What we learned from Diablo Grande: DeMartini's Opinion

With so much focus on preserving prime agricultural lands, one might expect that the development of new communities in the foothills and on other nonprime soils would be an ideal solution to address our inevitable population growth. What we have discovered, however, is that even with the best of intentions, these projects may be destined for failure, as environmental and regulatory issues can delay a project and cause significant cost overruns.

Diablo Grande is an excellent example of a project that seemed to have all of the ingredients required for success — strong financial backing, a location that did not compete with agriculture and an excellent development plan.

Unfortunately, the project has not lived up to its potential. The project was initially hindered by environmental concerns, struggled through the development of sustainable water, storm water and sewer systems, worked through numerous infrastructure issues, and ultimately failed in an unanticipated housing market collapse. While Diablo Grande may ultimately prove to be the resortlike setting it was designed to be, it is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Lessons learned: Existing regulatory and environmental requirements make it unlikely that the establishment of a new community can be successful, at least not to the initial investors. Given the obstacles to a successful project, private developers are less likely to invest in a project such as Diablo Grande when they can build in the cities and avoid much of the infrastructure risk. Key to a successful project includes the ability to address both environmental concerns and infrastructure requirements, neither of which is a sure thing.

DeMartini is the Stanislaus County supervisor representing the West Side, including the Diablo Grande area.