Fed Up with Excessive Development?  Demand a Better Future for Fremont. Sign This Petition Now.

 

Excessive new housing in Fremont is contributing to our water shortages, traffic jams, and overcrowded schools and parks. There are more than 6000 new residential housing units approved or in the approval process in Fremont, all scheduled to be built in the next two years. There are large new developments planned for Sequoia/Paseo Padre, Walnut and Shinn Streets in downtown, the Niles gateway, Mission Boulevard, Osgood Road, Sabercat, Ardenwood, and of course the 4000 units planned for Warm Springs BART area. This represents more than a 5% increase in Fremont housing in two years. Fremont is required by the State of California to build its share of new housing for the Bay Area, but the amount of housing Fremont plans to build in two years exceeds its share for the next eight years! You can see all the new development planned throughout the city at www.ShapeOurFremont.com .

 

California is in a historical drought.  ACWD is requiring existing customers to cut their water use by 25%.  It is irresponsible for ACWD to add new hookups that will increase consumption by 5% in its service area when it cannot meet current needs.  New water hookups should not be approved unless the development is built to use rainfall capture, recycled water, and pays for increased conservation elsewhere in the ACWD service area so overall water use does not increase.

 

Fremont schools are already so overcrowded that new students are not guaranteed entry to their neighborhood school.  The Fremont Unified School District does not have funds to deal with the impact of all these new students.  Developer fees provide only one-third of the money needed to build classrooms for the new students they generate.  All new developments must prove full funding for K-12 schools before they are approved.

 

Some of Fremont’s roads are already gridlocked during commute hours, and the development boom has just begun. Fremont should not approve new developments until they provide alternate ways of getting to schools, shopping, medical care, and recreation. Park and open space funds from new development should be used to build a network of linear parks that will provide bicycle and pedestrian paths completely separated from car traffic. These Class I bicycle and pedestrian trails will allow us to walk and bicycle safely around the city. 

 

Fremont is considering redefining the term “net acre” to allow more dense development on each acre. The amount of development occurring under current rules is straining Fremont’s water, roadway, and open space resources. We don’t need changes to the rules that will allow even more development.

 

Fremont’s General Plan calls for open space and parks to be provided in each part of the city. In the new Warm Springs development area, the General Plan calls for 60 acres of parks and open space but the City is allowing development to proceed with only 4 acres of park that will be shared with the new school. Fremont must enforce its own open public space requirements to ensure the quality of life all residents deserve.

 

Please sign this petition to urge our city leaders to make all development in Fremont reasonable. To be fair to existing residents, we ask that all new projects meet the following requirements before being approved:

1.     Zero net water impact to the ACWD service area.

2.     Full mitigation for schools.

3.     Park and open space meets the General Plan requirements in the development neighborhood.

4.     Linear parks with interconnected bicycle and pedestrian paths separated from car traffic built as part of the development.

5.     No waivers of existing zoning, density, height, toe-of-the-hill, or any other regulations designed to protect the public.

6.     Approved development not to exceed the target of 5,455 units set for Fremont by the Association of Bay Area Governments' Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the period of 2014 through 2022.

 

The issue is not growth, but the impacts of irresponsible growth. Demand respect for your quality of life.  Demand a better future for Fremont.  Sign this petition today and forward to others urging them to do the same.

 

http://www.fremontcitizensnetwork.org/​

 FremontCitizensNetwork2015@gmail.com