Could Delta island develop into more than cow pastures?

A natural habitat for Delta waterfowl and wildlife, and much more just lately grazing cattle, Jersey Island in East Contra Costa County has remained largely undeveloped for extra than a hundred several years. Designs are percolating, nevertheless, that could change it into a getaway getaway with a wave pool, sandy beach locations, a wildlife refuge — and extra — shut to home.

That’s what 1 entrepreneur/developer, Montezuma Drinking water LLC, has in mind with a preliminary concept it has presented to the island’s operator, Ironhouse Sanitary District, which has been seeking for strategies to lower its responsibilities for the encompassing levees and shed some of its fees for an island it no more time desires.

“It was costing a few of million dollars a calendar year in sustaining the levees and the drainage on the island and all of that,” Ironhouse Sanitary District general supervisor Chad Davisson claimed.

Montezuma’s preliminary idea for the 3,520-acre island contains setting up 450 waterfront properties, 60 townhouses, a 125-space lodge, a sports-and-recreation heart with a wave pool and sandy beach, a general public marina and ferry, a retail middle and a wildlife rescue middle and refuge that would substitute cattle grazing on the site. Also recommended are wind and photo voltaic power creation and specialty agriculture, this sort of as fodder crops for the refuge.

At a latest assembly, the ratepayer-funded district board authorised the probable reimagining of the island Montezuma H2o outlined, but the board would even now need to have to formally approve the challenge before it could move forward. The Emeryville firm is also in search of the blessing of the job from a wide range of other businesses.

“We’re incredibly energized,” Montezuma Drinking water CEO Jim Levine explained to the Ironhouse Sanitary District board. “I consider this is heading to turn into just one of the most essential parts in the county, and I consider it will provide generations to come.”

Levine, who is also an engineer, pointed to the wildlife conservation of equally native and exotic species, the renewable electricity and prepared $6 million sports and recreation services as the important options of the proposed venture.

“I imagine those people are the a few issues that are likely to make this genuinely worthwhile to the local community out there,” he mentioned, noting that he’s by now found “a huge interest” in the wildlife refuge proposal.

Officers say, while, it could be yrs before any system will come to fruition, with several regulatory hoops to move via. Approvals on your own could get 4 several years, they say.

Found amongst Oakley and Bethel Island on the San Joaquin River, Jersey Island was utilized primarily for farming right until Ironhouse Sanitary District procured it 30 years ago to dispose of taken care of wastewater rather than dumping it into the river. But by 2012, the district had constructed a new therapy plant, and it was authorized to discharge the thoroughly clean recycled drinking water into the Delta.

“We didn’t really have that regulatory require to have an island any longer,” Davisson claimed.

Wanting to shed the burden of keeping and restoring the Jersey Island levees, the Ironhouse board commenced looking into advertising the island 5 yrs in the past. It attained out to other companies these kinds of as East Bay Regional Parks District and the state to see if they could possibly be interested but didn’t get any takers, Davisson stated.

A official bid request, however, received Montezuma’s notice. The entrepreneur/developer had concepts about how to protect much of the island and however switch a gain.

Underneath the concept, 75% of the island would be reserved for open house, agriculture, wildlife grazing and habitat enhancement in a task believed to price $180 million.

In its report, Montezuma Drinking water reported, “The superb placing of the around 3,500 acres of land that tends to make up Jersey Island gives a great canvas to develop a undertaking in contrast to anything at all earlier imagined for the site.”

Levine, Montezuma’s CEO, named the proposed wildlife refuge the reimagined island’s centerpiece, noting that he hopes to lover with a major West Coastline zoo for that portion of the task.

The Montezuma prepare would sustain the island’s agricultural use, bring tourism to the Delta, deliver amenities for people in the location and could create enough “green” wind electricity with 22 turbines to electric power anything on the island and deliver revenues for Ironhouse by way of renewable electricity tax credits, according to the report.

To commence with any challenge on the unincorporated island, nevertheless, the developer would have to obtain permits and zoning alterations from a governing administration agency. Montezuma reps say they assume the best solution would be for close by Oakley to annex the island.

Numerous Ironhouse board members experienced questions about the task, but only a single was unwilling to get the upcoming move in evaluating its feasibility.

“I have a lot of problems with website traffic and the impression on the present neighborhood … inquiries like policing,” board member Pete Zirkle stated. “I’d like to have a whole large amount extra data right before producing any big conclusion.”

Board member Chris Lauritzen, nevertheless he mentioned he was not enamored with the venture, preferred to contemplate the prospects.

“I’m not a supporter of the task at all,” he reported. “I’m acquainted with floods. If developing residences on an island was a great notion, all the rest of the reclamation districts and islands would do it.”

Even so, Lauritzen observed that a person cannot do something without permits, and as such he needed to think about approaching Oakley about annexing the island. In the long run, he stated he would like to promote the island and “get it off taxpayers’ backs.”

“In 4 decades, by the time we get all the entitlements, matters may appear a minor bit in different ways than what they do suitable now,” he said. “What will advancement eventually search like? We have an plan, potentially centered on what Mr. Levine has claimed, but we do not know right until we roll up our sleeves and do some hard work.”

The motion authorizing Montezuma to even further refine the proposal passed on a 3-1 vote with Zirkle voting no and Dawn Morrow recusing herself.

Oakley City Manager Josh McMurray afterwards claimed his staff members and the City Council want to see far more data about the undertaking.

“In general, there could be optimistic impacts to Oakley from a tax viewpoint — residence, profits and transient occupancy tax — but there are also impacts that will need to have to be evaluated, and it is way too early to know exactly what all those are and if they can be mitigated,” McMurray explained.