RICHMOND POINT MOLATE PARK, OPEN SPACE, CULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, RECREATIONAL AND ECONOMIC PROTECTION INITIATIVE
PREAMBLE
The following initiative would make it the policy of the City of Richmond to create a public park at Point Molate made up of the entire city-owned area except for the Winehaven Complex. This initiative is being proposed and supported by Richmond residents because they believe that preservation of Point Molate as public land, with its important environmental, cultural, historic and educational resources, is far more beneficial to Richmond and future generations than its development as a private luxury residential area.
1. A public park would preserve the important environmental resources at Point Molate, extending from the ridgetop and upland habitats, to the wild osprey, to the underwater eelgrass beds — among the healthiest in the Bay.
2. A park would avoid the serious financial risk to Richmond taxpayers who might otherwise have to subsidize the large luxury development being considered.
3. The park would provide educational and spiritual opportunities for Native American culture and would preserve Ohlone Sacred sites, along with other Richmond cultural and historic sites.
4. A park would avoid compounding the increasing traffic jams on I-580. By contrast, the residential development the city and developers seek would greatly increase the traffic and the delays. Restricting the residential development to the Winehaven Complex would likely reduce the size and impact of any residential development, greatly reducing traffic and public safety impacts.
5. A park would provide recreational space for playing fields (including fields for soccer and other sports), cycling, hiking, kayaking, etc., and could be managed by a regional park district or a land trust.
6. A park would ensure public access to environmental, recreational, cultural, historical, and local business resources and restore a welcoming environment for all Richmond residents and for future generations as well as act as a regional draw inviting visitors to Richmond.
7. This initiative would promote economic justice by advancing educational and career opportunities for Richmond residents interested in jobs in the environmental and sustainability fields, a fast growing economic sector and part of any green new deal.
8. This Initiative would shift residential development to the Winehaven Complex, and could limit the size of residential development at Point Molate, reduce the cost and need for infrastructure, reduce financial risks to Richmond residents, reduce traffic impacts, and reduce exposure to fire and explosion dangers.
9. This Initiative would help on the local level to fight the Climate Crisis by reducing sprawl, promoting compact transit-oriented development and by promoting the resiliency of our Bay and eelgrass ecosystems.
10. Another goal of this Initiative is to refocus residential development from luxury housing to affordable housing in locations where infrastructure already exists.
SECTION 1. PURPOSE
The purpose of this initiative is to establish a public park on the city-owned land and resources at Point Molate, but not including the Winehaven Complex. The park will ensure public access to the recreational, environmental and cultural resources of this Ohlone ancestral land. Converting this land to public park use will benefit the youth and residents of Richmond, California, as well as residents of and visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area.
SECTION 2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This initiative will protect the people of Richmond from increased traffic congestion and related pollution, from threats to public safety, including wildfires and industrial accidents, and from economic losses to Richmond taxpayers that may result from the sale of Point Molate for private development. This initiative establishes the greater part of Point Molate, including but not limited to its offshore waters, shoreline, bluffs and uplands, but excluding the Winehaven Complex, as public open space. This initiative directs the City of Richmond to preserve those areas as public parkland and as a natural and cultural preserve for the benefit of all Richmond residents.
This initiative allows the commercial and residential/mixed-use development of the Winehaven Complex so as to provide the benefits to the City and the region of generating long-term and sustainable jobs and wealth building opportunities for local businesses, including but not limited to recreation, tourism and related construction, when consistent with the Winehaven Complex’s designation as an historic district.
SECTION 3. DEFINITIONS
A. POINT MOLATE – The approximately 290 acre area along the southern side of San Pablo Peninsula that was formerly the site of the Point Molate Navy Fuel Depot and has now been deeded to the City of Richmond.
B. WINEHAVEN COMPLEX- the area in the northern portion of Point Molate that had, at one time, been occupied by a winery and associated buildings and, for that and other reasons, includes a designated historic district. The area has been designated in the Richmond General Plan 2030 Land Use and Urban Design Element as Business/Light Industrial and is shown in a light purple/gray color in Map 3.15 (Change Area 13), a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 5a (existing) and 5b (as amended).
