Excellent article (“361 acres and 765 homes,” page A1, April 15 Herald).

Before escaping to the wonderful Pacific Northwest, I lived for 40-plus years on the San Francisco Peninsula. One of its crush of tract homes was the basis for Malvina Reynolds’ famous 1962 song, “Little Boxes.” It accurately described the houses as “all made out of ticky-tacky.”

This housing crush was due to decades of adroit “foreign” developers suckering officials into foolish deals. No matter how much elected officials were tempted by expanded tax revenues, they eventually learned the need for an expanded Planning Department with planners extensively experienced with such aggressors.  A few of their lessons:

1. Developers always ask for much more than they ever expect to have approved. Pope’s proposing 765 houses on 361 acres is ridiculous. That’s 0.47 acres/house — less protected wetlands and streams, a 20,000-square-foot shopping mall (that’s shop-space, not land footage!), much less a possible permanent greenway or large park.

2. Large developers try to let taxpayers pay for needed infrastructure expansions and maintenance — new access corridors and roads, more power, sewer systems, water, etc. Residents in the upper San Francisco Peninsula mountains found their long-standing wells running dry as big new developments in lower areas sucked more and more water from their new wells.

3. Such developments have massive impacts on public services — huge expansions in schools, need for more police substations and staff, more fire-stations and staff, etc.

Also, sadly, it is well worth watching which local, county and state officials get how much in “donations” from such developers.

I’m no great fan of government and bureaucrats, but there is a need for them.

Jim Warren
Hansville