You Can Save Our Land.
Our Last Chance to Save Martinez Natural Beauty:
VOTE YES ON MEASURE F
June 7th, 2022
Let's preserve the City of Martinez historic and tallest ridgeline, owned by John Muir in 1885, and preserved for centuries by Indingenous Americans and Native people.
We have a willing seller to convert this to permanent open space, and the opporunity of a lifetime.
You Can Save Our Land
JUNE 7th 2022
MARTINEZ GETS A VOICE!
BALLOT MEASURE ARGUMENT
VOTE YES ON MEASURE F
JUNE 7TH, 2022
MARTINEZ, CALIFORNIA
Your YES vote preserves the 297-acre Alhambra Highlands Open Space, today and for future generations. If this measure fails, these beautiful hills will be developed into more than 100 houses. The scenic ridgeline, so prominent and visible in Martinez, will be lost forever. This land has been threatened by development for 30 years. But your vote has the power to preserve open space that will protect hundreds of majestic oak trees, native wildlife, and scenic natural resources. John Muir, father of America’s National Park System, owned land on this property. Voting YES will give us the freedom to roam these historic hills.
For just 22 cents a day per household, this measure will:
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Preserve spectacular ridgeline views and open space.
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Allow public access to miles of recreational trails with connections to Briones and Mt. Wanda.
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Prevent development impacts on our schools, roads, and traffic.
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Provide healthy, outdoor spaces for our families today and for the future.
Developing our last unspoiled open space does not make sense.
The restorative value of open space, scenic beauty and outdoor recreation is well known; the pandemic has only increased our need to get outdoors.
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Public lands increase existing property values.
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The voter-approved measure is fiscally conservative with a sunset clause.
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Includes exemptions for low-income households.
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The Martinez General Plan identifies many locations better suited for housing.
More than 11,000 members of the public signed petitions in favor of protecting the pristine Alhambra Highlands. The Martinez City Council voted unanimously to put it on the ballot.
In short, this Measure F will help maintain the quality of life where we live.
Let’s invest in our community by protecting this spectacular natural resource.
Please vote YES to save the Alhambra Highlands Open Space
Visit AlhambraHillsOpenSpace.org for more information.
Rob Schroder
Mayor, City of Martinez
Brianne Zorn
Councilmember, City of Martinez
Colin Coffey
Board President, East Bay Regional Park District
Karen Najarian
Board of Directors, John Muir Association
Save Alhambra Hills Open Space, Jamie Fox
Principal Officer
Tina Batt
Founder Martinez Regional Land Trust (now called John Muir Land Trust)
Seth Adams
Leader, Thousand Friends Martinez
Robert Doyle
Retired General Manager, East Bay Regional Park District
Core Team Members with Save Alhambra Hills:
Karen Phillips
Mark Thomson
Barb Puder
Gretchen Egen
Jamie Menasco
Jill Penman
Pete Sabine
Lynn Stevens
Seth Adams
Tim Platt
Kristina Damjanoska
Pete Ayer
Robert Hanna
Pete Harris
Marcia Kent
Paid for by Save Alhambra Hills Open Space
Yes on Measure F
CBS: Martinez voters appear to reject developing land once owned by John Muir
(video)
MARTINEZ – How much would you pay to be able to walk in the footsteps of John Muir? Voters in Martinez appeared to have answered that question in the most recent election.
For decades, some people have been trying to save from development a piece of property that was once owned by John Muir. The ridgeline is called the Alhambra Highlands. It overlooks the city of Martinez, but conservationists say, at sunset, in the spring when the grasses are green, it looks like it's closer to heaven.
"It's just really special," said resident Marsha Kent. "And I think it's really unique to our town and kind of...kind of what Martinez represents."
SF Chronicle: John Muir’s legacy is on the ballot in this East Bay city where voters will choose between housing and open space
Residents of Martinez can send their kids to John Muir Elementary, see a doctor at John Muir Health or get their teeth cleaned at John Muir Smiles. They can live at John Muir Town Homes, bring their pets to Muir Oaks Veterinary Hospital and get a frozen yogurt at the Muir Station shopping.
But while it’s clear that Martinez has not been shy about embracing the late environmentalist and fruit rancher John Muir — perhaps the city’s most famous ex-resident besides Joe DiMaggio — in June voters will decide whether they are willing to pay higher taxes to protect a wild, 300-acre oak-tree studded ridge line that Muir once owned.
Alhambra Highlands preservationists get signatures required to make June ballot
Supporters of Measure F — an effort to preserve the 297-acre Alhambra Highlands area of Martinez — have garnered enough signatures to get the measure in front of the city’s voters on the June primary ballot.
“It’s the largest, last, most prominent, most beautiful, open space in Martinez,” said Jamie Fox, the principal officer of the Save Alhambra Hills Open Space group behind the effort.
Martinez property tax measure would save scenic ridgeline
Martinez property tax measure would save scenic ridgeline
https://tinyurl.com/EastBayTimesArticle
Just a mile from the historic home of revered naturalist John Muir lies the kind of scenic wilderness he spent his life fighting to conserve — 297 acres of a grassy, oak covered ridgeline landscape known as the Alhambra Hills.
Martinez to ask residents for thoughts on whether to save Alhambra Highlands
The Martinez City Council is asking residents whether they want the city to pursue buying the Alhambra Highlands to keep it from being developed — a decade after the council approved a plan to build on 109 hillside lots.
“The development is not a proposed development — it actually has entitlements and, so, they have a right to build if they want to, but we are trying to purchase this property and keep it forever as open space,” Mayor Rob Schroder said.
Martinez: Push to acquire Alhambra Hills property for preservation
The City Council unanimously directed staff to appoint a project manager and create an action plan for public acquisition of the 297-acre Alhambra Highlands residential development property. The Sept. 21 vote signaled the crack of a political logjam, under the weight of public opinion.
Martinez joins forces with residents to save a swath of the Alhambra Hills from development
Efforts are under way to preserve a pristine ridge in the Alhambra hills, but supporters have a long way to go before they can buy the property.
To avoid a costly lawsuit, the City Council in July approved the Alhambra Highlands project of 112 custom homes to be built on 72 acres of a 297-acre parcel near Wildcroft Drive and Alhambra Avenue.
Could the ghost of John Muir save Alhambra Hills from development?
Between Mount Wanda and Briones Regional Park, on a ridge surrounded by patchwork housing and home to the odd ranch or two, lies the Alhambra Hills.
Just minutes away from the Muir homestead in Martinez, it is easy to imagine John Muir himself traversing these undulating hills. And according to recent first hand accounts, it’s likely that he did.