"Current Status
Chevron threatened the City of Fullerton with a lawsuit unless it reconsidered and approved the the same development the City turned down in May 2010. Sadly, the current City Council bought into this threat and agreed to reconsider the same Chevron proposal on July 12, 2011. They then followed up on July 12 with an approval of the same bad development plan that they denied the previous year.
The fight is not over. The Friends of Coyote Hills is taking the vote to the public. We are currently in the qualifying round for our referendum to overturn the City Council's July 12 decision. We are circulating petitions to gather signatures through about mid-August to qualify for a ballot measure.
Milestones
The initial draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) was released in September of 2003. The Friends of Coyote Hills and its legal counsel reviewed and submitted formal comment letters. Chevron-Pacific Coast Homes and the City then went back to the drawing board to re-work the EIR.
The next draft EIR was released in early 2006. The Friends reviewed and submitted formal comment letters. We rallied our community to do the same, sending Chevron back for another EIR revision.
Yet another draft EIR was released in 2008. Can you guess what happened next?
The "final" EIR was released and the City held a hearing in May 2010. In a stunning victory for the community, the Fullerton City Council voted 3-2 to deny the Chevron proposal. This was so unexpected, the City staff didn't even prepare a denial resolution for the City Council to adopt at the hearing. The Council have to convene at a later meeting to formally adopt the denial resolution.
On April 2011, the City Council voted 4-1 to "settle" the lawsuit Chevron filed against the City for turning down its development proposal in 2010. The Council vote cornered the City into voting on the same Chevron proposal by June 2011, and to approve it or face the same lawsuit again.
On July 12, 2011, the City Council voted 4-1 to approve the same Chevron development proposal that they denied in May 2010.
On July 13, 2011, the Friends of Coyote Hills announced their referendum effort to overturn the City Council's decision. We are currently gathering petition signatures to qualify our referendum for a future election. We will bring the matter of West Coyote Hills to the public for a vote. Please see our Home page and Referendum page for updates on this effort."
please help save Coyote Hills from development!
Visit Friends of Coyote Hills and sign the referendum petition here;
http://www.coyotehills.org/