League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Contra Costa County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Measure J Open Space/Land Use Town of Moraga Majority Approval Required Fail: 1219 / 13.68% Yes votes ...... 7691 / 86.32% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure J

Arguments Against Measure J

The vision of Moraga's future and what we value as important is at stake in this election. There are two initiatives on the ballot + each representing dramatically different visions for the future of Moraga. As parents, youth sports and recreation leaders, firefighters, educators and longtime residents of Moraga, we support Measure J, which we believe best preserves Moraga's unique single-family character. Open Space: We support preserving Moraga's beautiful open space. Measure J protects an additional 319 acres. Single-Family Character: We don't want 400 + 700 lower-income condominiums and apartments in Moraga. If we grow at all, we want single-family executive homes, which Measure J could permit sometime in the future depending on Town approval. $7 Million for Moraga: Measure J enables the Bruzzone Family to pay up to $7 million for a new community center, sports fields, road improvements and a large water storage tank for fire emergencies. These are benefits Moraga needs and could not otherwise afford. Saving Millions $$ in Lawsuits: The alternative measure takes hundreds of acres of private property from landowners, potentially restricts uses of existing residential homes, costing millions in lawsuits we can't afford and potentially bankrupting Moraga. The other initiative, Measure K, represents a different vision for the future of Moraga + supported by Green Party Mayor Lynda Deschambault and a number of extreme environmentalists who live outside of Moraga. Their vision increases Moraga's open space by only 10%, while restricting development of single-family executive homes, in favor of building 400 + 700 lower-income units in the downtown. That is not our vision for the future of Moraga: Condominiums not single-family homes; multimillion dollar lawsuits that could bankrupt Moraga. We support Measure J as the better of the two initiatives. Thank you for listening and considering these concerns when you vote. Mark DeWeese, Moraga-Orinda Firefighter &    Campolindo JV Football Coach Mary Elena Dochterman    Educator/Private School Administrator Dr. Ron Mayes     Earthquake Safety Specialist/Fulbright Scholar Julie Carlson, Former Board Member, Moraga Junior    Women's Club/Active School Volunteer Joe Cushing, M.O.L. Football Commissioner/    Coach, Moraga Baseball Association Rebuttal to Arguments For Beware of developers bearing gifts! According to official records (6/30/08), the sole funder of Measure J's campaign is Russell J. Bruzzone, Inc., the very developer who wants to build big subdivisions in Moraga's open space and who owns the controversial downtown development site. Measure J is so out-of-step with Moraga voters that Bruzzone, Inc. had to spend $29,000 on out-of-town signature gatherers just to qualify it for the ballot. Now the developer is spending hundreds of thousands more in an attempt to mislead and confuse the voters. Measure J's main purpose is to defeat real open space protection so the developer can build hundreds of houses in Bollinger Canyon and Indian Valley. Measure J--the Developer Initiative--is cleverly worded so that the Town may not see any of the purported benefits for decades, if ever. The Town, nevertheless, would be stuck with an ironclad 25-year development agreement written by the developer's lawyers. Their campaign also erroneously claims that if we protect open space from overdevelopment we will somehow be approving high-density development downtown. That's simply not true. The backers of Measure J say there are two competing visions of Moraga's future. We agree. Theirs is a vision which will bring us unwanted development and traffic congestion. Ours is a vision of open hillsides, scenic ridgelines and the same small town of Moraga we all love. Please vote No on Measure J. Keller Strother, MoragaYouth Athletics Coach    (C.Y.O., M.B.A., L.M.Y.A)/Business Owner and CEO Karen Chin, Past President, Rheem School PTA    36-year Moraga Resident Malcolm Sproul, Past President, Moraga Baseball Association    22-year Moraga Resident Richard Immel Principal Proponent,    1986 Moraga Open Space Ordinance (MOSO 1986) Teresa Onoda, Friends of Moraga Open Space Volunteer    17-year Moraga Resident

Measure J is an initiative only a developer could love. And it's no wonder: it was bought and paid for by a local developer who wants to build hundreds of new houses in scenic Bollinger Canyon and Indian Valley. Here's why Measure J is wrong for Moraga: It's bad for our environment. Measure J promotes sprawl development in some of our most scenic open space areas and ridgelines and allows massive bulldozing of steep hillsides. It will make traffic worse. The new subdivisions would add thousands of additional car trips per day to our already crowded roads. It's a bad deal for taxpayers. Measure J will saddle Moraga taxpayers with the long-term burden of infrastructure maintenance, police, fire and emergency services for the sprawling new subdivisions. It will spoil Moraga's small town atmosphere. The charm and beauty of the Moraga we love will be diminished by large-scale subdivision development in unprotected open space areas. If there were truth in political advertising, this initiative would be called "The Developer's Initiative." Measure J offers Moraga little in exchange for an ironclad 25-year development agreement written by the developer that says it cannot be changed by the Town Council or the voters without the developer's consent. Measure J claims to provide recreation funding, but the money is contingent on subdivision approvals and has so many strings attached that there's no guarantee the Town would ever see a dime. The real purpose of Measure J is to confuse voters and defeat true open space protection. Measure J contains a "poison pill" provision that claims to nullify any competing land use initiative on this same ballot. Measure J is opposed by every major local environmental group including the Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and Regional Parks Association. Measure J is a deceptive development plan and a terrible deal for Moraga. Please vote NO on Measure J. Bob Merritt, Former Governing Board Member     Moraga School District Renata Sos, Former Moraga Planning Commissioner Richard Immel Principal Proponent    1986 Moraga Open Space Ordinance (MOSO 1986) Malcolm Sproul, Past President,    Moraga Baseball Association Carol Haag, Moraga Resident and Business Owner Rebuttal to Arguments Against Green Party Mayor Lynda Deschambault and the three Berkeley environmental groups who oppose Measure J have their own agenda for Moraga: To severely restrict all future single-family homes - in favor of 400 - 700 lower-income condominiums in Moraga's downtown. It is not our vision for the future of Moraga. We support Measure J over Measure K for the following reasons: The Town of Moraga reports that Measure J will add hundreds of acres into open space. Measure J approves NO SPECIFIC NUMBER of homes - to be decided by future Town Councils. If/when Moraga is ready to grow, Measure J will allow single-family homes; Measure K severely limits single-family housing - paving the way for lower-income condos and apartments - which we do not support. Measure J maintains current MOSO regulations which prohibit development on sensitive open space and major ridgelines; Measure K creates a new category of open space, potentially placing costly restrictions on Moraga homeowners. Measure J commits Joan Bruzzone and her family to paying up to $7 million for a new community center, sports fields, road improvements and a large water storage tank for fire emergencies; Measure K commits Moraga taxpayers to multimillion dollar lawsuits as it "condemns" the private property of many local landowners. Please be cautious of the "environmental" rhetoric spun by Measure J opponents. We consider ourselves environmentalists, WE CARE ABOUT MORAGA and believe Measure J is the better choice to protect Moraga's future. Thank you. Tim McCaffery, Saint Mary's College Regent    Risk Management Attorney Ronald H. Julian, Consultant    Member, Moraga Taxpayers Association Mary K. Drennan Former Campolindo Health Education Chair    St. Monica Church Women's Guild President Mark DeWeese, Moraga-Orinda Firefighter    Campolindo JV Football Coach Mark Stephens, M.O.L. Football Board Member & Coach    Former Associate Athletic Director at CAL