San Ramon Council Unanimously Approves 2,510-Home Orchards Project, Rejects CEQA Challenge

San Ramon's City Council voted 5-0 to deny a resident's environmental appeal and greenlight the Orchards, a 92-acre mixed-use development that will transform the former Chevron Park office campus into the city's largest residential community over the next two decades. The three-plus-hour special meeting saw sharp exchanges between the appellant and council members, impassioned public testimony about traffic and neighborhood character, and a unified council that found no evidence the city's environmental review fell short.

• 2,510-home Orchards project approved on the former Chevron Park campus at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road after unanimous 5-0 vote

• Resident's eight-point CEQA challenge rejected — council found no specific evidence of new environmental impacts beyond what the General Plan 2040 EIR already analyzed

• Affordable housing exceeds city requirements at 16.2%, with 99 units of very low and low income housing developed by Eden Housing including free childcare

• Residents raise alarms over Bollinger Canyon traffic, tree removal, building heights, and stretched police and park resources

• Vice Mayor Rubio links housing to school crisis — 200 school district employees recently discharged due to declining enrollment