Welcome to Friends of Coyote Hills

The Friends of Coyote Hills (FCH) is a local group of concerned citizens working to protect 520 acres of open space adjacent to Coyote Hills Regional Park.

Mission statement: Friends of Coyote Hills is an environmentally focused group serving the Tri-Cities area. We are dedicated to the conservation and preservation of open space and the plant and wildlife habitats it supports, and to engaging public involvement with local and regional environmental issues through community outreach, education, collaborative efforts, and advocacy.

Stop Massive Development in Coyote Hills!

Despite the fact that over 70% of Fremont voters surveyed want NO development in front of the Coyote Hills Regional Park, the City of Fremont is considering a massive development proposal (click to see map of proposed Patterson Ranch)

• All of this massive development belongs East (not West) of Ardenwood Blvd not in front of our park. The Fremont General Plan allows only 266 housing units on this land. The Patterson family, which already developed 5,000+ houses in Ardenwood, also sold for $63 million the 15.5-acre Tupelo lot across the street (from Coyote Hills), where 276 housing units (Villa D’Este) are being built.

• With Villa D’Este, the Patterson Ranch proposal would add 11,150 car trips/day, 4 million car trips/year.

• In an earthquake, the Patterson Ranch proposal puts thousands of adults’ and children’s lives in jeopardy due to high risk of soil liquefaction (on this floodplain and proposed man-made fill). A public safety disaster is waiting to happen if gas and water lines break and fires are fueled by southeasterly winds from SF Bay less than 1 mile away.

• Though California state standards for school site selection states that a new school should not be built on land that is subject to high risk of liquefaction in an earthquake, this Patterson Ranch proposal includes an elementary school (that is also separated from the housing units by a major thoroughfare). This proposal puts 636 children's and staff's lives at risk.

• The Patterson Ranch proposal will negatively impact our overcrowded junior high and high schools and quality of life.

You can help stop this mistaken proposal and make your voice heard. Please contact the Friends of Coyote Hills. We need your help. Please also let your friends and email groups know about this important issue affecting all of us.

Once it’s gone…it’s gone forever!

Fremont 2008 Elections - How You Can Help Preserve Coyote Hills

For mayor, we want someone who puts a community’s quality of life ahead of special interest groups such as developers. The current mayor (Wasserman) and mayoral candidates Steve Cho and Gus Morrison all have accepted sizeable developer money and supported runaway development.

For city council, there are ten candidates (one is an incumbent). Over the years, many on the city council were appointed (by the mayor) to the planning commission and used the position as a step to the council. Bob Wieckowski, city council candidate was appointed to the planning commission by ex-mayor Morrison; Suzanne Chan, also a city council candidate and backed by a large real estate developer John Dutra in Fremont, was appointed by Bob Wasserman to the planning commission.

Without independent thinking and limited debate, council’s approval of uncontrolled development has continued to strain city services—schools, police, fire, street maintenance, etc., and quality of life. Trisha Tahmasbi, another candidate for city council, in two council candidate forums, supported the proposed Patterson Ranch development.

Of the ten, Vinnie Bacon, not part of the political establishment, is well qualified and would be a voice for the voters of Fremont. With master’s degrees from UC Berkeley in urban planning and transportation engineering, he is currently a technical support manager in the software industry. He was a proponent of Measure K, initiative to protect Coyote Hills. He accepts no campaign donations from developers.

We need to elect a mayor and city council members who would have a fresh approach—who understand what would constitute quality of life for Fremont residents, who draw strong businesses into the city, who work more closely with the school district when evaluating proposed developments, and who reach out to neighboring cities on common issues.

Lastly, we the people should stand up to special interest groups and help to preserve Coyote Hills from massive development for present and future generations!