Measure F – More Homes for Sale in Brentwood?
May 9, 2010 by Tom Schieber
Filed under Blog, Community, Featured Posts
Measure F is the current hotly debated ballot measure in Brentwood, CA. Both the “Yes on Measure F” and the “No on Measure F” camps are making their pitch all around town, but my initial impression is that the “Yes” camp is making more headway, as the June vote draws near.
The issue at hand has to due with the re-drawing of the urban limit line on the West end of Balfour Road in Brentwood, just down past the Deer Ridge Golf Course community. Proponents are going to argue that Measure F will give “control” to the city of Brentwood in regard to future development. The “No” side seems to view the move as land grab by developers at an inappropriate time.
While the foreclosure crisis that is still in full-swing here in Brentwood would make it seem like an absurd point in time for developers to start building more homes, the fact remains that there is actually a shortage of homes for sale in Brentwood. You can see from any of my recent market update posts that inventory is well below historical levels.
Whether or not we need more housing units in Brentwood can be debated, but I do believe that the market could absorb them at this point. New home builders have already come back to the market here in town. Standard Pacific, DR Horton and Discovery Homes all have developments in full-swing – although the pace may be slower than in the first half of the decade.
The improvements that would come with the new home development that Measure F would facilitate are also being sold as significant benefits by the “Yes” side. Street and access improvements around heritage High School and Adams Middle school will increase safety and improve traffic flows to and from Brentwood’s newest and most populated schools. Utilities that are under-utilized will also be put to use.
While it may sound like I’m building a case in favor of Measure F, I’m simply stating the facts that I’ve interpreted from the propaganda, and the Brentwood Press articles. I just haven’t seen the argument from the “No” side yet – save for the “development is bad” approach.
Feel free to leave a comment if you feel strongly one way or another on this topic. We’ve got about a month to talk about it, then we’ll be deciding an important community issue with our vote.
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