Modesto council deletes builder charges

By ADAM ASHTON
aashton@modbee.com

The Modesto City Council on Tuesday night stripped a requirement from a planning document that would have forced developers to compensate for the loss of prime farmland in the proposed Tivoli subdivisions north of Sylvan Avenue.
The council can choose to levy the farmland mitigation requirement at a later date after it fleshes out a formal agricul-tural preservation policy.

That discussion will take place before any development occurs in the 454-acre Tivoli area, council members emphasized when they adjusted the project's plans. The land must be annexed before developers can build.
The council unanimously approved a specific plan and environmental impact report for the Tivoli project, describing how developers can build there and detailing efforts they must undertake to mitigate their impacts.
Drafts of those documents that have been in the public and open for comment for more than a year would have required builders to contribute cash to a farmland preservation fund if they put up homes on prime soil.
Those plans appeared on course to sail through easily for the first four hours of the council meeting. By then, Tivoli's developers and residents who were concerned about the project had agreed on terms to protect their existing homes.
At 9:30 p.m., Mayor Jim Ridenour asked Tivoli representative Dave Romano to discuss his thoughts on the farmland mitigation requirement.

Romano told the council the stipulation would put the city at a competitive disadvantage because of a recent change in land-use policies at the county level.

Stanislaus County's new ag mitigation program requires developers to compensate for the loss of farmland when they build residential homes. It excludes commercial and industrial development. That equation would cost commercial developers in the Tivoli area, Romano said.

His argument hit home with council members who were frustrated that the farmland preservation requirement was put into Tivoli's planning document without a definitive discussion on a city ag mitigation policy. Modesto doesn't have one.
City lacks farmland policy

"I don't believe that anyone other than this council should be handling policy on how we handle ag," Councilwoman Janice Keating said.

Others said they were open to a mitigation fee, but wanted to discuss how that charge would be assessed and how it would benefit agriculture.

"We have had no discussion on what an ag mitigation policy should look like," Councilwoman Kristin Olsen said.
"For us to just throw it in a document and have no discussion on this prior to the last 40 minutes is shortsighted and irresponsible."

Councilman Garrad Marsh, who did not attend the meeting but participated in it by speakerphone, strongly disagreed.
"I'm kind of puzzled myself that it's taken six months of having an (environmental impact report) out and nobody brought this up until the developers all of a sudden started lobbying us," he said. "I do not want the council to appear to have rolled over for a bunch of developers."

He voted to postpone the discussion but said he wanted to make sure it would take place before building starts.
Ridenour agreed.

"I'm also very much interested in protecting our farmland," he said. "There's going to be something; we just don't know what it is."

Before the farmland preservation talk, the council's review of the project centered on concerns from residents on Mable and McReynolds avenues.

At one point, Marsh praised Tivoli because it calls for the creation of a regional shopping center that would cut cross-town trips for east Modesto residents, its mix of housing densities and the ag mitigation.

"This is really a valuable project for our city," he said.

Neighbors prevail on school
McReynolds residents persuaded the council to drop a plan to make their street a primary route to a proposed school site and to leave open a discussion on whether it should be turned into a cul-de-sac. As is, their street could lead directly to the school, but it would be narrower than originally proposed.

Mable residents hammered out an agreement to make their street a cul-de-sac and to put a sidewalk on only one side of the street. They were concerned about losing too much of their yards. They previously negotiated to have builders put ranchette houses similar to theirs between their homes and a 67-acre commercial shopping center on Oakdale Road.

"I'm proud of our neighborhood," Mable resident Rebecca Speer said. "We stayed together and we mitigated a lot of good concessions."

Tivoli's developers include PMZ Real Estate President Mike Zagaris, San Jose builder Arcadia Development, a group made up mostly of current and former Mid-Valley Engineering executives, a San Francisco partnership and a Moraga group.

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.