Small Town Pushes For Housing On Protected California Delta

<p>A small Delta town near Sacramento is pushing a state commission to loosen barriers on development in an area set aside in the '90s to protect agricultural land, the area's migratory bird life, and water resources that provide for much of the state.</p>

January 15, 2007, 5am PST | Nate Berg

"In the first case of its kind, the unincorporated town of Clarksburg, 15 miles south of Sacramento, is urging a state commission to allow a developer to build 162 homes. The decision about whether to uphold the 14-year-old preservation statute could have broad implications for future land use in the state's immense agricultural plain, which faces increasing pressure from homebuilders."

"The delta includes some of the most fertile soil in the nation and crucial habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. The levees that crisscross the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta not only protect farmland and small towns but also contain the drinking water for more than 23 million people in the San Francisco Bay area and Southern California."

"In an attempt to control development, state lawmakers in 1992 passed the Delta Protection Act. It set aside about 500,000 acres in an area known as the primary zone to 'be protected from the intrusion of nonagricultural uses.'"

Full Story:

Urban Sprawl Moves to the Delta

Published on Tuesday, January 2, 2007 in The Sacramento Union