Oppose Habitat-Destroying Cemetery in San Ramon

Hello all,

Ask San Ramon to oppose a cemetery that destroys rare wildlife habitat at a study session on Tuesday June 24th at 7PM at City Hall (2222 Camino Ramon).

• Tuesday June 24th at 7PM at San Ramon City Hall (2222 Camino Ramon).

• Study session about proposed 59 acre cemetery off Camino Tassajara near Windemere Pkwy that would rise from Camino Tassajara up on to Tassajara Ridge, destroy and fragment rare wildlife habitat, and degrade the Tassajara Ridge scenic trail and Hidden Valley Open Space.

• Hosted by San Ramon Mayor Bill Clarkson and Vice Mayor Phil O’Loane.

Please come to the meeting and make comments. If you can’t make it, email the San Ramon City Council and County Supervisor Candace Andersen (emails below) and tell them why the Creekside Memorial Cemetery is a bad idea.

San Ramon is not the decision-maker on this project, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is.

We want San Ramon to oppose the cemetery and help influence the Board of Supervisors.

At the very least, the ‘upper gardens’ part of the cemetery should be removed to avoid fragmenting rare wildlife habitat and impacting Hidden Valley Open Space. Neighbors are very concerned about effects on water.

• Mayor Bill Clarkson: bclarkson@sanramon.ca.gov
• Vice Mayor Philip G. O’Loane: poloane@sanramon.ca.gov
• Council Member David E. Hudson: dhudson@sanramon.ca.gov
• Council Member Scott Perkins: sperkins@sanramon.ca.gov
• Council Member Harry Sachs: hsachs@sanramon.ca.gov
• Supervisor Candace Andersen: supervisorandersen@bos.cccounty.us

Juan Pablo Galván
Land Use Planner
P (925) 947-3535 F (925) 947-0642
1901 Olympic Blvd., Suite 320
Walnut Creek, CA 94596

www.savemountdiablo.org

More information and how to take action:

Land Use Summary for Save Mount Diablo Communications –

Creekside Memorial Park Cemetery

What is the Project?

1.       A proposal by Corrie Development Corporation to construct a 59 acre cemetery (Creekside Memorial Park) located off Camino Tassajara.

2.       The cemetery includes a lower area and an ‘upper garden’ area that sits at the top of a prominent ridge. The upper and lower cemetery areas will be connected by a road.

Why does Save Mount Diablo oppose the Project?

1.       The road and upper gardens would trisect the property, fragmenting rare wildlife habitat. California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander have been found in two ponds that would lie on either side of the upper gardens (see Figure 1). The road and upper gardens would make it more difficult for these threatened species to travel between these ponds. To avoid this impact, the upper gardens should be removed.

2.       The project lies right next to the protected Hidden Valley Open Space area, the Tassajara Ridge Regional Trail, and future protected open space areas and degrades the recreation value of the trail (see Figure 2).

3.       The entryway to the proposed cemetery would destroy rare alkaline meadow habitat that supports rare plant species, including Congdon’s tarplant and San Joaquin spearscale.

4.       Scarce water resources in the area would be further strained by construction of the cemetery.

How can people help?

1.       The City of San Ramon is holding a study session at 7PM on Tuesday June 24th at City Hall (2222 Camino Ramon) to present information and receive public comment on the project. Our goal is to get the City to take a position opposing this project, which will be decided by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. San Ramon can influence the Board. Come to the session and say why this project in its current form is a bad idea and should be changed or denied.

2.       If you live in the San Ramon/Tassajara area, contact City Council Members and Supervisor Candace Andersen to tell them why you oppose Creekside Memorial Cemetery.

a.       Mayor Bill Clarkson: bclarkson@sanramon.ca.gov

b.      Vice Mayor Philip G. O’Loane: poloane@sanramon.ca.gov

c.       Council Member David E. Hudson: dhudson@sanramon.ca.gov

d.      Council Member Scott Perkins: sperkins@sanramon.ca.gov

e.      Council Member Harry Sachs: hsachs@sanramon.ca.gov

f.        Supervisor Candace Andersen: supervisorandersen@bos.cccounty.us

3.       You can read County environmental review documents here: http://ca-contracostacounty2.civicplus.com/4710/Creekside-Cemetary. Learn more about why neighbors oppose the cemetery here: http://www.stopthecemetery.org/

Figure 1. The upper gardens (tan shading, center of the figure) in the middle of the property sit at the top of the steep ridge, and together with the road break a movement corridor for California tiger salamander and California red-legged frog between Pond A and Pond B. The gray shadowing in the figure shows the amount of fill and grading that would be required due to the steepness of the property. Pond sizes are not to scale

Figure 2. The Creekside Memorial Cemetery would be about 2,300 feet away from existing homes and lie right next to future protected open space to the north and the protected Hidden Valley Open Space area and Tassajara Ridge Trail to the west.