Franklin Hills and (proposed) Barbara Woodburn Canyon
DATE: Sunday, April 16, 2023 TIME: 9:00 AM MEETING PLACE: At the west end of F St. The address is 90 F St., Martinez. Park in Alhambra High School Student Parking Lot. LEADER: Kay Cox (questions?—email Kay at coxkay@hotmail.com) HIKE DESCRIPTION: We will start up the proposed Barbara Woodburn Canyon and hike to the top of our Franklin Hills, where you will see stunning views of Mt. Diablo and the Carquinez Straits. Then we will proceed South to the legendary “throne chair,” and then down to St. Mary’s Dr. We will walk back to our cars on Serrano St. Distance: 4 miles, 800 ft. of elevation. RETURN TIME: 11 AM WHO CAN COME: This hike is open to anyone living in or near Martinez. If you are 14 years old or younger, we ask that you be accompanied by a parent or an adult (21 or over) who knows you. Dogs on leash are welcome.
Who was Barbara Woodburn and why is Thousand Friends petitioning the City to have a canyon named after her? When you look to the West and see gorgeous, pristine hills instead of houses crammed on the steep hillsides, you have Barbara Woodburn (and many others) to thank. She led the fight to preserve those hills. So please join us in the Franklin Hills and hear a brief description of the fight to save them.
The Topic on Everyone’s Mind Mayor Brianne Zorn
The topic on everyone’s mind these days is regarding the November catalyst release at Martinez Refining Company (MRC). The City of Martinez has supported Contra Costa Health Services (CC Health) in responding to and investigating this event. The City has held three public meetings on this topic to date, including a public workshop on February 15 to discuss the Community Warning System and ways to improve communication with the public. CC Health has held several meetings of the MRC Community Oversight Committee to select the consultants who will conduct the risk assessment and soil sampling of affected areas.
I see the City’s role as advocating for the health of our community and communicating out updates from CC Health. We have heard from the public that they want more communication. In addition to the city’s e-newsletter, we are working to improve time-critical communication with the Martinez community (both inside and beyond City boundaries). Our Chief of Police is working to increase direct notifications to the Martinez community for lower level alerts (refinery events with no identified immediate health risk to the public) that have been previously limited to posts on websites and social media.
I want the Martinez community to know that City and County staff are working hard to advocate for your health and safety. I appreciate staff’s efforts, and community feedback, on this issue so far.
CC Health released a health advisory recently that has spurred many new questions. Soil sampling results should be released in early summer. In the mean time, residents are encouraged to utilize containers or raised garden beds with new soil. At this time, the County is not recommending removal of the soil; rather, just place the new soil on top of existing soil anywhere you are gardening plants for consumption. I encourage everyone to continue monitoring the CC Health FAQ for the most up to date information. The results of the soil sampling will be posted at this location with guidance on whether the soil can be retained and veggies and fruits grown in that soil are safe to eat.
Register for the City Newsletter: Sign up for regular City of Martinez updates via the City’s website: https://www.cityofmartinez.org
Contact me: If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at bzorn@cityofmartinez.org and I will connect you with the right person who can answer your questions.
Brianne Zorn
City holds annexation workshop
At a March 15th meeting, the Martinez City Council help a public workshop on annexation. The areas studied were Alhambra Valley, Mountain View, Vine Hill and North Pacheco. The agenda with attachments is available at https://martinez.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=9&clip_id=1997.
Opinion Annexation:
It makes sense;
it doesn’t make cents
by Harlan Strickland
As has been mentioned before, although Martinez appears to be doing OK on a year-by-year budgetary basis, a number of major financial challenges lie ahead:
The Marina
The water system
Police & staff recruitment and retention
Measures X & D sunset
Downtown parking
Together, these represent tens of millions of dollars. Measures X & D alone represent $9M per year. Basic Marina estimates range from $12M to nearly twice that, especially if significant infrastructure and other improvements as mentioned in a recent Marina workshop are part of plans to turn the Marina into a moneymaker. Considering that the current general fund budget is a little more than $30M, dealing with a loss of Measure X revenue of $4.5M a year when it expires around 2033 will itself be a major challenge.
Added to that, the increased pressure by the State to have more housing built in Martinez makes planning for funding these large projects even more challenging. As the cost of building housing remains high, what with current high labor and material costs, developer profits for new housing, especially affordable infill housing, remain low, resulting in low developer enthusiasm and low housing production numbers. Martinez’s RHNA (housing requirement) is currently 1345 units, but considering the low housing production in the past, the State may not be happy with plans that only provide for that number. And as mentioned previously, housing, even market rate housing, barely pays for itself from a general fund point of view.
Enter annexation.
While annexing surrounding areas in our sphere of influence would seem to make sense (Martinez's city limits bear an uncanny resemblance to the famous Gerrymander image), and some of the adjoining areas in question appear to be underserved by the County, the recent study by the RSG consulting firm, echoing the results of their 2020 study, show annexation as a financial loser. In addition, many residents in Mountain View, Vine Hill and Alhambra Valley are not thrilled with the idea of being part of Martinez proper.
If the average density of the new units called for by Martinez’s RHNA were 20 per acre, and only 1345 units were sufficient, this would still represent nearly 70 acres that would produce no appreciable net general fund revenue. As available land amenable to uses that could significantly improve general fund revenue grows smaller and smaller, the land use choices we make in terms of revenue become more and more important.
Adding more financial obligations from annexation currently looks like a very bad idea. While the deals the County is currently willing to make regarding the divvying up of property and sales taxes are a significant problem, they are by no means the only problematic aspect of annexation. Before serious discussions with the County regarding annexation take place, we should have an Economic Development Director and staff solidly in place, and they should have detailed, forward-looking plans to improve general fund revenue that include the proposed areas in question.
Harlan Strickland
The Long Game:
How Robert Doyle Shaped the East Bay
Robert Doyle is a previous recipient of the Thousand Friends of Martinez Citizen of the Year Award. Save Mount Diablo has just released an excellent documentary on Bob's accomplishments. It's an interesting film and full of local lore and history. Check out "The Long Game" - available on YouTube now. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/BBKh1lSTSHQ
Robert Doyle has been part of Save Mount Diablo's powerhouse since he became a founding director at age 19—but he's best known for his work at the East Bay Regional Park District, where he started out wielding rakes, shovels, and chainsaws, and ended up raising a billion dollars and doubling the district's size. With clever strategies and dedicated partners, he made the district the largest local park agency in the country, and helped keep the East Bay from becoming a sprawling Los Angeles. "We need to save the earth and save the planet," Doyle says. ”And what I found out is that by doing it at home, you can make a real big difference if you stick to it. And that's what I'm going to keep doing.”
Help Martinez strive for more transparent government, enlightened land use concepts and to defend parks, creeks, wetlands, open space and historic elements.
