YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 12
Including Surrounding Communities
www.oakleypress.com
East Cypress developement gets EIR OK by Dave Roberts Staff Writer A plan to develop more than 2,500 acres of pasture and open space along East Cypress Road into more than 5,000 homes cleared its final environmental hurdle last week. On March 10 the Oakley City Council unanimously approved the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the East Cypress Corridor Specific Plan. The plan will urbanize a mostly rural area on both sides of East Cypress Road between Jersey Is-
land Road, Dutch Slough, Sandmound Boulevard and Rock Slough. In what might be the largest development in the history of East County, the plan includes more than 5,200 housing units, 121 acres of shopping centers, two elementary schools and one middle school, 153 acres of manmade lakes, 190 acres of open space, 122 acres of wetlands/ dunes, 6 acres of light-industrial businesses,112 acres of levees, 102 acres of parks, 37 acres of commercial recreation and a 6acre beach club.
Baptism by semper fire
Photo by Dave Roberts
The rural East Cypress Corridor is planned to be urbanized with more than 5,000 houses in coming years. A large portion of the project will consist of Shea Homes’ 1,330-house Summer Lakes development, which has opened its first phase of more than 100 houses at East Cypress and Bethel Island roads. The East Cypress area pre-
by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
This is the second of a three-part series on the efforts of two far East County towns to retain their heritage and remain rural and small in the face of regional growth and changing local politics. Part one (last week): Setting the stage (log on to thepress. net); this week: The changes play out; part three: Looking ahead.
Photo by Stacey Chance/Discovery Bay Studios.com
Residents of the small East County town of Byron are concerned that their town’s heritage and ambience is threatened by future development. packed a local meeting room, bringing together for the first time some disconcerted residents, their recently displaced representatives, their newly appointed representatives, and
March 20, 2009
THIS WEEK
viously had been approved by county officials for piecemeal development. But after Oakley incorporated as a city nearly 10 years ago, city officials annexed much of the area and see Cypress page 13A
Emotion, commotion and the metamorphosis of two local MACs
The East Contra Costa towns of Byron and Knightsen are both more than 100 years old, small, and like it that way. Residents of both feel threatened by nearby development and are alarmed that the area they represent has been recently cut in half and their representative councils replaced. They’re suspicious of county government, of their neighbors in Discovery Bay and of District III Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, who falls into both categories. And they each recently
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Piepho. Back in 2005, Piepho, along with District V Supervisor Federal Glover, had been directed by the full county Board of Supervisors
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(BOS) to form an ad hoc committee to “improve consistency” among the county’s 11 municipal advisory councils (MACs). Most were set up in the late 1980s and early 1990s to provide the county supervisor in their district with recommendations on matters of concern in their unincorporated communities. The MACs were a hodgepodge of roughly similar organizations ranging in size from five to nine members. Some had elected representatives; others were appointed. Some got administrative assistance from the county; others didn’t. And there were no consistent criteria for drawing boundaries. Over the next two and a half years, new policies, procedures and boundary guidelines were created, discussed in public meetings and adopted by the full BOS on Dec. 16, 2008. Most MAC boundaries were untouched, Knightsen and see MACs page 21A
He ran the gauntlet of Boot Camp. Now it’s on to Infantry Camp for this brandnew Marine.
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Scout boosts alma mater For his Eagle project, this young man soared above and beyond the call of duty.
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Falcons fall to star slammer
The Freedom volleyball team hung tough, but had no answer to Antioch’s ace in the hole.
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INSIDE Business ...........................14A Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds ........................17B Cop Logs ..........................17A Entertainment ................14B Food .................................12B Health & Beauty .............11B Milestones ......................... 9B Opinion ...........................16A Sports ................................. 1B WebExtras! ....................... 1B
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