Fight Ensues Over Brentwood Home Development Proposal
BRENTWOOD (KPIX 5) -- A local developer has proposed to build 2,400 new homes on a plot of land near Brentwood, but residents near the area are fighting against the proposal.
Developer Blackhawk Nunn Partners envisions the homes in the open space outside Brentwood's urban limit line. The proposed plot of land is just south of Antioch in the area north of Balfour Rd. near the Shadow Lakes Golf Course.
A group with Alliance For A Better Brentwood thinks the proposal puts the city at risk.
"We like the green hills and the open space," said Beth Gillan, a Brentwood resident.
"For me personally, that's invading my space," said Chuck Brackett. "We didn't want that area to be developed--we liked the open space and we wanted to keep the separation between Brentwood and the city of Antioch."
About 80 percent of the homes would be for senior citizens and phased in over the next two decades. The developer plans to initiate a ballot measure to stretch Brentwood's urban limit line, beyond which no housing can be built.
"You're gonna have a pro and con," said Brentwood mayor Robert Taylor.
Taylor said he hasn't seen anything in writing yet and the city isn't involved in the proposal because it's outside city limits.
"It has to be vetted--things have to be done before boots are on the ground," he said.
Farmer Sean McCaulet farms the open land on which the proposal may be built and has the most to lose, but he said that many people aren't seeing the possible alternative.
If the land doesn't go to Brentwood, it will go to Antioch, leaving Brentwood without a buffer; the city won't have a say in what's developed on the land or how it's developed.
