Oakley Press 10.11.19

Page 1

YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Vol. 19, No. 41

READ BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.THEPRESS.NET

Opponents spar over land swap

October 11, 2019

Upscale Pizza Downtown

by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer

In the weeks leading up to Brentwood’s Measure L election on Nov. 5, The Press will explore various elements of the initiative, beginning this week with open space. 
The measure — spearheaded by a group of local developers, including longtime Brentwood farmer and developer Ron Nunn — would move the mark at which urban development must stop, clearing the way for a proposed 815acre project of up to 2,400 residential units (at least 80% age-restricted, active-adult-specific), along with other elements, situated north of Balfour Road, east of Deer Valley Road and west of the Shadow Lakes and Brentwood Hills neighborhoods.
 A deal struck between the development group and Save Mount Diablo — a nonprofit land trust and conservation organization — guarantees that 225 of the 815 onsite acres will be protected as open space, trails and vineyards. Wetlands on or near the property will also be preserved, along with heritage-sized oaks on the see Land page 30

Rubiano’s in Brentwood is open for business and offers pizza, pasta and more. Page 10

Vasco Driver Sentenced Photo by Tony Kukulich

Seth Adams, land conservation director for Save Mount Diablo (SMD), discusses the value of land his group stands to receive near Clayton. The development group Blackhawk Nunn will gift SMD 1,500 acres of this land for preservation if Brentwood voters approve the expansion of the city’s urban limit line to support an 815-acre residential development project by special election in November.

Fire district approves 2019-20 budget by Tony Kukulich Staff Writer

The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) Fire Board recently approved the district’s 2019-20 operating budget, and while it is balanced and only nominally higher than the previous year, the district has made some fundamental changes to its budget plan, compared to the prior year. The new budget plan matches its $16.8 million in expected revenue with nearly the same amount of expenses. The plan projects a razor-thin margin of $16,000 in revenue in excess of expenses. Total operating expenses are up $1.6 million over the prior year, driven almost exclusively by higher salary costs resulting from the hiring

“ Between last year, the 2018-2019 budget, and the new year, the 2019-2020 budget — as far as the operating portion of the budget goes — there’s not really any significant change.

Joe Young, fire board member and ECCFPD chair of the finance subcommittee of six trainee firefighters. Total income for the district is forecast to be up about 4% over the prior year. “Between last year, the 201819 budget, and the new year, the 2019-20 budget — as far as the operating portion of the budget goes — there’s not really any significant change,” said Joe Young, fire board member and chair of the district’s

SAVE NOW

finance subcommittee. “The operating cost does go up some, and that is primarily because we hired six new firefighter trainees, because we are anticipating a significant number of retirements in the next 18 months. So we’re bringing these people in and getting them trained so they’ll be able to fill those positions as people retire.” The approved plan not only

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details the expected income and expenses for the current year, but also provides a preliminary look at each of the next ten years. The ECCFPD operating budget stays in the black for nine of those ten years. In the 2028-29 plan, expenses are forecast to exceed operating income, putting the district in the red by approximately $119,000, which represents less than 1% of the $21 million in operating expenses expected that year. “On the long picture, our 10year projection is pretty good,” said Young. “We’re beginning to get a little bit in the red in our 10th year. It’s only $119,000, so it’s not problematic. In other words, we will probably resolve those issues as we implement our strategic plan see Fire page 30

PG&E Alerts

www.thepress.net/news/webextras

PG&E has developed a new tool to receive notifications about planned outages.

The driver involved in a deadly car crash on Vasco Road in 2017 has been sentenced. Page 5

Liberty Still Undefeated

Liberty football shuts out Antioch High and maintains a perfect record. Page 21 Calendar................................31 Classifieds.............................25 Cop Logs................................13 Entertainment.....................11 Food........................................10 Health & Beauty....................9 Opinion..................................20 Pet of the Week.....................7 Sports.....................................21

MOW Hiring

www.thepress.net/news/press_releases

Meals on Wheels Diablo Region is looking for its new executive director.


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