Pass: 5,577 / 51.75% Yes votes ...... 5,199 / 48.25% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

• Official WWW Site

The City of Pittsburg ("City") adopted a comprehensive, long-term General Plan for the City's physical development in November 2001. The proposed measure would amend the City's General Plan by creating an urban limit line around the entire City. It is the measure's intent to prohibit urban development beyond that line. Future changes to the urban limit line would require approval by the City's voters.

The General Plan already assigns land use designations to parcels within the proposed urban limit line since the line either corresponds with, or lies within, the City's "planning area" (the area outside the City limits that bears a relationship to the City's planning). This measure would go further by "prezoning" certain lands within the proposed urban limit line, but outside City limits, so these lands could be annexed to the City in the future. The prezoning, along with the General Plan land use designations, will determine how the affected lands may be used and how densely they may be developed, plus the development standards that will apply upon annexation. The Contra Costa County Local Agency Formation Commission ("LAFCo") must approve the annexation; until LAFCo does, Contra Costa County's General Plan and zoning designations govern the prezoned properties.

The proposed measure's Zoning Map amendments would affect large parcels of land near the urban limit line's southwest, south, and northern boundary. This land would be prezoned to "Hillside Planned District" or "Open Space District." Both districts are consistent with the applicable General Plan land use designations. Five of the City's planning subareas would be affected: Southwest Hills, Northwest River, Buchanan, Black Diamond and Woodlands. Future changes to the Zoning Map amendments would require a vote of the people, or a majority vote of the City Council. Regulations governing the Hillside Planned District and Open Space District are available for review in Pittsburg Municipal Code Chapters 18.56 and 18.58.

Adoption of the City-approved urban limit line is one of two ways the City can obtain its share of Measure J transportation sales tax revenue (also known as the "Contra Costa Transportation Sales Tax Expenditure Plan"). Measure J, approved by County voters in November 2004, requires that a city comply with a new countywide, mutually agreed upon voter-approved urban limit line, or an urban limit line approved by that City's voters, as a prerequisite to receiving Measure J tax revenue. At present, there is no countywide, mutually agreed upon voter-approved urban limit.

In addition to creating an urban limit line and prezoning land outside City boundaries, the measure would add a new General Plan policy, add other General Plan text, and modify several General Plan diagrams to include the proposed urban limit line.

The above statement is an impartial analysis of Measure P. If you desire a copy of the full text of the measure, please call the City Clerk's Office at (925) 252-4870 and a copy will be mailed to you at no cost.

City of Pittsburg's Web Site

San Francisco Chronicle

• Mount Diablo ranch caught up in politics; Environmentalists say developer links it to Pittsburg vote - October 27, 2005

• The Space Races Other East Bay land-use votes. - October 19, 2005

A YES vote on P means taking control of growth in Pittsburg:

• YES on P means that the people of Pittsburg, not County bureaucrats, determine the city's boundaries;
• YES on P draws a voter-approved urban limit line all the way around the city that can only be changed by a subsequent vote of the people;
• YES on P preserves and protects agricultural land, open space, and creates parkland;
• YES on P creates a greenbelt around our city so that no growth can ever occur beyond that line unless the people of Pittsburg vote to change it.

Measure J, passed by voters last year, states that each city in Contra Costa County must have an urban limit line to control growth, in order to receive funds for local street and road improvements.

Pittsburg is entitled to receive more than $34 million dollars, but only if it passes a voter-approved urban limit line. Pittsburg should draw that line.

A YES vote on P means these funds will help address traffic on our city streets and on Highway 4:

• YES on P will help reduce cut-through traffic on Buchanan Road with the construction of the Buchanan Road Bypass;
• YES on P helps build additional access roads to BART;
• YES on P will allow Pittsburg to improve our local streets and roads.

Please join us and the 6,547 residents who came together to put this measure on the ballot.
Vote YES on P!
s/Mary Erbez,
former Pittsburg Mayor & City Clerk
s/Mary Coniglio,
3rd generation Pittsburg resident
s/Orin T. Allen,
former Pittsburg Unified School District Board past president & member
s/Jess Leber,
retired Pittsburg High School principal
s/Sal Cardinale,
retired superintendent of Pittsburg Unified School District

Measure P was written and put on the ballot by Albert Seeno not by the City of Pittsburg.

