MARTINEZ - Three environmental groups battling developer giant Shapell lost a poker hand Tuesday, but say they're still in the game, with pending federal and state lawsuits against the Wendt Ranch development in Tassajara Valley.

County supervisors voted 4 to 1 -- with Supervisor Donna Gerber dissenting -- to deny an appeal of a grading permit issued by the county in February for Wendt, a 323-unit housing development approved in 1996. In the five-plus years since, Wendt plans were reconfigured to 194 units and folded into the proposed 1,387-unit Alamo Creek/Intervening Properties project, expected to come before the supervisors in May or June for approval.

>>>What's more troubling than the expected delay tactic used by the no-growthers...is their justification for the delay...according to the article...

The groups allege that the size of a detention basin is almost 10 times bigger than the one proposed in 1996, that the amount of grading on the Wendt ridge is greater than originally approved, that the storm system will have adverse effects on wildlife and the sewer system will have growth-inducing impacts. The federal and state lawsuits they filed mirror the same basic concerns.

>>>The no-growthers are using the constantly evolving 'clean water' regulations - increased on-site storage of storm water, etc. - to attack this housing project.  There's only one path to get housing approved...an infinite number of ways to attack it and stop it from being built.  (Notwithstanding the fact Wendt should be grandfathered to the current storm water rules based on its original approval date.)