Save Our Hometown is launching a referendum campaign to insure that the citizens, not the City Council, make the decision about whether Valley's Edge should move forward.
Join Smart Growth Advocates and Valley’s Edge Resistance Support by signing up here:
Click Here to Join
Join Smart Growth Advocates and Valley’s Edge Resistance Support by signing up here:
Click Here to Join
Other ways to Support the Opposition to Valley’s Edge
Volunteer to help SGA: smartgrowthchico@gmail.com
Write letters to the editor:
Chico Enterprise Record:
letters@chicoer.com
Chico News and Review
cnrletters@newsreview.com
Butte Environmental Council has also posted their position on Valley’s Edge. Go to becnet.org, under “Current Issues of Butte County.”
Thanks for all you can do to help!
Volunteer to help SGA: smartgrowthchico@gmail.com
Write letters to the editor:
Chico Enterprise Record:
letters@chicoer.com
Chico News and Review
cnrletters@newsreview.com
Butte Environmental Council has also posted their position on Valley’s Edge. Go to becnet.org, under “Current Issues of Butte County.”
Thanks for all you can do to help!
MESSAGE FROM SGA TO DEFEAT DEVELOPMENT OF VALLEY’S EDGE
Chico stands apart as a gem of small city charm. With its old-time downtown, university vitality, and deep roots of both native peoples and settlers, Chico is a city that has grown and modernized, without losing its two-century heritage. Chico is one of the last historic small cities in the state of California, with a footprint that is resonant of its original layout. Most of us live in Chico because of how friendly, small and accessible it feels. Suburban sprawl and commuter gridlock have already started, but future miles of mini-malls need to be avoided.
The biggest housing development in the history of Chico threatens to radically remake the city we all know and love. The proposed Valley’s Edge development involves annexing 1,448 acres of southeastern foothills into the City and building 2,777 housing units. Developing these homes will mean cutting down approximately 1000 slow-growing blue oaks, interferring with vernal pools, and destroying the habitat for many wild animals, birds and native plants. This development covers the land east of Bruce Road (Harrison bike path-western boundary) up to Stilson Canyon (eastern boundary) and from Skyway (southern boundary) to E. 20th Street (northern boundary).
TRAFFIC CONGESTION: There could be an estimated 23,000 car trips a day, entering from Bruce Road, Honey Run and 20th Street creating much more traffic, pollution, and carbon emissions. The developers contend that public transit will be available though it is not actually feasible with the design of the development.
WATER DEPLETION: The water for 10,000 inhabitants of Valley’s Edge will come from Cal Water’s wells tapping into the groundwater of the Lower Tuscan Aquifer (Vina Subbasin) that currently is providing for the water needs of the residents of Chico.
FIRE RISK: The acreage of Valley’s Edge has caught fire three times in the last nineteen years. This acreage has served as a wildfire buffer for Chico. Imagine a Camp Fire inferno with 10,000 more people trying to escape the fires in the southwestern foothills.
OPEN SPACE: It has long been known that the maintenance of open space and a unrestricted view shed is necessary in the health of humans. In the words of Wallace Stegner in his Wilderness Letter penned in 1960, “These are some of the things wilderness can do for us. That is the reason we need to put into effect, for its preservation, some other principle than the principles of exploitation or "usefulness" or even recreation. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”
Smart Growth Advocates (SGA) wants to re-focus Chico City leadership on responsible development alternatives that will benefit most of the city residents. The Valley’s Edge development does not address Chico’s most pressing housing needs. Smart development focuses on “infill” projects in underutilized areas, with mixed-use housing, walkable sidewalks, tree canopies, and small electric buses. The City’s General Plan aspires to have compact development, public transit and walkability.
Please join your fellow residents in opposing the massive Valley’s Edge sprawling development from being rubber-stamped by the City leaders.
Chico stands apart as a gem of small city charm. With its old-time downtown, university vitality, and deep roots of both native peoples and settlers, Chico is a city that has grown and modernized, without losing its two-century heritage. Chico is one of the last historic small cities in the state of California, with a footprint that is resonant of its original layout. Most of us live in Chico because of how friendly, small and accessible it feels. Suburban sprawl and commuter gridlock have already started, but future miles of mini-malls need to be avoided.
The biggest housing development in the history of Chico threatens to radically remake the city we all know and love. The proposed Valley’s Edge development involves annexing 1,448 acres of southeastern foothills into the City and building 2,777 housing units. Developing these homes will mean cutting down approximately 1000 slow-growing blue oaks, interferring with vernal pools, and destroying the habitat for many wild animals, birds and native plants. This development covers the land east of Bruce Road (Harrison bike path-western boundary) up to Stilson Canyon (eastern boundary) and from Skyway (southern boundary) to E. 20th Street (northern boundary).
TRAFFIC CONGESTION: There could be an estimated 23,000 car trips a day, entering from Bruce Road, Honey Run and 20th Street creating much more traffic, pollution, and carbon emissions. The developers contend that public transit will be available though it is not actually feasible with the design of the development.
WATER DEPLETION: The water for 10,000 inhabitants of Valley’s Edge will come from Cal Water’s wells tapping into the groundwater of the Lower Tuscan Aquifer (Vina Subbasin) that currently is providing for the water needs of the residents of Chico.
FIRE RISK: The acreage of Valley’s Edge has caught fire three times in the last nineteen years. This acreage has served as a wildfire buffer for Chico. Imagine a Camp Fire inferno with 10,000 more people trying to escape the fires in the southwestern foothills.
OPEN SPACE: It has long been known that the maintenance of open space and a unrestricted view shed is necessary in the health of humans. In the words of Wallace Stegner in his Wilderness Letter penned in 1960, “These are some of the things wilderness can do for us. That is the reason we need to put into effect, for its preservation, some other principle than the principles of exploitation or "usefulness" or even recreation. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”
Smart Growth Advocates (SGA) wants to re-focus Chico City leadership on responsible development alternatives that will benefit most of the city residents. The Valley’s Edge development does not address Chico’s most pressing housing needs. Smart development focuses on “infill” projects in underutilized areas, with mixed-use housing, walkable sidewalks, tree canopies, and small electric buses. The City’s General Plan aspires to have compact development, public transit and walkability.
Please join your fellow residents in opposing the massive Valley’s Edge sprawling development from being rubber-stamped by the City leaders.
