Jewish Organization Proposes Graveyard in Briones Hills
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Dec. 14, 2003
The Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve, a rural oasis of pastoral hills and spectacular oaks, is a serene place that unfolds across 64 square miles.
Its twisting country roads fork past ranch homes, old wooden windmills, horse stables, grazing cattle and signs for "free manure."
"It's a magical place," said Carole Dwinell, a 60-year-old artist who has lived in the area for two decades.
Dwinell and her neighbors, though, are worried about a proposal that they say will disrupt the tranquil nature of the preserve and, possibly, pave the way for urban influence: a cemetery.
A Jewish organization has proposed building a graveyard on roughly 30 acres of lush roadside meadow, open space once used for tomato crops.
The proposal calls for a five-phase development over the next 125 years, turning the colorful meadow at Bear Creek and Hampton roads into a vast burial garden with a tiny chapel.
In response, residents have mobilized into a group called the Briones Hills Preserve Alliance, which has hired an attorney and started a petition drive.
The group, which formed in February, promises to "counter this and future threats to this area's open spaces and agricultural character."
In a recent letter to county planners, an attorney for the group calls the proposed cemetery an "incompatible" use in an area mostly protected and used for "agricultural and grazing purposes."
The attorney, Allan C. Moore, also raised questions about an increase in traffic and the possible loss of "an extremely fragile water supply" in Briones, which uses wells.
Dwinell, who has tirelessly opposed the project, said, "There are long-lasting ramifications of making a wrong decision. This scares me as a resident."
Gan Shalom Inc., composed of various East Bay synagogues, considers the property a lovely place for burials.
"They don't want a cemetery there," said Shalom Eliahu[CJL6], a board member of Gan Shalom Inc. "I live here in Lafayette, adjacent to a cemetery, Queen of Heaven. I am literally a neighbor of that place.
"And I can tell you," he added, "it has the quietest neighbors you can ever have."
The tug-of-war over the proposal _ which would be the first cemetery in the Contra Costa area in 50 years _ occurs as Jewish leaders see a real need for more grave space.
Roughly 300,000 Jews live in the Bay Area, and about 70,000 moved into the region in the 1990s. As the population grows and ages, Jewish sections at area cemeteries are filling up.
"All the Jewish cemeteries are just about out of space," said Susan Lefelstein, associate executive director of Sinai Memorial Chapel in Lafayette, the only Jewish mortuary in the Bay Area.
Five cemeteries in the East Bay contain Jewish sections, she said, including Home of Peace in Oakland, which is Jewish-only. Some burial gardens are down to 10 or 15 plots available.
"There is a real crisis in need," Lefelstein said. "As we have discovered, it takes a long time to get a cemetery started. The crisis is not that we are out of space right now _ but that we will be in a short period of time."
Gan Shalom Inc., which formed in 1996, had been searching for suitable grounds on which to build a cemetery that would serve Jews all over the East Bay.
Two years ago, the organization acquired an 83-acre property in the Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve, created in 1987 by a cooperative compact to fend off urban development.
Eight nearby cities, including Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Martinez and Richmond, signed a joint resolution and agreed to "a policy of non-annexation" of the land.
The area is zoned for agricultural use, and county planners say a cemetery would be permissible under this designation.
"We are not developing more than 35 or 36 acres," said Eliahu, a 76-year-old retired soils engineer. "The rest of it is a hillside, which we are leaving alone.
"We will set back 100 feet from a creek, in a flat area for burials. We are not harming any of the existing conditions."
The graves, he said, would include cement coffins buried 2 feet down, with bronze plaques set in granite lying on the surface. "There will be no tombstones, only flat land."
The first phase, about 5 acres and 150 to 170 burials a year, would be finished in about 25 years, he said.
Opponents say the project would strain an already fragile infrastructure, which includes narrow country roads and a water supply that relies on rainwater to fill its wells. Many residents must haul in outside water for their farms and construction projects.
Traffic and accidents would increase, they say, especially along roads populated by horse riders, hikers and cyclists.
"This is inappropriate for the area," said Lawrence Nunes, whose family first settled in the region in the late 1860s. "We have lived out here so many years, we just know it won't work."
The county's Planning Commission on Tuesday will consider adopting a "negative declaration" for the project, a designation that indicates no significant effect on the environment.
An attorney for the opposition group is calling for a full environmental review, arguing that "significant impacts" on water, traffic, wildlife and open space may occur.
Eliahu, though, said the project would be a nice improvement. "You'll see grass instead of weeds, maybe one nice building. We have a need for it. What do you do?"
meeting
The Contra Costa County Planning Commission will consider a proposal for a new cemetery in the Briones Hills at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will be held at the McBrien Administration Building, Room 107, Pine and Escobar streets, Martinez.
