Mailer from Save Mount Diablo shows how the five Pittsburg councilmembers voted on the Faria housing development last year. Source: Save Mount Diablo
Two running for county supervisor on March 5th ballot; org leader says they have no position in race
By Allen D. Payton
A week before the ballots for the March 5th primary election began arriving in mailboxes, a mailer from Save Mount Diablo (SMD) was sent to all households in Pittsburg asking for public support of their effort to get the council members to reverse their vote last April for Discovery Builders’ hillside housing development. Known as the Faria project, the project includes 1,500 homes on 341 acres with 265 acres of open space on the south side of the city which borders the new Thurgood Marshall Regional Park in Concord.
The mailer reads, “On April 17, 2023, the Pittsburg City Council approved a Master Plan for the Faria/Southwest Hills Annexation Project.” It shows photos of and “aye” votes by then Mayor Shanelle Preston-Scales, Councilmember Jelani Killings, who are both running for county supervisor in the March 5th primary election, as well as Councilmembers Dionne Adams and Angelica Lopez. But the leader of SMD claims they have no position in the race for supervisor. The mailer also shows then-Vice Mayor Juan Antonio Banales who voted to abstain.
In addition, the mailer claims, the “plan…was opposed by thousands of residents, environmentalists and the city Planning Commission, which recommended against the plan.”
Faria project General Plan Land Use map, adopted 4-17-23 (bottom) versus map of the previously adopted General Plan Land Use. Source: City of Pittsburg
Read mailer, here: Save-the-Ridge-Pittsburg-2024 mailer
It’s part of the organization’s campaign, including an online petition, to keep the homes from being built along the ridgeline. The effort has also included a successful lawsuit filed by SMD in May 2021. On February 10, 2022, a Contra Costa County Superior Court judge sided with SMD. Discovery Builders then appealed the decision but lost again when the court ruled in favor of SMD on April 4, 2022 rejecting all of the developer’s arguments. (See related articles here, here and here)
SMD refers to the Faria project as a Seeno development because Discovery Builders is owned and operated by Albert Seeno, III.
On the organization’s website, SMD wrote, “We stopped Faria for two years, but now it’s back” and asks the public to “Save the Ridge!” The organization says, “We’re not opposed to all development; we just think the Pittsburg City Council and the developer should move it off the ridgetop.” SMD claims the project “would also betray the voters who approved Measure P in 2005 and placed the entire site in the protective hillside zoning. Now Seeno wants to change the zoning to bulldoze the steep hills for massive subdivisions. Because the site is almost entirely over 30 percent slope, with substantial parts at 50 to 70 percent slope, Seeno’s proposed new zoning will allow up to 25 times as many houses as the current Measure P zoning that the voters approved.”
Save Mount Diablo’s Save the Ridge 2024 mailer to Pittsburg residents, side 1. Source: SMD
However, according to the City staff report for the agenda item 13 for the April 2023 meeting, “the current General Plan allows for up to 478 acres of residential use and 129 acres of open space.” It also reads, “The proposed amendments would not change the existing maximum development potential (1,500 single family units), but rather would focus the development to the center of the site within the valley area.”
The effort’s webpage further reads, “Thee Pittsburg City Council should SAVE THE RIDGE for everyone and ensure public access to the new regional park for Pittsburg residents.
Save the ridge to keep our area a beautiful and desirable place to live, work, and visit!
Join us and sign our Save Pittsburg Hills/Save Mount Diablo petition urging the Pittsburg City Council to SAVE THE RIDGE and require the Seeno/Discovery Builders Faria development to be relocated off the top of Pittsburg’s ridge.”
Save Mount Diablo’s Save the Ridge 2024 mailer to Pittsburg residents, side 2. Source: SMD
SMD Asked If Attempting to Impact the Election
Questions were sent to SMD’s Executive Director Ted Clement asking when the effort began and why the mailer was sent during election season. He was further asked if it was timed to impact the election of Killings and Scales-Preston in their campaigns for county supervisor.
Clement responded, “We’ve been working to protect the Los Medanos ridge between Concord and Pittsburg for years. That effort is ongoing. We’re working to educate as many people as possible. We don’t have a position on the county supervisor campaigns.”
He was again asked if the mailer was sent to all homes in Pittsburg and if not, how many were mailed. But he did not respond.
Efforts to reach Killings and Preston-Scales asking if they had any comments about the mailer and their votes for the project were unsuccessful, as were efforts to reach Albert Seeno, III or anyone at Discovery Builders for comment.
Please check back later for any updates to this report.
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