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Letter: Majority at hearing against Cargill project

I attended the recent overview and citizen comment meeting about the Cargill Saltworks project in Redwood City a few weeks ago.

By my count, there were about 80 speakers with at least two-thirds being residents of Redwood City. Well over a majority of speakers were against the proposal.

The idea of establishing a community of 12,000 houses and 1 million square feet of commercial space on the Bay is not appropriate growth for Redwood City, and goes against our general plan. As a local resident for 20 years, I am opposed to the project.

The 99 pages of the Notice of Preparation (NOP) documents present huge issues. For example, the NOP mentions plans for new elementary schools, and a middle school, but no mention of who will build and fund these schools or how the developers envision meeting the need for a high school for these students.

The water proposal only considers a 35-year plan (with an option for 35 more). What happens after water rights expire? How will the rest of Redwood City be affected by these new water demands?

Another speaker noted that while the developer lists low-income housing as part of the plan, at other meetings they said they are only allocating land for this purpose. Cargill/DMB has no plans to actually build low-income housing units.

With traffic on Highway 101 already immense, how can we afford or tolerate further impacts? Do we really want another city with the density of San Francisco, including up to seven-story buildings on the Bay? What are the implications to our quality of life?

Judith Borcz, Redwood City