HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01171995 - 9 MR Grazing q ; oo
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
DATE: January 17, 1995 MATTER OF RECORD
On this day January 17, 1995 the Board of Supervisors heard a
presentation by Councilman Pete Laurence and Mayor Julie Pierce
regarding the City of Clayton' s proposed grazing buffer for fire
protection.
THIS IS A MATTER FOR RECORD PURPOSES ONLY
NO BOARD ACTION TAKEN
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Tetepbones P.O. BOX 280 CLAYTON,CALIFORNIA 94517 City Council
CITY HALL (510)672-3622 TELEPHONE (510) 672-3622 PETER A.LAURENCE,
COMMUNITY JULIE K.PIERCE, .VA YOR
DEVELOPMENT (510)672-6690 -
ROBERT C.KENDALL
ENGINEERING (510)672-9700 Costa
A.LITTORNO
To: Contra Costa County GREGORY J.MANNING
Board of Supervisors
Re: Mt . Diablo Park/Clayton Proposal 1/13/95
Dear Honorable Supervisors,
As you know, Clayton and areas of the county
portion of Clayton such as the "Diablo Downs"
development, have been without the protection of grazing
for 2 seasons now.
The state this past summer did a "prescribed burn"
on approximately 400 acres of our common border. This
burn from their technical perspective was "successful" ,
but from the City of Clayton, ours and your citizens,
it was a failure due to the byproducts explained herein.
The City of Clayton has arranged a meeting with the
State for January 24th to try and develop a better way
to both insure the safety of our citizens from a future
Mt . Diablo holocaust and protect most of the mountain' s
"natural" state .
Without undermining ours and the countys previous
positions that we prefer rotational grazing on larger
areas, we are proposing that the state adopt particular
changes to their "Fire Plan" that have been strongly
recommended by the CCFPD, and that they insert the usage
of "grazing buffers" 600 feet wide in key areas, as
explained further herein.
We are including for you our most recent letter to
the State and explanatory information to keep you .
informed. Also if this works out, it may be something
that would also benefit some of the County' s other
residential portions of the border such as Blackhawk.
The City of Clayton would like your support in this
effort to help create a better way than "prescribed
burns" up against the pre-existing residential
neighborhoods as the Park keeps expanding to our homes .
Thank-You,
cc: City Council
CCFPD, Chief Bill Cullen pa
Peter A. Laurence
Clayton City Council
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Faundrd 185 rarpardtt 2964
Telephones P.O. BOX 280 • CLAYTON,CALIFORNIA 94517 City Council
CITY HALL (510)672-3622 TELEPHONE (510) 672-3622 PETER A.LAURENCE,
COMMUNITY JULIE K. PIERCE, idn YOR
DEVELOPMENT (510)672-6690 ROBERT C. KENDALL
ENGINEERING (510)672-9700 RICHARD A.LITTORNO
GREGORY J. MANNING
To : Mr . Ken Jones, Deputy Director
State Dept . of Parks & Recreation
P .O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Re : Mt . Diablo/Clayton Fire Danger Solutions 1/13/95
Faxed
Dear Mr. Jones,
We look forward to your visit to Clayton and our meeting
about how best to put protections into the Wildfire
Management Plan that insure Clayton' s safety from a possible
future Mt . Diablo inferno.
Due to our annual reorganization I am not the Mayor now,
but am still our Council ' s designated contact on this issue.
Our new Mayor Julie Pierce will also attend and be an
important part of our January 24th meeting at 3 :PM.
We have been concerned with the state' s actions in
recent years because your state department has ignored
Clayton' s letters in favor of grazing, and in fact has
ignored every elected City Council, every Homeowner' s
Association, every Fire Department, the County Supervisors,
State Assemblymen Dick Rainey, and Congressman Bill Baker, in
their requests that grazing remain a viable part of Mt .
Diablo' s Fire Protection.
We recently were concerned because our August 8th letter
opposed to your "prescribed burn" of approximately 400 acres
along our border and requesting a constructive meeting, was
bueraucratically dismissed. And we are most recently
disappointed when after our joint meeting to work this out
was arranged with the Governor' s office in November to occur
in January, your department "decided" on December 2nd ahead
of our scheduled meeting, to make "prescribed burns" an
annual occurrence along our entire border.
It ' s this kind of "Big Government" disregard for your
neighbor' s concerns and safety that has made us bring the
Governor' s office into the decision process, as we try in
good faith to work out a compromise situation that gives our
citizens safe fire protection, and leaves even more of the
mountain to protect as natural and "untouched" .
1 of 3
Clayton' s location is unique and more critical than many
of the Park' s other shared borders for several reasons :
1 . We have hundreds of homes right on our common border to
. include the 503 home Dana Hills, 82 unit Dana Farms, 55 home
Diablo Downs, more than 600 home Regency Woods, and of course
. the entire remainder of Clayton.
2 . These homes were almost all built prior to your
acquisition of Dewey Murchio' s ranch, and as all of Clayton
had been protected against major fire from the mountain by
more than 100 years of cattle grazing prior to your actions
to halt this protection.
