Source: The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.)
Conservationists who have been blamed for putting millions of dollars of school funding in jeopardy by getting an injunction to halt the Blue Rock Country Club project have offered what they consider a "win-win" solution.
EarthJustice attorney Greg Loarie, on behalf of co-plaintiffs Hayward Area Planning Association and the Center for Biological Diversity, proposed a compromise this week that -- if agreed to by the developer -- would allow grading and construction of the Walpert Ridge project's 614 upscale homes and elementary school.
The injunction would still block the expansive golf course that crosses into a critical habitat area for the endangered Alameda whipsnake and California red-legged frog.
"If the developer is willing, the school and the housing construction can proceed while the court decides the habitat issue," said HAPA chairman Sherman Lewis.
Blue Rock developer Steve Miller, who hadn't had much time Tuesday to contemplate the proposal, said initially that "you can't just lop off a piece of the project" without affecting other components like environmental review, mitigation, water runoff and engineering.
"The golf course isn't a separate project, it's a part of the total project," Miller said, adding that he couldn't agree to dropping the golf course without getting approvals from all of the related agencies.
The school district, along with other community members, recently jumped into the legal fray between the parties because the injunction, as it stands, will result in the loss of $8.7 million in state bond funding for the proposed school.
That money is forfeited if the school district can't show the state by June 17 that the project is progressing.
The $8.7 million is the difference between a new bare-bones Blue Rock elementary school for 350 students that the developer is required to build, and a much needed new state-of-the-artBlue Rock elementary school for 650 students.
The school district is in a state of fiscal crisis, must make $8.5 million in budget reductions to avoid state takeover and is facing a serious overcrowding problem.
While school officials and leaders of community groups like the Hayward Chamber of Commerce and Hayward Education Foundation lashed out against HAPA and Lewis as obstructionists, some hoped for a compromise like the one proposed.
City watchdog Frank Goulart, for example, said it was unfair to pin the loss of school funding on Lewis. Just as easily, he said, you could blame the developer for not allowing enough time for the inevitable court challenges.
"But these kinds of finger-pointing don't help," he said, adding that he thinks the offer EarthJustice made is a step in the right direction.
The initial lawsuit, filed almost three years ago, challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's biological opinion that the country club plan -- including mitigation for the Alameda whipsnake and California red-legged frog -- won't jeopardize and might enhance the species numbers. Walpert Ridge is a critical feeding ground for both species.
Federal Judge Susan Illston last month rejected the plaintiff's claim that the service's final decision was based on politics and not the best science. She also rejected an earlier preliminary injunction on the project.
But a federal judge with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday issued the injunction pending the appeal and set summer deadlines for briefs to be filed.
