Contra Costa Times
From the article:
DANVILLE -- SummerHill Homes received final approval Tuesday from Danville to build a 69-home development off Diablo Road, but opponents aren't ready to throw in the towel yet, and threaten legal action to halt the project.
The city ordinance will allow construction of 66 single-family homes on the east side of the Magee Ranch property, and three larger lots and homes on the west side off McCauley Road. The homes would be clustered on 38 acres of the 410-acre property, leaving 372 acres as open space. The project has been opposed over the last two years by citizen groups who say the new homes will worsen traffic in an already congested area, and threaten the safety of cyclists who take the narrow Diablo Road to get to Mount Diablo State Park.
Council members approved the project after a marathon six-hour meeting on June 18, saying it complied with all local requirements, including Measure S, the town's open space initiative.
"They met our high standards," Danville mayor Newell Arnerich said Wednesday. "While somebody may want a different outcome, we have to follow the law. We got a smaller project that protected the most amount of open space."
Members of the citizen group Save Open Space (SOS) Danville said the council's approval ignored Measure S by not putting the decision in voters' hands. Danville's general plan, they say, doesn't allow clusters of homes to be built on agricultural land, requiring a zoning change and a public vote under the initiative.
Todd Gary, a member of SOS Danville's steering committee, said his group hopes to raise $40,000 to $60,000 from residents over the next two or three weeks to challenge the project in court.