Posted on 05/26/2012 12:17:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Roughly 75 percent of all the land in the Bay Area is either permanently protected in parks or open space, or at low risk of development because it is zoned for farming or other rural uses.
But 322,000 acres -- an area 12 times the size of the city of San Francisco -- remains threatened by development over the next three decades, with hot spots in eastern Contra Costa County and around Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Livermore and Vacaville, according to a new report out Tuesday from the Greenbelt Alliance, an open space preservation group. The Bay Area almost certainly has more parks, farmland, beaches and other open spaces than any other major urban area in the United States. That's the product of 100 years of advocacy
by park lovers, hikers and environmental groups.
And while Bay Area residents regularly support tough zoning, and new fees and taxes at the ballot box for open space, the difficult economy over the past five years has meant less money to maintain parks -- and rough times raising money to buy more land.
"We've had a lot of success in this region protecting our greenbelt," said Jeremy Madsen, executive director of the Greenbelt Alliance. "We need to be proud of that, but there is a lot still to do, not only in stopping sprawl, but also in investing and stewarding land that's already protected."
When counties are ranked by the acres they have permanently protected in parks, wildlife refuges and open space preserves, the Bay Area's largest county, Santa Clara County, is first, with 229,800 acres, according to the report.
Next is Marin, with 185,400 acres; Sonoma with 171,200; Napa with 122,700; Contra Costa with 119,100; San Mateo with 111,000; Alameda with 106,000; and Solano, with 57,000 acres.
That may come as a surprise
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Who needs land for development? Don’t have kids, and if you have kids they can live with you until you die and then they can inherit your 2 bedroom apartment that costs $2.5 million.
No problem.
With the anti-business attitude, downtown sanfran will be an “open space” with the only population marauding bums.
Leftist insanity. California is gone.
The single biggest private landowner in San Mateo County, I'm told.
I guess I don’t see the problem. Everybody productive in the bay area is leaving for Texas, or Arizona, or any place where productivity is rewarded. Give it up. California has committed suicide already.
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