacts later,” Ogden said. “Also, with much federal and state intervention lately incentivizing businesses and
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This week’s special edition looks at the current market, future forecasts and popular trends. Page 1B
District approves developer fees by Tony Kukulich
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development out of fears for the economy, how these significant fee increases will be received now remains to be seen. I believe May was being considered by most of us, and that could change.” District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis, however, said she believes the county will move to accept the district’s recommendation. “Yes, I expect that we will move forward quickly with it,” Burgis said. “It’s important for everyone to understand that the government is going to continue to function in a normal way to provide essential services, and fire is absolutely an essential service.” While the ECCFPD covers 249 square miles and multiple municipalities, the recommended schedule applies fees uniformly across the district — a feature of the plan Helmick said was intentional. “We know what the needs are see Fees page 26A
Ag Grants
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Department of Food and Agriculture accepting grant applications for its program.
Local officials are lobbying to implement a three-year extension on REAL ID deadline. Page 5A
Spring Sports In Limbo
In the wake of evolving coronavirus regulations, high school sports are getting benched. Page 16A Classifieds..........................22A Cop Logs.............................10A Education ............................11 Entertainment.................... 8A Food....................................... 9A Milestones.........................14A Opinion...............................13A Adopt a pet.......................12A Sports..................................16A
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