Diablo Grande nears final OK

John Holland, Modesto Bee, California, 8 March 2001

The way could be clear for construction to finally start on the hotel and some of the 5,000 homes planned at Diablo Grande, southwest of Patterson.

A key obstacle - a federal agency's concern about filling about five acres of wetlands at the heart of the project - is fading because of the developer's pledge to protect about 2,000 acres of outlying open space as compensation.

Assuming the wetlands permit is issued, construction could start in June on the 200-plus-room hotel and about a year from now on the first few hundred homes, said Russ Newman, a Modesto attorney representing Diablo Grande.

"We're full speed ahead and enthusiastic about the opportunity to finally bring this project to fruition," he said.

Meanwhile, construction is under way on a water diversion along the California Aqueduct to serve Diablo Grande, which encompasses some 29,500 acres in the foothills on Stanislaus County's West Side.

The water link could be completed by April, although a project critic said a legal challenge over the water supply is pending.

Planning for Diablo Grande began more than a decade ago, and the development so far includes two golf courses, vineyards and a small winery.

The entire project, which could take 25 years to build, also calls for the homes and hotel, a conference center, four more golf courses, a larger winery, a spa, restaurants, stores and a town center. The first phase includes 2,038 homes that would be built over five to 10 years, as the market allows, Newman said.

The first 313 homes are in a subdivision nearing final approval by county officials. The hotel, to be built in concert with the conference center, new winery and spa, could be finished in the fall of 2002, Newman said.

"It will be without parallel in the Central Valley," he said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed last year that the proposed wetlands fill for the first phase would damage Salado Creek. The EPA urged the Army Corps of Engineers, which has authority over wetlands, to take a critical look at the project.

In January, the EPA agreed to drop its objection because of the Diablo Grande Limited Partnership's pledge to preserve about 2,000 acres of open space near Orestimba Creek, southwest of the first phase.

A later phase would have to be reconfigured to stay off the preserve, Newman said. Diablo Grande already has extensive acreage that will be left in open space.

John Vendlinski, chief of the EPA's wetlands regulatory office in San Francisco, said the agreement is contingent on the Corps of Engineers' thorough attention to any remaining concerns about the filling. Those include archaeological sites and the cumulative effects of disturbing wetlands in the area, he said. Tom Cavanaugh, chief of the corps' Sacramento Valley office, said he does not expect any problem with issuing the permit in time for hotel construction to start in June.

"It's going to depend on when (the project planners) give us the information, so it's in their court," Cavanaugh said.

Steve Burke of Modesto, who has led legal challenges to Diablo Grande, said the open-space agreement is just a bone thrown out to placate critics. He said the project has not had the complete environmental study required by federal law, nor has the litigation over the water supply been resolved.

"It's not a done deal," Burke said. "They have certain approvals, but there are a lot of other approvals and there are a lot of legal points that haven't been settled at all."

The preserve would be next to the new Diablo Range National Wildlife Refuge, which spreads across about 61,000 acres in Stanislaus, Merced and Santa Clara counties.

Most of the 2,000 acres would remain open to cattle grazing, Vendlinski said, because it would actually benefit the grassland if managed properly.