Demand Safe Wildfire Evacuation in Orinda

Demand Safe Wildfire Evacuation in Orinda

Recently approved 'Plan Orinda' accommodates over 2,000 new housing units downtown and another 1,000 units around Orinda. According to the EIR, Plan Orinda will cause a "significant impairment of emergency response and evacuation." When presented with that disturbing determination, the City Council voted to accept it as the necessary cost of complying with state demands. Orindans for Safe Emergency Evacuation, or OSEE, strongly disagree with that choice and have filed a lawsuit against the City to rectify the situation.

OSEE's position is that Orinda needs a wildfire evacuation analysis that is prepared by traffic engineers and guided by Moraga-Orinda Fire District and CalFire. The analysis needs to assume the new development in Plan Orinda. The analysis must provide the City Council with data and consideration of mitigations and alternatives on this critical public safety issue. Simply accepting the significant impairment of emergency response and evacuation is not an option.

The City Council was inundated by State laws and outside housing advocacy groups that pressured them to add housing at any cost. The issues of emergency response and wildfire evacuation received very little attention. Attorney General Rob Bonta has been pushing back on housing-at-all-costs where fire risk is too high in communities like Orinda. The Council needs to hear the voice of residents demanding safe emergency response and evacuation. The OSEE lawsuit provides that opportunity. Counter-pressure is needed now because it is the last chance we'll have. Please help us send your message.

Housing in Downtown Orinda would bring vitality and offer those who could benefit from affordable housing the chance to join our community. However, we need to know the safe limits of that growth. The legally required analysis of what this number of additional units would mean to the wait time of residents in Orinda as they flee a wildfire WAS NOT DONE. We need to know the facts in order to make an informed decision about city planning, and that is what we are seeking.

OSEE hopes that a quick agreement can be reached. But, if necessary, OSEE needs to be prepared financially to pursue the matter to its conclusion. Help us ensure that the dramatic changes to the community made by Plan Orinda are not done at the expense of the lives and homes of its current residents. Donate generously today!

Note: If OSEE wins the suit, any reimbursed legal fees will be refunded to donors.