A 25-year straitjacket that worsens the housing crisis, strips property rights, and ties the hands of elected officials.
Contra Costa County has a housing crisis. Home prices and rents have risen far beyond what working families, teachers, nurses, and young adults can afford. Measure A would make that shortage worse for the next 25 years.
Proponents call this an "extension" of the Urban Limit Line. It is not. Measure A removes an additional 9,460 acres from any possible urban housing use through 2051 — while locking elected officials out of any meaningful ability to respond.
Additional acres stripped of any urban housing use through 2051
Larger than 10 of the 19 cities in Contra Costa County
No meaningful flexibility for housing needs until at least 2051
Any adjustment over 30 acres requires a return to the ballot — even in a crisis
"When Contra Costa restricts its land supply, families don't disappear. They move — and commute back."
Measure A removes an additional 9,460 acres — equivalent to 14.78 square miles — from any possible urban housing use through 2051. That is larger than 10 of the 19 cities in Contra Costa County. Calling this a routine renewal misleads voters about what is actually on the ballot.
The Bay Area's housing shortage is well-documented. Contra Costa County families — teachers, nurses, firefighters, young adults — are already priced out of homeownership. Measure A locks this land supply restriction in place for a generation, guaranteeing that the shortage deepens. Families do not disappear when housing is unavailable; they move farther away and commute back, worsening traffic, air quality, and quality of life.
In Byron and other East County communities, the redrawn boundary pulls land currently outside the Urban Limit Line into a new restricted zone. Longtime residents and family farmers lose development rights and property value without recourse. This is not conservation through voluntary agreement — it is a taking by ballot measure.
Any boundary adjustment over 30 acres requires a four-fifths Board vote and another countywide election. Housing needs shift. Economic opportunities emerge. Infrastructure plans evolve. Measure A ensures that elected officials are powerless to respond to any of those changes for a quarter century. That is not smart planning — it is governance by paralysis.
California has spent years overriding local zoning because counties like Contra Costa have restricted housing for too long. State law — including the Housing Accountability Act and builder's remedy — continues to erode local control precisely because jurisdictions have failed to meet housing needs. Measure A responds by locking restrictions even tighter for a quarter century, guaranteeing further state preemption and pricing out the next generation of County residents.
Open space preservation is a legitimate and shared goal. But Measure A uses a blunt boundary that worsens affordability, displaces families, and prevents responsive elected representation. There are smarter tools available.
Targeted, voluntary agreements with willing landowners that permanently protect agricultural and open space lands without removing private property rights by ballot measure.
Direct county or land-trust acquisition of priority parcels offers real, permanent protection — not a bureaucratic boundary line that drives up housing costs countywide.
Updated general and specific plans can direct growth intelligently, protecting sensitive lands while preserving the flexibility to address changing housing needs without a countywide vote.
Working with ABAG, MTC, and state housing agencies to align Contra Costa's growth patterns with regional needs — rather than fighting a losing battle that invites state preemption.
The No campaign needs volunteers across Contra Costa County — from Brentwood to Richmond, Danville to Pittsburg. Every conversation, every door knocked, every sign posted makes a difference.
We are especially looking for voices from East County communities directly affected by the redrawn boundary.
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