PITTSBURG — A controversial 606-acre property in the rolling Los Medanos hills southwest of Pittsburg was annexed into the city limits Wednesday, clearing the way for a prolific East Bay developer to realize decades-long plans to build homes near the scenic ridgeline.
The Faria/Southwest Hills Project aims to construct as many as 1,500 new single-family homes concentrated around the Los Medanos Ridgeline. Proposed by Discovery Builders — owned by Concord-based developer Albert Seeno III — the project has twice been approved by the Pittsburg City Council.
The Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) — a powerful group of city, county and special district officials in charge of overseeing the growth of city boundaries — greenlit the reorganization of the Seeno-owned land in a 5-2 vote Wednesday. Faria’s forward momentum relied on LAFCO’s approval in order to ensure that the future development can access the Contra Costa Water and the Delta Diablo Sanitation districts’ services.
Before the vote, Pittsburg City Manager Garrett Evans urged approval, citing the project’s plans to protect the ridgeline, focus housing development in the valley, provide access to Thurgood Marshall Regional Park next door and preserve 44% of the property as open space — double the amount originally proposed.
“This is a better project than it was 20 years ago,” Evans said Wednesday. “This is giving us hope, development and opportunity.”
The two dissenting commissioners — Scott Perkins, San Ramon’s vice mayor, and Charles R. Lewis IV, a non-elected official representing the public — raised concerns that the developers’ extensive list of environmental documents failed to answer all of LAFCO officials’ questions about impacts on the surrounding open space.
Lewis was adamant that crucial details about the Faria development site and grading plan were still missing — information that LAFCO’s executive officer, Lou Ann Texeira, requested in at least a dozen “polite but firm letters.” These records, he said, are vital not only in helping the public understand the proposed project, but also for LAFCO to consider approving annexation.
“There’s no limit to the information that the applicant has provided — several boxes of documents — but it does not include the project level,” Lewis said, indicating a lack of specifics about the impacts of the development.
He said the city should have demanded more documentation from the developers before approving the project. “This does not seem to me to be simple negligence that (the city of Pittsburg) overlooked it or forgot. This is willful noncompliance with the orders of this commission. I find it both a substantive and procedural failure of due process.”
Winter King, an attorney representing the environmental group Save Mount Diablo, shared Lewis’ concerns — advocating that LAFCO reject Pittsburg’s application for annexation.
However, Tom Geiger, the commission’s legal counsel, said Pittsburg’s final environmental certification last year is adequate, especially because no lawsuits were filed following the City Council’s approval in April 2023. Additionally, he pointed to a 2022 court ruling that a programmatic EIR was “appropriate and legal.”
“There was a small window of time to challenge it,” Geiger said, “but that time has passed — the city certified it more than a year ago.”
Commissioner Federal Glover said he was not initially a proponent of the Faria development but had a change of heart after years of discussion and modification of the plan.
“I know I have tried over the last couple of months to get the parties together, but it didn’t happen,” Glover said. “I don’t know that any more dialogue that’s going to take place between the applicant and Save Mount Dablo is going to result in anything more.”
In addition to a youth recreation center and trails that will connect to Thurgood Marshall Regional Park, plans for the other half of the Faria/Southwest Hills Project along the ridge include 265 acres of open space and a greenbelt buffer against the East Bay Regional Park District’s land, which is sandwiched between a billion-dollar, 12,200-unit housing development slated for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station on the other side of the hill.
But that buffer is not enough to protect the open space nearby, according to members and supporters of the nonprofit Save Mount Diablo, a land trust and conservation organization that has advocated for years to “Save the Ridge.”
Environmentalists sent hundreds of letters urging LAFCO to reject the annexation, saying the Albert Seeno III development is “disastrous” and threatens to “bulldoze the top of Pittsburg’s hills.” Opponents say Discovery Builders “never provided project-level environmental review as LAFCO has repeatedly said it requires,” nor has it submitted a detailed grading plan or an engineered subdivision map with house lots and streets.”
Seth Adams, land conservation director for Save Mount Diablo, was unsuccessful in convincing the commission to require more green space — up to 500 feet — against the regional park. He contends that heavy grading during construction could negatively affect wildlife habitats, access to nature, neighborhood traffic, fire risks and the community’s scenic views. He said Seeno’s development team was unwilling to come to the table to openly discuss alternatives.
“Save Mount Diablo supports sensitive development and open space protection,” Adams said. “We don’t care if Seeno builds their project. We just want them to save the ridge and make the development less of an impact. It’s not that hard to do.”
