The Reuse Plan

Introduction

The Concord Community Reuse Project Reuse Plan articulated the community's preferred vision for the land uses and development program to convert the Inland Area of the Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) to civilian use. Through extensive community participation, site analysis and studies, and the environmental review process, the City developed and evaluated a range of alternatives for the future of the CNWS. This page describes the process of creating the Reuse Plan and its successor, the Area Plan.

Through over a year of community outreach, seven alternatives were developed and evaluated in a programmatic EIR to:

Determine how well they feasibly attain the objective of converting the site to civilian uses
Identify the significant adverse environmental effects that may result from the conversion of the site to civilian uses
Identify ways to avoid or substantially lessen significant adverse environmental effects, and provide a comparative analysis of the environmental effects.

Following this process, the community and City selected a refined Connected Villages Alternative as the preferred alternative for the Reuse Plan. Following the completion of the Reuse Plan, the City created the Concord Reuse Project Area Plan to translate the Reuse Plan into policies and goals to be incorporated into the City's General Plan.

Goals & Guiding Principles

Beginning in April 2006, the City, in concert with the community, developed a Planning Framework consisting of a series of Goals and Guiding Principles to frame the development of the Reuse Plan. The Planning Framework was adopted by the City Council in August 2006. All of the alternative concepts reflect the Goals and Guiding Principles and, in particular, four overarching goals:

World Class Project
A Balanced Approach
Economically Viable and Sustainable Development
Quality of Life

Learn more about the goals and guiding principles of the Concord Reuse Project.

Community & Stakeholder Input

The Reuse Plan was developed through extensive community input, starting with the selection and seating of the Community Advisory Council (CAC) in December 2006. Following this, four community workshops were conducted in 2007:

March 17, 2007, "Get the Facts" - an informational open house
April 21, 2007, "Applying the Goals and Guiding Principles" - an interactive public workshop
June 16, 2007, "Balancing the Land Use Mix" - an interactive public workshop
August 4, 2007 and September 11, 2007 "Presentation to the City Council" - addressing key issues

Materials from these workshops can be found in the Document Library.

Over 600 people attended and participated in these workshops. Members of the CAC previewed the workshop materials, assisted in planning these workshops, and also attended and actively participated in them.
Additionally, special focused workshops and tours were held for different groups and stakeholders:

March 30, 2007 and April 2, 2007: Homeless services, affordable housing providers, and other entities interested in public benefit conveyance. See the Document Library for more information on organizations and programs expressing interest.
August 15, 2007: Joint meeting for the City of Concord Planning Commission and Parks, Recreation and Open Space Commission
Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) focused on Transportation, Education, and Parks, Recreation, and Open Space met and provided input into the reuse planning process

The extensive input received from the community, the CAC, the TAGs and the City Council and Commissions, coupled with the planning, engineering, environmental, and economic analyses performed by the City's reuse planning team, were used to develop seven alternative concepts.

Evaluation & Selection of Alternatives

The seven alternatives reflected different types of development and site organization. The alternatives were evaluated for environmental impacts and presented at the public workshops. Following this process, two refined alternatives (called the Clustered Villages Alternative and the Concentration and Conservation Alternative) were developed in response to public comments, the environmental review process, and the findings of a sustainability evaluation.

Ultimately, this process led to the selection of a preferred alternative: Clustered Villages. In 2010, the City Council, sitting as the Local Reuse Authority, certified the Final Reuse Plan Environmental Impact Report and approved the Final Reuse Plan, incorporating the Clustered Villages alternative.

From Reuse Plan to Area Plan

With the Reuse Plan approved, the City began preparing a plan to serve as the basis for an amendment to the General Plan. The City converted the goals and concepts from the Reuse Plan into a set of policies and standards for land use, transportation, environmental protection, labor agreements, affordable housing, and public safety. These form the basis for the Concord Reuse Project Area Plan, which was adopted by the City Council in 2012. To learn more about how the Reuse Plan was adapted into the Area Plan, see the Area Plan page.