It will mean an expansion of development and the potential for thousands more homes and even more traffic congestion and gridlock.

Measure P will allow our hills to be graded and open space lost forever. It will NOT protect anyone but Albert Seeno.

Pittsburg is already protected by an urban limit line that has worked for years.

You the voters and taxpayers have already agreed to pay more sales tax for traffic improvements WE ARE ALREADY ENTITLED TO RECEIVE OUR MONEY. Measure P will ensure that those improvements will be overcrowded before they are even built.

No on Measure P will continue to protect our open space and ranchlands.

No on Measure P will allow the City NOT Albert Seeno to decide where and how our community will grow.

No on Measure P will let our road improvements catch up with the thousands of homes already approved but not yet built.

No on Measure P will allow our schools to expand to meet an already growing demand.

No on Measure P will ensure that we the people and not developers will control our future.

Just ask yourself one simple question, if this is such a good idea why did Albert Seeno have to pay to gather signatures to put this on the ballot?

Please join us in protecting our future by voting NO on Measure P.
s/Laura Canciamilla,
Trustee PUSD

Albert Seeno and other developers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get you to believe them. They're sponsoring initiatives in Pittsburg, Antioch and Brentwood.

They have polled. And they have cleverly calculated. Their consultants have put together an initiative they want you to believe will benefit Pittsburg.

It won't.

Measure P will bring more development, more traffic, more crowded classrooms, longer emergency response times, and a lower quality of life for all of us.

What these developers won't tell you ... if these Measures pass be prepared for:

• Thousands of new houses, on top of thousands that have already been approved, but not yet built!
• Gridlock - more traffic and congestion on Highway 4, and more air pollution - that's why nurses are opposed.
• Competition for our limited water supplies - do you want to ration?
• Increased crime and longer response times for police, firefighters and emergency personnel!
• Lowered property values - bad traffic, crowded schools and too few local jobs mean lower property values.
• Huge developments destroy natural lands, working farms and ranches around our cities - some projects are proposed on scenic hills next to our parks.
• Overcrowded schools the day they open.
• Nurses are concerned about longer waits for ambulances and at Emergency Rooms.

We're not stupid. We've figured it out. And we can't be bought-out, or hoodwinked into believing Measure P will be good for Pittsburg.

The only ones who will ultimately benefit are the developers. The rest of us will be stuck in traffic on Highway 4!

Take a closer look. Don't be fooled by the sugar-coated lies. Please vote NO on Measure P.
s/Joe Canciamilla,
State Assemblyman
s/Federal Glover,
County Supervisor
s/Michael Kee,
Pittsburg City Council
s/Elaine Ruiz, RN
Pittsburg, California Nurses Association
s/Ron Brown, Executive Director,
Save Mount Diablo

With Measure P, the community can control how developers build within Pittsburg's voter-approved Urban Limit Line.

By passing Measure P, Pittsburg will have control of its city limits; we will also ensure that we receive Measure J funds needed to repair our local streets and roads.

Approving Measure P ensures Pittsburg's fair share of Measure J funding to control its own destiny.

A YES Vote means:

• Pittsburg's voters can manage their own future.
• Pittsburg can grow and control its growth and boundaries, which can only be changed by a subsequent vote of the people.
• Pittsburg can maintain the proper development for housing. Supply and demand and values will adjust with the market.
• Pittsburg can control land use, natural lands, greenbelts, working farms and ranches within Pittsburg's Sphere of Influence.
• Funding for a Buchanan Road Bypass is ensured and will be built within Pittsburg's boundaries, helping to reduce traffic gridlock.

To ensure Pittsburg is not left behind in East County, please join the 6,547 Pittsburg voters who helped place Measure P on the ballot by voting YES.

Thank You,
s/Ben Johnson,
Pittsburg City Council Member
s/Bill Glynn,
Councilman, City of Pittsburg
s/Mary Erbez,
Former Pittsburg Mayor & City Clerk
s/Sal Cardinale,
Retired Superintendent of Pittsburg Schools
s/Mary Coniglio,
3rd generation Pittsburg resident