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Residents urge council to halt Riverwalk proposal, cite water and notice concerns
Summary
Multiple residents told the Riverbank City Council they oppose the proposed Riverwalk development, raising concerns about inadequate notice to nearby property owners, developer influence, loss of prime agricultural land and local well declines; organizers say a ballot initiative with more than 1,500 valid signatures will be submitted.
Several residents told the Riverbank City Council on July 23 that they oppose the proposed Riverwalk development and urged the council to reconsider the project's timing and scope. Karen Conrado, a Hoag Road resident, told the council the developers "appear to be sending a lot of money to push this project through" and said homeowners in adjacent neighborhoods and on the north side of the Stanislaus River were not informed "in a timely fashion." Conrado described developers' behavior as "in my mind unethical" and warned of pressure on elected officials to approve a project after substantial private investment.
Another speaker, Gretchen Brown, who said she moved to Riverbank in 1969, focused on water supply and farmland impacts. Brown told the council she lives in a neighborhood that relies on well water and said local well levels measured in 2016-2017 and again in 2022 "dropped 25 feet," which she described as significant. She said the Riverwalk proposal calls for a minimum of 2,400 houses and used a per-household estimate from EPA guidance when calculating daily demand; she stressed the city should clarify where that water would come from and urged prioritizing infill development over converting prime agricultural and riparian land.
Jamie Eggers, joining by Zoom from McHenry Avenue, Modesto but within the project area, told the council organizers have collected over 1,900 signatures for a ballot initiative and expect more than 1,500 to be valid. Eggers said they planned to submit signatures to the city clerk and that a ballot qualification would require the council to place a certification item on a future agenda.
The public comments came during the meeting's public comment period; no formal action on the Riverwalk project was taken that evening. Mayor O'Brien later asked staff to prepare a report on the reported well-level declines after members raised questions about local water availability. The record does not show new approvals or denials of Riverwalk entitlements that evening.
