OUR VISION FOR A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
When the Belmont City Council bundled, fast-tracked and adopted over 40 changes to the Zoning and Tree Ordinances, a group of Belmont residents got together to speak up. We value the unique small-town feel of Belmont. We share a vision of a different direction and we believe Belmont residents should have a major role in shaping that vision.
Belmont Residents agreed! ASKBELMONTCITIZENS.ORG volunteers collected over 2,000 signatures on each of two petitions for referendum, and the Council repealed those ordinances.
NOW, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The ABC vision is one of progress. Progress towards a community that lives smarter and lighter upon the land so that future generations can enjoy the same quality of life and resources that we do. Progress that offers local solutions to the global issues of overpopulation, conspicuous consumption, resource inequity, and unsustainable development.
The policies of the 20th century – building more and bigger – take us in the wrong direction. We live in a world of finite resources, and we can barely maintain the infrastructure we have already built. Nobody disputes that there are some current zoning codes that unnecessarily block modest home improvements. There are surgical revisions that can address these needs within a sustainable framework. Future generations are depending on us to reverse runaway development and consumption, and begin planning for the sustainable community we want them to inherit.
How do we translate this vision of tomorrow into local policies for today? Belmont’s infrastructure is already overwhelmed and underfunded. We can’t afford added density with its added traffic, parking, sewer and water needs, and safety risks of fire storms and flooding. Rather than zoning to encourage overbuilding, let’s encourage passive solar design, water capturing and recycling, and the use of recycled building materials. Instead of accommodating more cars, let’s enhance local transit and safer pedestrian routes – for better health and cleaner air. Let’s develop downtown so residents can shop locally without adding to freeway gridlock. Let’s find win-win solutions like generating micro-hydroelectric power from a restored Water Dog Dam and Belmont Creek.
With Belmont’s 2035 General Plan update underway, now is an excellent time to start. Belmont and the surrounding Bay Area are home to the most innovative visionaries in the world. The ideas are out there in abundance, waiting for a community to embrace and model the solutions. This is the progressive Belmont we want to live in. And we need your participation to get us there.
Paid for by Ask Belmont Citizens, FPPC # 1377930 Committee Chair: Michael O’Neill
Ask Belmont Citizens 