In the three years since the 1995 update of its General Plan, Hercules was
clearly struggling to find its way forward. Financial reserves were rapidly being drawn
down. Vacant land was rezoned from industrial use to commercial/residential, but only the
homebuilding developers showed active interest. In this way, Hercules was at the mercy of
the Bay Area's notoriously weak regional planning. Despite its good commercial location,
residential uses threatened to consume all the available land, worsening the financial
crisis and closing down the remaining green open spaces beloved by residents.
Worse still, there was no assurance that the quality of new development
plans would match the quality of the existing collection of parks, roads and subdivisions,
which were all delivered virtually together according to a strong 1972 urban plan. Indeed,
when a large tract of former dynamite-factory land was permitted to develop, a poor
outcome occurred: an disappointing residential subdivision was built, and the promised
commercial big-box center was not.
By 1998, The Hercules City Council, with staff leadership, was resolved to
find a solution to the financial crisis. Meanwhile, the Planning Commission resolved to
find a solution to the development and planning crisis that lay at the root of the
long-term financial crisis.
The Planning Commission was deeply concerned about preserving the
essential qualities that distinguished Hercules from its peers in west Contra Costa
County. Something had to be done, fast, to bring commercial development -- retail, office,
hotel, entertainment, services – but it had to be the "right" kind.
Planning Commissioners and residents knew that, usually, fast commercial development
brought automobile traffic and stores of dubious quality or durability. Nearby, a
long-struggling regional mall, and many tattered, dying strip malls stood as daily
reminders of the perils of rapid-fire retail building and of the hollow promises of
out-of-town developers.
The Planning Commission was determined to preserve a place worth caring
about.
