Save Mount Diablo submitted a request to the City of Pittsburg Thursday, with copies to City of Concord officials, charging what they believe may be illegal grading by the Seeno Companies in Pittsburg at their 2,938-unit San Marco subdivision in Pittsburg, and asking for an investigation. The grading, which appears to have been completed in January at about the same time that the Seeno Companies were fined $3 million for grading in nearby Antioch, extends to the ridge overlooking Concord.

“We want to give Pittsburg officials time to consider our request,” said Ron Brown, Save Mount Diablo’s Executive Director, “but we also feel that the community has a right to this information, given that the Pittsburg City Council will be considering Hillside development regulations Monday evening.”

“It’s the highest grading in Pittsburg, ever. They’ve scalped the ridge,” said Seth Adams, Director of Land Programs and spokesman for Save Mount Diablo. “The Seeno Companies have once again destroyed a seasonal creek, related tributaries and steep slopes. In places the grading is 400-500 feet across. Despite landslides they’ve already experienced in lower elevations of San Marco, this new grading is already showing signs of erosion and slumping.”

“It’s especially bad when you consider that while Pittsburg is considering adoption of Hillside Development Regulations, the Seeno Companies have graded to the very top of the ridge, and while Concord is proposing to protect the hills and ridges of the Concord Naval Weapons Station—all of Concord’s reuse scenarios for the Naval Weapons Station protect the hillsides adjacent to Pittsburg—the Seenos have graded land over looking the Weapons Station,” said Adams, “This grading is on land within the Pittsburg city limits, but overlooks Concord from above the Naval Weapons Station, affecting the views of everyone in Central County. You can see it from Highway 4 and from Highway 680. It’s just the beginning; they have plans on the books for more development on County lands outside of Pittsburg’s city limits, much of it even higher in elevation.”