Save Mount Diablo
Protecting the Mountain Since 1971
Fall 2000. No. 28
Stun~ing Property Preserved
We're On Our Way!
Park District Completes 1,030 Acre Clayton Ranch Acquisition
$1.56 million Mt. Diablo Gateway Project Moves Ahead Three years ago Save Mount Diablo was approached by a group of Northgate residents, led by Bob and Shirley Nootbaar and Joann Hanna. We had been in the news over our efforts to limit development on a 36-acre surplus property owned by the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District ('Flood Control') at the Walnut Creek entrance to Mt. Diab lo State Park.
Open space supporters can breathe a sigh of relief. $703,000 in funding commitments have been received for the final 331 acres of 1,030 acre Clayton Ranch (Phase III). Without these funds the East Bay Regional Park District's option to buy would have expired in October, leaving in private hands the property's mile wide frontage along Marsh Creek road. The purchase will finally end eleven years of development controversy.
Flood Control was moving ahead on a development proposal for 34 lots and Shirley, an accomplished artist, was upset at the potential loss of one of the visual corridors prized by local painters. Bob, the former president of the Lindsay Museum was pressed into action and together they involved Hanna, one of the founders of the Walnut Creek Open Space system. They had a different idea: they wanted to raise money to preserve the property with no development. They called themselves the Mt. Diablo Gateway Alliance and Save Mount Diablo agreed to serve as a fiscal sponsor for the project, making donations to the preservation effort tax deductible. Save Mount Diablo has also aided in negotiations with Flood Control and is assisting in fundraising efforts.
Clayton Ranch view of North Peak by Stephen Joseph
The Park District and Save Mount Diablo have been working together for the past three years to raise funds for the three phase acquisition, which extends the Mt. Diablo to Black Diamond Mines, Wildlife And Open Space Corridor from the State Park, through SMD's 333-acre Chaparral Spring acquisition, to within 1/2 mile of the Preserve.
What a difference three years makes! Cross your fingers, but with County Supervisor Donna Gerber's help, in March Flood Control agreed to work with the Alliance to preserve the parcel. It's not going to be easy or cheap, and the development threat still lingers, but with your help this critical link in Mt. Diablo's open space and trail network can be saved.
A 350-acre chaparral edged portion of Keller Ridge (Phase I) was acquired in 1998, and a 350 acre central canyon in 1999 (Phase II). All told, the Park District and SMD developed the $2.1 million in funding from seven state, regional and local sources, both public and private, including $757,000 from the District's AA Bond.
The problem is that, as part of 1991 's Northgate Specific
The heroes of this last phase are the District, which contributed $171,000 in AA regional bond funding, and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson who sponsored a $250,000 state budget request for the Coastal Conservancy through Prop. 12, the resource bond approved by the voters on March
Continued on Page 5 We apologize for the delay in sending this issue of Diablo Watch. Unfortunately several of the hikes will have already taken place.
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