SECTION 4. GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENTS
To meet the goals of this initiative the Richmond General Plan 2030 is hereby amended in the following manner:
The Land Use and Urban Design Element of the Richmond General Plan 2030 is amended as follows:
TEXT CHANGES
A. Under the Districts section of the element, and specifically the San Pablo Peninsula Area (CA-13), the first bullet point under “General Plan Land Use” is amended to read as follows: (Deleted language is shown by strike-out, added language is shown in italics.)
- The former Point Molate Navy Fuel Depot area is designated as a combination of Business/Light Industria/Residential/Mixed-Use,
Medium-Density Residential, Low Density Residential, Open Space and Parks and Recreation to reflect the conceptual land uses in the adopted 1997 Point Molate Reuse Plan. The residential density allotments previously designated for three portions of the southern part of the Fuel Depot area may be applied to the area within the Winehaven Complex in the form of reuse of existing buildings and/or construction of new residential/mixed-use buildings (first floor commercial, upper floors residential), so long as those buildings are found compatible with the context of this designated historic district.
CHANGES TO MAPS/FIGURES
The following changes are made to maps and figures included in the Land Use and Urban Design Element. These changes are shown on the maps/figures attached hereto as exhibits and incorporated herein by this reference.
B. Figure 3.2 (Residential Neighborhoods) is amended to eliminate the three residential areas shown in the southern part of Point Molate and to indicate that residential/mixed use is allowed in the northern part within the Winehaven Complex within Point Molate. Attached hereto for reference are Exhibit 1A (existing Figure 3.2) and Exhibit IB (Figure 3.2 as amended).
C. Figure 3.6 (Community Areas) is amended to include in the green colored areas in the southern part of Point Molate the three areas previously-designated residential areas that had previously been shown in gray. Attached hereto for reference are Exhibit 2A (existing Figure 3.6) and Exhibit 2B (Figure 3.6 as amended).
D. Map 3.2a (General Plan Land Use Areas-Citywide) is amended to change the three areas in the southern part of Point Molate currently shown as yellow (“Residential Neighborhoods”) to the same green (“Community”) shown in the surrounding area. Attached hereto for reference are Exhibit 3A (existing Map 3.2a) and Exhibit 3B (Map 3.2a as amended).
E. Map 3.14 (Land Use Designations-Citywide) (Designated on the City’s website as Map 3.2b, but on the map itself as 3.14) is amended to eliminate the three residential areas shown in the southern part of Point Molate, which will now be show in green for “Open Space,” and to indicate that the Winehaven Complex within Point Molate will allow mixed-use/residential use as well as Business/Light Industrial use. Attached hereto for reference are Exhibit 4A (existing Map 3.14) and Exhibit 4B (Map 3.14 as amended).
F. Map 3.15 (Change Area 13- San Pablo Peninsula) is amended to eliminate the three residential areas shown in the southern part of Point Molate, which will now be shown in green for “Open Space,” and to add “/Residential/Mixed-use” to the legend for the Business/Light Industrial use designation for the Winehaven Complex within Point Molate. Attached hereto for reference are Exhibit 5A (existing Map 3.15) and Exhibit 5B (Map 3.15 as amended).
SECTION 4. IMPLEMENTATION
A. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65860, Subdivision (c), the Richmond Zoning Code shall be amended within a reasonable amount of time to conform to the provisions of this Initiative. Until such time as the Zoning Code is so amended, for purposes of consistency determinations, the provisions of this Initiative shall govern such determinations over any conflicting provisions of the Zoning Code.
B. This measure shall be interpreted liberally to further its purposes. It is the intent of the voters that the provisions of this measure shall be interpreted by the City and others in a manner that protects open space, park, recreational, environmental, cultural, jobs-creating and natural preserve areas as set forth herein.
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, part, or portion of this measure is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this measure. The voters hereby declare that this measure, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, part, or portion thereof would have been adopted or passed, even if one or more sections, sub-sections, sentences, clauses, phrases, parts, or portions are declared invalid or unconstitutional. If any provision of this Initiative is declared invalid as applied to any person or circumstance, such invalidity shall not affect any application of this measure that can be given effect without the invalid application.
SECTION 6. AMENDMENT
This Initiative may be amended or repealed only by Richmond voters. The City Council may make technical, non-substantive modifications to the provisions of this measure; however any such modification or amendment must be fully consistent with the intent and purposes of the measure. The City Council may also amend this measure to strengthen the environmental protections it contains; however any such amendment must be fully consistent with the purposes and intent of the measure.
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