Board approves 13‑lot Camino Pablo subdivision in unincorporated Moraga, adopts mitigated negative declaration

Contra Costa County supervisors on Oct. 21 approved the Camino Pablo residential subdivision, a 13‑unit single‑family project near the intersection of Camino Pablo and Tharp Drive in unincorporated Moraga, and adopted a final mitigated negative declaration (MND) for the project.

The project developer will rezone and develop about 7.9 acres inside the urban limit line with 13 homes; the remaining roughly 16 acres of the 23.9‑acre parcel will be deeded to the county as permanent open space and remain in grazing. Staff recommended adoption of the MND and a set of mitigation measures after the document was circulated for public review and 19 comment letters were received during two formal public comment periods.

The approval follows earlier review by the Town of Moraga and the county planning commission. County staff told the board the subdivision’s proposed density—about 2.2 dwelling units per net acre—falls within the resource‑conservation and single‑family standards the county applies. The supervisors voted 4‑0 to approve the project and the related rezoning ordinance.

Why it matters: The decision allows new housing within the urban limit line while preserving a larger portion of the site as permanent open space adjacent to East Bay Municipal Utility District watershed lands. Opponents argued the project raises fire‑safety and biological‑resource concerns and called for a full environmental impact report (EIR); staff and the project applicant said mitigation measures in the MND will reduce impacts to less‑than‑significant levels.

Staff and applicant presentation County planner Adrianne Veliz summarized the proposal, noting the draft MND identified potentially significant impacts in areas including agricultural resources, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, geology/soils, hydrology, noise, and tribal cultural resources. She said mitigation measures were added to reduce those impacts and that the MND had been re‑circulated between Sept. 3 and Oct. 3 after an earlier circulation. Benoit McVeigh for DK Engineering and Matt Dobbins of Dobbins Properties, the applicant team, described design changes made over a decade of review and said the project now protects roughly 620 acres on the larger Carr family property when combined with prior dedications to East Bay MUD.

Public comment and objections Neighbors and community groups urged the board to require an EIR. Speakers cited the project’s placement in an area the county has newly mapped as very high fire severity, and raised concerns about the suitability of mitigation for potential impacts to special‑status species including the Alameda whipsnake. A commenter cited an air‑quality analysis that, in the critic’s reading, showed construction emissions above the county’s cancer‑risk threshold. County staff and the applicant said the commenters’ technical reports were addressed in the final MND and that the record does not contain substantial evidence showing the project would have significant unmitigated impacts.

Board questions and outcome Supervisor John Gioia, whose district contains the site, asked staff whether new letters submitted outside the formal comment period raised issues that would change the environmental finding; staff said they did not. Supervisors also asked whether the Moraga‑Orinda Fire District had weighed in; staff said the district recommended a fire protection plan, defensible‑space measures, fire‑resistant construction materials, and access details, and that the recommendations are incorporated as mitigation.

Motion and vote The board adopted the final MND, the mitigation monitoring and reporting program, the general plan amendment and rezoning for the 7.9‑acre development area, the vesting tentative map, and the residential development plan as outlined in the staff report. The motion passed 4‑0 (one supervisor was not recorded on the roll as voting at the time the motion carried).

What remains The project now moves to final permit and construction‑permit stages; permits and any grading work will be subject to the conditions and mitigation measures in the record. Several speakers asked the board to require additional studies or an EIR; staff and the board relied on the MND findings and the county’s responses to comment letters.

Lede provenance: first related transcript mention at 2025‑10‑21 12:11: "Okay. We are going to keep going. ... the first discussion item is the Camino Pablo subdivision"; final action recorded at 2025‑10‑21 16:36: "That motion carries on a 4‑0 vote."