Council Greenlights 900-Unit Coast Guard Redevelopment, Rezones Five Sites for Housing

Concord's City Council gave its clearest signal yet that housing is the city's top priority, backing a massive 800-900-unit redevelopment of the former Coast Guard site and voting to rezone five neighborhoods for up to 1,000 additional homes — together potentially adding nearly 2,000 units to the city's pipeline. The Feb. 24 session also surfaced a labor dispute that could complicate the Coast Guard project's path forward.

• Council unanimously supports 900-home concept for 59-acre former Coast Guard site, launching a roughly two-year entitlement process and forming an ad hoc committee to shape community benefits

• AFFH rezoning passes 4-0, opening five high-resource sites totaling 28 acres to at least 60 units per acre — clearing a long-overdue state fair housing mandate

• Carpenters union disputes exclusion from Coast Guard project labor agreement, saying they've been reaching out to the developer since 2024 without a deal

• Downtown business improvement district exploration begins as ARPA cleanup funds run dry, with a feasibility study launching in April

• Economic development plan gets first progress report: advisory group, international dining promotion and zoning reform all in early stages

The longest and most intensely debated item of the night centered on "Concord Town Square," a proposed redevelopment of 366 vacant military housing units at 3295 Haleakala Street into a mixed community of roughly 403 townhomes, 409 single-family homes (56 with accessory dwelling units), and 72 deed-restricted affordable rental apartments across 59 acres.