Contra Costa Newspapers
Dec. 14, 2003
The Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve, a rural oasis of pastoral hills and spectacular oaks, is a serene place that unfolds across 64 square miles.
Its twisting country roads fork past ranch homes, old wooden windmills, horse stables, grazing cattle and signs for "free manure."
"It's a magical place," said Carole Dwinell, a 60-year-old artist who has lived in the area for two decades.
Dwinell and her neighbors, though, are worried about a proposal that they say will disrupt the tranquil nature of the preserve and, possibly, pave the way for urban influence: a cemetery.
A Jewish organization has proposed building a graveyard on roughly 30 acres of lush roadside meadow, open space once used for tomato crops.
The proposal calls for a five-phase development over the next 125 years, turning the colorful meadow at Bear Creek and Hampton roads into a vast burial garden with a tiny chapel.
In response, residents have mobilized into a group called the Briones Hills Preserve Alliance, which has hired an attorney and started a petition drive.
The group, which formed in February, promises to "counter this and future threats to this area's open spaces and agricultural character."
In a recent letter to county planners, an attorney for the group calls the proposed cemetery an "incompatible" use in an area mostly protected and used for "agricultural and grazing purposes."
The attorney, Allan C. Moore, also raised questions about an increase in traffic and the possible loss of "an extremely fragile water supply" in Briones, which uses wells.
Dwinell, who has tirelessly opposed the project, said, "There are long-lasting ramifications of making a wrong decision. This scares me as a resident."
Gan Shalom Inc., composed of various East Bay synagogues, considers the property a lovely place for burials.
"They don't want a cemetery there," said Shalom Eliahu[CJL6], a board member of Gan Shalom Inc. "I live here in Lafayette, adjacent to a cemetery, Queen of Heaven. I am literally a neighbor of that place.
"And I can tell you," he added, "it has the quietest neighbors you can ever have."
The tug-of-war over the proposal _ which would be the first cemetery in the Contra Costa area in 50 years _ occurs as Jewish leaders see a real need for more grave space.
Roughly 300,000 Jews live in the Bay Area, and about 70,000 moved into the region in the 1990s. As the population grows and ages, Jewish sections at area cemeteries are filling up.
"All the Jewish cemeteries are just about out of space," said Susan Lefelstein, associate executive director of Sinai Memorial Chapel in Lafayette, the only Jewish mortuary in the Bay Area.
Five cemeteries in the East Bay contain Jewish sections, she said, including Home of Peace in Oakland, which is Jewish-only. Some burial gardens are down to 10 or 15 plots available.
"There is a real crisis in need," Lefelstein said. "As we have discovered, it takes a long time to get a cemetery started. The crisis is not that we are out of space right now _ but that we will be in a short period of time."
Gan Shalom Inc., which formed in 1996, had been searching for suitable grounds on which to build a cemetery that would serve Jews all over the East Bay.
Two years ago, the organization acquired an 83-acre property in the Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve, created in 1987 by a cooperative compact to fend off urban development.
Eight nearby cities, including Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Martinez and Richmond, signed a joint resolution and agreed to "a policy of non-annexation" of the land.
The area is zoned for agricultural use, and county planners say a cemetery would be permissible under this designation.
"We are not developing more than 35 or 36 acres," said Eliahu, a 76-year-old retired soils engineer. "The rest of it is a hillside, which we are leaving alone.
"We will set back 100 feet from a creek, in a flat area for burials. We are not harming any of the existing conditions."
The graves, he said, would include cement coffins buried 2 feet down, with bronze plaques set in granite lying on the surface. "There will be no tombstones, only flat land."
The first phase, about 5 acres and 150 to 170 burials a year, would be finished in about 25 years, he said.
Opponents say the project would strain an already fragile infrastructure, which includes narrow country roads and a water supply that relies on rainwater to fill its wells. Many residents must haul in outside water for their farms and construction projects.
Traffic and accidents would increase, they say, especially along roads populated by horse riders, hikers and cyclists.
"This is inappropriate for the area," said Lawrence Nunes, whose family first settled in the region in the late 1860s. "We have lived out here so many years, we just know it won't work."
The county's Planning Commission on Tuesday will consider adopting a "negative declaration" for the project, a designation that indicates no significant effect on the environment.
An attorney for the opposition group is calling for a full environmental review, arguing that "significant impacts" on water, traffic, wildlife and open space may occur.
Eliahu, though, said the project would be a nice improvement. "You'll see grass instead of weeds, maybe one nice building. We have a need for it. What do you do?"
meeting
The Contra Costa County Planning Commission will consider a proposal for a new cemetery in the Briones Hills at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will be held at the McBrien Administration Building, Room 107, Pine and Escobar streets, Martinez.
posted by Corey at 8:34 PM
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