It's past time to pull the plug on Diablo Grande

Eric Caine, Modesto Bee, California, 25 September 2001

It must have been a defining moment for Diablo Grande supporters when they read of yet another starting date for construction of the much-touted project. The latest announcement informed us that building would begin about the middle of next year. Coming as it does on the heels of the claim that construction would begin this past July, there shouldn’t be any more doubts about the credibility of Diablo Grande representatives, and there have to be very grave concerns whether the project is worthy of further backing.

For newcomers who need to be brought up to date on the details of the Diablo Grande melodrama, the plot is pretty simple: Amidst hosannas and fanfare, a billionaire developer promises to put Stanislaus County on the map with celebrity golf courses and a “state of the art” resort community that will draw development away from valley farmland, produce countless jobs and rain money on merchants from Patterson to Tracy and points east. Naturally, Stanislaus County supervisors, merchants and trade laborers are agog with anticipation, and local media hail the coming of the Big Devil as something akin to another gold rush.

That was 12 years ago. In the interminable interim, farmer Al Brizzard and citizen-activist Steve Burke have had the temerity and perseverance to keep asking where Diablo Grande developer Don Panoz was going to get water for the huge project. The answer from Diablo Grande supporters was always that water was no problem. But water was a problem; it was a major and apparently impossible problem.

There then followed a bizarre scenario that in retrospect defies belief. Over the years, Diablo Grande proceeded to lose a series of Superior Court cases, every one of which involved the whereabouts of its water, and after every loss, Diablo Grande representatives announced in triumph that ground-breaking was imminent, despite Burke’s and Brizzard’s repeated cautions that Diablo Grande couldn’t proceed unless and until its representatives could show where they expected to acquire enough water to service the development.

This pattern of losing in court, trumpeting victory, and setting construction dates went on for well over a decade. Last spring, Diablo Grande representatives emerged from yet another court shellacking and once again announced that construction would begin by July. July, of course, has passed into August and September, and the latest news from Diablo Grande camp is that construction will begin mid-2002.

Even the most ardent Diablo Grande boosters must admit that by now the project has lost credibility. Just how many more times must the facts belie Diablo Grande puffery before supporters lose faith? And how much sense does it make to keep backing a project that has time and again failed to deliver on its promises?

Twelve years ago, there may have been reason to believe in Diablo Grande, but we now know that California is facing severe water shortages, making it far less likely Diablo Grande will ever find enough water.

Moreover, sober reflection should make everyone realize that Diablo Grande’s grandiose projections of financial rainstorms were doubtless as overblown as their promises to deliver water; recent studies show that development in the Central Valley doesn’t even pay for itself.

Given these facts, why should anyone continue supporting a project that in every case has failed to live up to expectations? Diablo Grande boosters should be admired for their well-intentioned desire to bring an economic engine to Stanislaus County, but the Diablo Grande model is all chassis and zero horsepower. Any objective analysis has to conclude that it’s long past time to pull the plug on the Big Devil.