3 . Unlike many other cities, wind patterns very commonly
swirl around the North slope and come down from the mountain
right into the heart of Clayton, especially in the very hot
and dry Summer.
4 . As we've all seen in the Oakland Hills, Malibu Canyon,
and Santa Barbara fires, in such circumstances a 30 foot fire
break, Hwy #1, and in fact even the width of the Highway 24
interchange in Oakland didn' t stop the fires from coming down
out of the Hills, jumping these barriers and continuing their
massive destruction. And;
5 . Prescribed burns are not desirable along our residential
borders, due to the taxpayer costs, pollution, soot & ashes,
fleeing rats, voles & snakes into our homes and yards,
resultant tons of . silt erosion, and 6 months of an ugly burnt
out wasteland of what has until now been one of Mt . Diablo' s
most scenic and enjoyable spots all year round.
We want to approach the coming meeting with open minds,
which may or may not involve "prescribed" responsible
grazing. If you have solutions that are more environmentally
conscious, cost conscious and still very safety oriented, we
will surely consider them.
However, one idea to consider that seems a reasonable
compromise from the polar mentalities of "graze the whole
area" or "prescribe burn the whole area" might be a "limited"
grazing buffer only 600 feet wide, running from Mitchell
Canyon Road along the borders of Diablo Downs, Dana Ridge,
Dana Hills and Regency Woods to Rialto Drive.
This area would be only 115 acres, and would be grazed
only a few months each year so that it meets our Fire
Department standards of 3" in height at the beginning of and
during each official Fire Season.
2 of 3
This seems like a reasonable limited area which in
conjunction with the disced 30 foot fire break and other
requirements of our local Fire District would protect the
City of Clayton from a future holocaust, limit our exposure
mainly to "spot fires" and allow us to assist you in
controlling the Mountain' s fire itself when it occurs .
This state controlled "buffer" idea, recommended
improvements of our Contra Costa Fire District, and improved
wording in about 5 places of the Fire Plan, are the things we
look forward to exploring with you at our January Meeting.
We realize that to implement some of this might require
a creative interpretation of, or minor rewording of some of
your department requirements, but as we are seeing after the
recent national election, a lot of regulations can indeed
become rewritten.
If you have any other questions or ideas you want to get
to us before the meeting, by all means send them and I ' ll
share them with the Council . We look forward to solving this
mutual dilemma and getting on with the good relations that
the City of Clayton and State should be enjoying together.
Sincerely,
Peter A. Laurence
Former Clayton Mayor
cc: Mayor Pierce & City Council
C.C. Fire Protection District
Governor Pete Wilson
Enc: Map approximation &
Letter from 503 home Dana Hills Assoc .
of 3
POSSIBLE GRAZING BUFFER
TO HELP PROTECT
CLAYTON
FROM FUTURE FIRE
1F 6001 WIDE BY 1 . 56 MILES, IT WOULD BE 115 ACRES, BUT INSURE
CLAYTON THAT IF IN THE FUTURE MT. DIABLO BURNS , WE ' LL HAVE SOME
PROTECTION , AND MAINLY HAVE TO DEAL ONLY WITH "SPOT" FIRES .
HESPWNSIBLE GRAZING WOULD BE FOR ABOUT 4 WEEKS TWICE PER YEAR.
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Dana-Hills Homeowners Association,Inc.
Monday,January 02, 1995
Dear Mayor Pierce and Council Members:
1 understand that Lawrence Ferri,Park Superintendent, has prescribed an annual
burn in the Mitchell Canyon/Murchio Flats section of the park.This is not a
solution that the Dana Hills Homeowners Association Board of Directors feels is acceptable.
Last year following the control burn,our hot line had over 127 calls concerning the
increased population of mice and rattle snakes that had been driven from their homes
to our homeowners. I myself had our 57 mice in traps over a two month period,where
I might have 34 a year. This was no fun,although my cat has found it to be hog heaven !
We have killed 14 rattle snakes on our Court alone. We cannot see the value of the ash that
infiltrated our lungs, homes,and pools for months. My pool deck was black with soot, which
meant so was my carpet-very beneficial for Coit who, I'm sure, had land office sales in
Dana Hills. Last,but not least,let us not forget those great wild boars and coyotes
that have invaded Dana Hills with a vengeance,costing the Homeowners Association
thousands in repaired landscaping all of which occurred shortly after the burn.
We implore you to please consider the grazing issue for the Murchio Flats area to create the
600 ft. buffer for a fire break.The alternative suggested by Mr. Ferri is not an alternative
that we can accept. We invite him to live at the base of the burn area with his family for a
few months after his next proposed burn. I bet he'd change his tune quickly and call in
the Pied Piper of Hamlen,as we thought of doing last year.
Please help bring back our cows!
Thank you so much,in advance,for your consideration and action on this issue.
Sincerely,
Jackie Wenzel
President,Dana Hills Homeowners Association and
Board of Directors
Post Office Box Number 376, Clayton,California 94517
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