The City of Concord has released the survey results it recently conducted for public opinion on reuse plans for the Concord Naval Weapons Station. According to the City of Concord, the survey of 600 randomly selected Concord residents answered who 50 questions about the project.
“The conclusions of this survey mirror, in many ways, a similar survey that was conducted at the beginning of the planning process in 2006. Overall, residents favor a balanced approach. Respondents favored a mix of housing (single-family, townhouses, condos, larger and smaller units) as well has homes for sale and for rent. In addition to housing, office buildings and other projects that create jobs were supported.
“Survey respondents expressed a strong desire for open space as well as developed recreation areas and sports fields. The average amount of the land that respondents believe should be in open space and parks was 44 percent, with 72 percent calling for 50 percent or less. Respondents were clear, as in 2006, that the project must produce sufficient tax revenue to cover the city’s costs.
“In general, the responses support the themes represented in the “Clustered Villages” alternative, one of two plans being considered by the Concord City Council. The survey shows that respondents are more comfortable with less dense development as reflected in this alternative. This alternative focuses dense development around the North Concord BART station, but then spreads development out along the southern portion of the site in three pedestrian-friendly villages.
“The second plan, “Concentration and Conservation”, locates all development in the northwestern quarter of the project area with the remainder of the property left in open space. In order to be financially feasible, this alternative requires fairly dense residential development, which would give the area a more urban feel. The City Council is scheduled to select a preferred alternative at its January 12, 2009 meeting.
Bill Gram-Reefer is Editor & Publisher of Halfway To Concord, founded in 2004. Halfway To Concord is the leading online source for community-driven political news, events, and opinion for Contra Costa County and the San Francisco East Bay.
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I would also like to repeat what was requested at the Council meeting on December 1st, that there be a city wide ballot by mail made with two choices: the Villages or the Open Space plans, since both are very similar in their treatment of the area north of Willow Pass Road. This mail ballot would contain the two choices and a single page summary of each. It could be done in a week and be back in a weeks and counted more than enough for the January 12 meeting of the Council.
~ EDITOR ADDS — Forget it, Edi; It’s Chinatown.
Vinnie, Patches’ book in Vegas, handicaps it this way; 3-2 says some Council Critter will get it into her pretty head to fight for a third choice, NONE OF ABOVE. This would give Shaw and others the ability to pour in massive dollars to scare up a paper thin plurality that will wipe out the work of the CAC and build “Concord Style” single family homes as far as the eyes can see along the plain and into the hills.
Failing a council vote on such a poison pill scheme, there will be more than enough slush money behind the curtain to finance and promoter a ballot measure to trump whatever Council approves 4-1.
Watch.
Looking at the responses that profile the respondents, it would appear that there is a strong bias towards: upper income, white, older people. This is in direct conflict with the corresponding breakdown of the population in Concord.
On that basis I would consider that the poll is non-representative of the population as a whole, though it may be reflective of the make up of the City Council.
This is interesting and I thank you for posting the Scribd doc. The “Intro and Methodology” page says that its report to the City included crosstabulations of responses across different subgroups within the population. Has the City released the third section of the report, containing those crosstabs?