Solano 360 ALERT!

Meeting on Fairgrounds tonight at 5:30 PM -- 675 Texas St. Fairfield

By Dan Levin

2/11/13

HELP!  The Specific Plan has changed.  Please see document link below.   There are a lot of rewordings, many relevant to the planning commission.  Now the term "Main Street" is used.  Vallejo already has a real main street and it's where my office is located.   

Quick observations:  

* A lot of the original ideas from four years ago are returning, with more emphasis on retail and housing than family entertainment.  I think the County and its consultants have in mind a new urban development with retail/restaurants first floor and apartments/condos above.  Not a bad idea in theory, but completely untested near an amusement park---who in the world would want to live there?

* Nearly all control by Vallejo has been ripped out.  No joint development agreement is needed any more and the new wordings give the County authority to do just about anything as long the project "as a whole" conforms to guidelines which are now much looser.

* "Theme Park" is used for the first time in a definitive manner.   If the 30-acre EC parcel is being reserved for Six Flags, then the 2.5% entertainment tax is hugely important--who gets it?  

* Cost are surely different with the new description.  There's no way for the City to accurately predict services with the County having almost full discretion as to what goes in.  The police costs are surely higher with what's proposed, basically a new downtown, not family entertainment centers.

Does anyone know if changes like this can be made without another public review period?   We need help from an attorney who knows how this process is supposed to work.  This may be rapidly spinning out of control for Vallejo.

Document Link:

Interested Participants:

The Solano360 Committee meets Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the first floor multipurpose room of the County Administration Center, 675 Texas Street in Fairfield.  The agenda and attachments have been posted online athttp://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=14781. For additional project information, please visit the project website at www.solanocounty.com/solano360.

Thank you, and please contact Tom Sinclair at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  if you have any questions.