2013-08-06 "Bay Area Citizens sues Plan Bay Area"
by Neal J. Riley from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Suit-seeks-to-block-regional-development-plan-4710383.php]:
Critics of a regional plan to encourage development and growth in areas with easy access to mass transit filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Plan Bay Area was approved last month by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments after a contentious three-year process involving dozens of public hearings. Its goal is to satisfy state legislation that requires plans to accommodate the more than 2 million people who are expected to move into the Bay Area between now and 2040, while at the same time lowering overall greenhouse gas emissions.
The petitioner, a group called Bay Area Citizens that says the plan will hurt their property values, is being represented in court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento conservative organization.
"We've been trying to raise substantive concerns about the plan, the restrictions it places on how individuals can live, how we can travel," said Peter Singleton, a co-founder of Bay Area Citizens. "It restricts people's ability to make their own choices."
The lawsuit alleges that Plan Bay Area violates the California Environmental Quality Act by omitting alternatives to its plan to steer 77 percent of future growth near "priority development areas," including places like Mission Bay in San Francisco, Oakland's Jack London Square and downtown San Rafael, Walnut Creek and Fairfield.
"That's great for people who want to live in crowded city centers," Singleton said. "Most people don't."
The plan is not binding, but that doesn't mean it's inconsequential. When doling out state and federal funds, the MTC would have to give preference to plan-related improvements.
"Do we really need to sacrifice significantly how we live and work to achieve these greenhouse goals?" said Damien Schiff, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney. "The reality is no, those goals can be achieved without all the pain that Plan Bay Area entails."
MTC spokesman Randy Rentschler said he could not comment on the lawsuit, but noted that regional planning has been routine for decades. But Plan Bay Area has attracted a "whole different cast of characters" this time around, he said.
"I don't think the differences between our plan now and the plan last time are that different, but I think the atmospherics are significantly different," he said, referring to the new focus on reducing greenhouse gases. "Whenever you introduce climate change into a discussion, you tend to amp it up, and that's certainly happened here."
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