August 31, 2008

To: Rocklin City Councilmembers, Rocklin City Planning Commissioners, and Planning Staff

From: “The Friends of Rocklin Open Space”

Re: Proposed General Plan Update dated March 2005 and related EIR Scoping

The “Friends of Rocklin Open Space” is a community organization of concerned citizens that seek to preserve all Open Space, Recreation and Conservation Lands in the City of Rocklin and prevent them from falling prey to shortsighted rezoning requests.

Our organization is several hundred members strong and we believe there are thousands of Rocklin Residents that share our views toward protecting all designated Open Space in the City of Rocklin. Accordingly, our group adamantly objects to the proposed General Plan Update provisions which degrade and impair the existing protections for designated Open Space, Recreation and Conservation Land.

Open Space is a huge issue for the citizens of Rocklin. This is confirmed by the City’s own study conducted for the Upcoming General Plan Update. Many citizens have moved to Rocklin for its rural character and scenic views. Living in Rocklin used to be like living in the Countryside…it now is rapidly heading towards becoming another urban city. Over urbanization will quickly lead to the degradation of Rocklin’s Rural Character and natural heritage, and replace it with excessive traffic, over-population, pollution, noise and increased crime. These impacts need to be carefully studied in the GP Update EIR.

For these reasons it is becoming ever more important to protect and preserve as much of Rocklin’s remaining Open Space and natural heritage as possible.

The City has a long standing legacy for protecting Open Space.

The General Plan states these protections quite clearly:

Areas in the existing City area currently designated for open space, conservation and recreation uses will remain in those designations. There will be no reduction in present land use designations for these purposes, and the City will protect them from conversion to urban uses.

Therefore, the Planning Commission as well as the City Council have an obligation to the citizens (both current and future citizens) to continue Rocklin’s legacy of protecting Open Space.

The proposed GP Update contains language that is quite alarming to many concerned citizens.

The language such as OCR-2 which states: To recognize that balancing the need for economic, physical and social development of the City may lead to some modification of existing open space and natural resource areas during the development process.

This type of language effectively opens the door to Open Space conversions. Once you open this door, developers will drive a fleet of trucks through it. Once conversions are allowed, a legal precedent will be established that will enable developers to force the City into allowing conversions. Replacing OCR-2 with the above existing Policy will avoid such detrimental precedents.

Protecting Open Space is a huge issue for Rocklin as we near build out!

Any moves to convert Open Space or to change the General Plan in order to allow for conversions should be put in front of the Voters of this Community. Protecting Open Space is a huge issue and should not be simply negotiated away.

Rocklin’s GP was drafted many years ago. It provided development entitlements to over 80% of the acreage of the City of Rocklin. This means the remaining 20% was entitled for permanent Open Space.

Now that the 80% has been developed or soon will be; it is wrong to start over-reaching into the Open Space Preserve to continue with more urban sprawl.

This type of over-reaching needs to be stopped before it even gets started.

Over-reaching urban sprawl causes irreversible damage to a rural community’s character and quality of life.

We understand the City would like to be flexible, and have the ability to negotiate with Open Space.

We believe the problem with being flexible is that this jeopardizes the protections afforded to all Open Space.

The Whitney Ranch Phase II proposal sounded good when you say that 64 acres of additional Open Space were added and only 1.45 acres were converted to residential. However, sometimes this can be like trading 64 lame horses for 1 stallion. We don’t believe the trade was due to developer benevolence. It seems like the Open Space which Rocklin is ending up with is all the un-buildable land that the developers don’t want and can’t use. (eg. Hillsides and gullies). The gullies and hillsides seem to be traded for the more level/buildable land even if it means destroying hundreds of large heritage Oak Trees. In addition, even if this were a good trade for the Open Space Cause on this particular project, setting a precedent for Open Space conversions is detrimental to the long term survival of all Open Space. As an example, what good are the 64 additional acres of Open Space if Open Space is negotiable for conversions at any time. When Open Space is designated it is supposed to be deemed Permanent Open Space. We need to make sure this hold true.

Our group has assembled a Petition which has been signed by approximately 500 residents. This Petition was circulated in December of 2006 for only a couple of days and is available for your review. This petition outlines some of the changes our group is requesting to be made to the GP Update. These requested changes are summarized in this letter. The community is speaking loud and clear on this very important subject. We hope and expect that the City of Rocklin will respond by taking decisive action to correct the GP Update so that Open Space Protections are restored and re-affirmed. We believe that if the citizens of Rocklin had to choose whether to permanently protect the remaining Open Space or allow it to be negotiated, they would choose to protect it.

Strong Open Space Protections result in higher property values for all residents, a higher quality of life for all residents and a higher stature for the City of Rocklin.

Our protections for Open Space are something that can define the character, quality and integrity of our community.

Strong Open Space protections can set Rocklin a notch or two above other communities that lack such protections and end up being swamped with over-development.

Open Space is what makes a community nice! The trees, the hills, the open air, the wildlife!

Let’s not “Ruin Rocklin” with over-reaching development!

Let’s be good stewards of the Land!

Let’s maintain as much of Rocklin’s Natural Heritage as Possible!

Let’s maintain Rocklin’s Legacy of Protecting Open Space!

Let’s change the GP Update to permanently protect all designated Open Space!

Respectfully Submitted,

Friends of Rocklin Open Space

Summary of Specific General Plan Update changes requested:

Replace OCR-2 with the following existing General Plan Policy:

Areas in the existing City area currently designated for open space, conservation and recreation uses will remain in those designations. There will be no reduction in present land use designations for these purposes, and the City will protect them from conversion to urban uses.

Replace: “Goal for the Preservation of Open Space Land for Natural Resources” with the following:

To designate, protect, and conserve open space land in a manner that protects natural resources.

Replace OCR-24 with the following:

To protect designated outdoor recreation sites from Urban Development.

Maintain existing General Plan “Open Space/Conservation Action Plan” which reads:

The purpose of the open space/conservation action plan is to help assure the adequate provision of recreational areas, the protection of existing and future open space areas, and the conservation of important natural resources.

In addition to the above items, we believe the following provisions protecting open space should be added to the General Plan Update.

• No conversions of existing Open Space, Recreation and Conservation Land.

• No substitutions of new Open Space for existing Open Space, Recreation and Conservation Land.

• General Plan language regarding the protection of existing Open Space, Recreation and Conservation areas will be strictly interpreted and strictly enforced.

Enhancing the protection of all existing Open Space, Recreation and Conservation Land is a positive action the City should take in order to preserve all existing Open Space for current as well as future generations of Rocklin residents.