Editor:

My husband and I attended the last CSD meeting to try and get more involved with our community. We were blown away by a majority of the people who attend these meetings who considered themselves the voice of the community.

We are in our mid 30s and by far the youngest people who attended the meeting. Many of the people living in Discovery Bay are young active families with kids. Many of the people in Discovery Bay are not able to attend these meetings because after work they are having dinner with their families and getting their young children ready for bed. I don't think that the people who attended represented the majority of the community's beliefs.

Although it is apparent to us that this meeting is intended to be a place of business, there are others who have turned it into their public gripe session. It is my understanding that one of the older gentlemen, Mr. Richardson, is suing our community and has forced the CSD to spend over $50,000 in legal fees. That is $50,000 that could be spent to improve our community but has been wasted on one of these anti-growth complainers.

There is another squeaky wheel, Jeff Barber, who evidently attends these meetings regularly to voice his opinion opposing any growth in Discovery Bay. Well, I have to say that my husband and I left this meeting feeling like these two gentlemen believe that their opinions are the voice of the community. Therefore, I am writing this letter on behalf of those who do not oppose growth in our community and have an open mind regarding what benefits projects like Pantages could provide.

We love living in Discovery Bay, but there are several amenities that we need. When we moved here 12 years ago, we really liked living here, but now that the community has grown large enough to support a Safeway and the Steak House, we enjoy the community even more.

Smart growth is very important to this community. We do not want to ship our 4-year-old and 7-month-old daughters to Brentwood to go to high school in 10 to 15 years and we would love if there were a middle school in Discovery Bay that they could ride their bikes to.

We would love if there were more emergency facilities like police, fire and ambulances in town in case we have any emergencies. Unlike the self-proclaimed voice of the community, we understand that we will never have these amenities unless we have the population to support them. Unfortunately, Jeff Barber has forced one of the board members to prepare a letter saying that our community does not want any more growth, which means we might never have middle and high schools for our children.

This means we would never have more restaurants, parks and other amenities that this community desperately needs. After hearing about this letter that the CSD board is preparing to write, I felt that it was time for us to finally speak up.

A representative from the Pantages development attended the meeting and said that they do not intend to break ground until the market turns around. They are planning on building just over a hundred waterfront lots with back yards large enough to put in a swimming pool. They are also planning on widening the northern portion of Kellogg Creek to 300 feet, which will make Kellogg Creek much safer.

This is an infill project that will be good for our community and we are hoping to move there after it is completed. This amount of high-end homes will raise the average cost of homes in Discovery Bay. I don't think people understand what a great asset this development will be to our community.

It would be great if more young families could get involved with our community and not let our future be decided by this small group of complainers. In spite of what the voice of the community seems to think about our community leaders, I think that Virgil and Dave Piepho are doing a great job and could use some support.

Carey Harris

Discovery Bay