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The Board of Supervisors will not ask voters in the election this fall to relinquish to the board any authority to determine land use in unincorporated Alameda County.
The supervisors decided to forgo a ballot initiative following a survey this summer indicating voters were unlikely to support an amendment to Measure D, The Save Agriculture and Open Space Lands Initiative.
Initially approved by voters in 2000, Measure D moved the urban growth boundary west to Greenville Road and limited development in its namesake land of east Alameda County in the Livermore Valley. Voters later amended the measure in November 2022 to allow greater flexibility for building ranch, equestrian and agricultural facilities in the county’s unincorporated land.
At a policy level, Measure D amended the Alameda County General Plan, including the East County Area Plan.
Under the measure, voters have the sole power to substantially modify the terms of Measure D. Altering portions of the ECAP affected by Measure D also requires voter approval, with the exception that the board can impose a higher level of restrictions by itself, according to plan.
Likely voters polled in Alameda County expressed a majority opposition to a ballot measure authorizing the board to make technical and administrative land-use amendments to the East County Area Plan through an amendment to Measure D.
But the tested measure does not appear to request a new authority, since the board is already permitted to make non-substantive changes to a plan for consistency, reorganization, and clarification as long as the changes are consistent with the measure, according to the East County Area Plan.
The board received a presentation about the study at its July 28 meeting, sparking comments from people who criticized the proposed amendment for allegedly attempting to bypass voters’ will.
“The voters of Alameda County are the only ones that can make any change to what they’ve already voted on in 2000 and what they’ve already voted on in 2022,” Board President David Haubert said during the meeting. “Nothing that this board or this poll would do could possibly circumvent that.”
Haubert was not available for a follow-up interview on Measure D this month.
The board initiated the study during a special meeting June 4 when it agreed to hire TeamCivX LLC to conduct polling and analysis of Measure D and to identify potential amendments.
“The current desire from Alameda County voters to change major provisions of Measure D is unknown, which is why the current contract is needed,” according to a staff report prepared by Sandra Rivera, director of the Alameda County Community Development Agency.
Measure D has arguably been successful in preserving open space and agriculture, but it has received criticism as bringing about unintended consequences, Rivera explained.
“In the last 15 years, concerns have arisen about the measure’s limitations, particularly its impact on agriculture and the Board of Supervisors’ restricted ability to make changes without another ballot measure,” Rivera said.
According to Rivera, no amendments were proposed at the time of the TeamCivX contract approval.
Instead, the board was exploring a “range of concerns” from the agricultural sector, she wrote. General Plans are typically updated every 10 to 15 years to stay up-to-date with community needs and goals, she added.
As presented to the board July 28, the study focused on analyzing 800 likely voters’ responses to one initiative: “To preserve and enhance agriculture in the unincorporated area of Alameda County, shall the ‘Save Agriculture and Open Space Lands’ Initiative (Measure D, November 2000) be amended to authorize the Alameda County Board of Supervisors by a 4/5 super-majority vote to approve technical and administrative land-use amendments to the East County Area Plan?”
About 45% of the surveyed individuals were initially undecided on how they would vote, according to Jessica Polsky-Sanchez, principal of project contributor EMC Research.
When prompted to choose, the respondents were split about evenly in support and opposition, she added.
“That tells us that there’s a little bit of confusion initially about what this measure means, as worded,” Polsky-Sanchez said.
Once briefed with additional information and oppositional arguments, about 57% of respondents opposed the amendment, 40% supported it and 3% were undecided, according to the presentation.
“The proposed measure to amend Measure D does not appear viable for the November 2026 ballot,” Polsky-Sanchez said.
Alameda County voters identified support for local farms as a top priority, but they are wary of the proposed amendment, she added.
Stakeholder engagement and public outreach will be necessary for voter understanding, TeamCivX principal Jeremy Hauser added. “Looking at these numbers, there is a high level of voters who really don’t understand what is being asked of them,” he explained.
During the meeting, nearly all 10 people who commented on the tested measure expressed explicit opposition to it.
“People don’t want their voting rights taken away from them. This was a really bad time to even consider something like that,” said Tammy Reus, board president of Friends of Open Space and Vineyards as well as the Tri-Valley Conservancy liaison.
Haubert disagreed with Reus, saying voting rights would not be taken away.
“I see this as a roadmap for making changes to Measure D in the future,” Haubert said.
He expressed support for collaborating with stakeholders on a future amendment as well as support for allowing farmers to decide what they need.
“I don’t know anybody that doesn’t like open space, myself included,” Haubert said. “I love open space. We have to understand exactly what that means though.”
Meanwhile, the county has seen proposals for unincorporated land including battery storage projects and wind farms, which can pass through the state or with Measure D as-is, he said.
The supervisors did not propose any specifics for a future amendment to Measure D.
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Sometimes, elected officials, in an attempt to impress voters with their silly opinions, actually arrive as BOZOs!